Brief History of the Organization & Description of Services
Foundation for Responsible TV: Vision
We make a significant impact on the lives of those who watch, personally, professionally, politically.
Foundation for Responsible TV: Mission
Educate and inform the public, using television and video, with relevant, thought-provoking perspectives and content by Talking About Things That Matter With People Who Care!
History & Accomplishments
The Foundation for Responsible Television (FRTV) was incorporated as a 501(c)( 3) nonprofit organization in 1994 to raise funds to support the McCuistion television program. McCuistion began on North Texas Public Broadcasting in 1990 on Channel 2 and later moved to Channel 13 KERA in Dallas. The McCuistion name was changed in 2021 to Perspectives Matter to reflect the upcoming retirement of host Dennis McCuistion and allow for Jim Falk and others to host the program. Perspectives Matter continued on Channel 13 until September of 2025 thus marking the longest running independently produced program on Dallas PBS.
At one point, the McCuistion program was seen not only on KERA but on other PBS stations from California to New York, the C-Suite Network, the Library for the Blind, YouTube, Broadcast.com and other venues.
Perspectives Matter continues to the present with Dennis McCuistion again hosting programs through 2025 and 2026 and is seen on the Perspectives Matter website www.perspectivesmatter.com now produced by the Free to Choose Network (FTCN), the television producer best known for its 1980 PBS series, Free to Choose, featuring Milton Friedman. FTCN has produced countless programs for PBS and other outlets. FTCN has an affiliate nonprofit, Izzit.org, which produces video and other materials on economics for use in high schools throughout the country.
Our Goals and Purpose
We were/are passionate about public policy issues that affect all Americans. Our purpose was/is to educate viewers on various perspectives on these issues. Many issues had/have political ramification, but we neither took nor take a political position on them—that’s up to the viewer. Our goal was/is objectivity.
Our underlying purpose other than education is to make sure we always have free market/individual freedom perspectives where the topic lent itself to that. Our viewers were/are smart enough to make up their own minds on issues when presented with competing points of view.
Our Leaders
Dennis McCuistion was the host and Executive Producer of the program for over three decades. Dennis calls himself a “recovering banker” since that was his background; however, his interest in public policy led him to a friendship with John McKay, former General Manager of Channel 4 in Dallas and later the CEO of Channel 27, also in Dallas. Over lunch one day, McKay noted Dennis’s passion for these issues and asked if he had ever thought about exposing these issues on television. That led to a pilot program done in 1985, then to seven programs taped in 1988.
Between those dates, Dennis met and married Niki Nicastro who became the program’s co-Executive Producer and Producer for over 35 years. Her talents and hard work made the program possible as she was formerly a talented salesperson, author and consultant on strategy for both profit and nonprofit organizations. She too was focused on education. While Dennis and Niki were divorced in 2001, they met and were influenced by members of the National Speakers Association, especially the late Jim Rohn from whom they borrowed his phrase, “talking about things that matter with people who care.”
While most of FRTV’s work supported the public affairs program, the Hatton Sumners Foundation funded a documentary in the early 2000s entitled, “The Roots of War-The Road to Peace”. This effort took Dennis and Niki and their able cameraman, Phil Smith, to Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The interviews and perspectives gained were/are invaluable in understanding the geopolitics of the Middle East.
In 2025 our board decided to share some of the FRTV funding received from the Estate of our late board member, William K. Gordon III with two free market groups—-the Reason Foundation, founded in 1982, to support their new debate program and FTCN, founded in 1980. FTCN continues to produce Perspectives Matter since the summer of 2025.
As for FRTV, it continues now to support a new special project….producing a four-hour documentary on the JFK assassination. See other sections of this website for more details and videos of programs on that subject.
Organization Information
Organization: Foundation for Responsible Television
Address: 11700 Preston Road, #660-193
City: Dallas
State: Texas
Zip Code: 75230
Phone: (214) 394-7201
E-mail: mccuistion@mccuistion.com
Website: http://www.frtv.org