In Re
Petition by
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
38 F.C.C.2d 22
RELEASE-NUMBER: FCC 72-965
NOVEMBER 1, 1972
OPINION:
[*22] Mr. RICHARD A.
BESERRA, Acting Director,
DEAR MR. BESERRA: This is in
reference to the California La Raza Media Coalition's (CRMC) petition to deny
the license renewal application for Radio Station KOFY,
By way of background, we note that
by letter of November 30, 1971, we informed you that the CRMC petition to deny
had been untimely filed and that it would be considered as an informal
objection to the KOFY renewal application pursuant to Section 1.587 of the Commission's
Rules. Please be advised that we have reviewed the allegations contained
in your petition and, for the reasons set forth below, determined that they are
not sufficient to show that a renewal of the KOFY license would be prima facie
inconsistent with the public interest.
Briefly stated, you allege that
KOFY, "as the only 100% Spanish station serving the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Area and the large population of Spanish-speaking people who rely on it for
their source of entertainment, news, and information" (Renewal
Application, Section IV-A, Question 8), has failed to broadcast enough news and
public affairs programming to serve the "La Raza Community" (the
Cuban, Puerto Rican, Latin, Spanish American and Mexican American population).
To support this allegation you rely on the following information as derived
from the KOFY renewal application:
|
|
Composite |
Proposed |
|
|
week |
programming |
|
Public
Affairs (percent of total time on air) |
1.8 |
1.7 |
|
Local and
regional news (percent of total time on air) |
.67 |
0.7 |
|
PSA's
(number per week) |
29 |
75 |
In addition, you complain that KOFY
"has no fulltime news staff" and that "[it] plans to continue to
have no fulltime news staff."
[*23] In its opposition to
the petition, filed November 10, 1971, the licensee, Spanish Broadcasting,
Inc., responds to your allegations by stating that you have failed to explain
why the amounts of public affairs programming, local and regional news, and
PSA's, as cited above, are inadequate to serve the needs and interests of
Spanish-speaking people in the KOFY service area; that the above-quoted figures
for past and proposed public affairs programming are erroneously stated in the
renewal application and that the correct figures which should have been given
are 2.2% and 2.4%, respectively; that the application indicates (at Exhibit 9)
that the Composite Week figure of 29 PSA's is not representative of the
station's typical performance "since a normal week contains well over twice
that number;" that the proposed increase to 75 PSA's per week constitutes
"only a stated minimum;" and that, within the bounds of the
discretion accorded the licensee with regard to "operational
matters," the station has appropriately "[utilized] several employees
on a part-time basis to handle news."
Thereafter, on March 21, 1972,
Spanish Broadcasting, Inc., submitted an amendment to Section IV-A of its
renewal application. First, the licensee amends its response to Question
3A which calls for a statement of the amount of time, as a percentage of
"Total Time on Air," that the applicant devoted in the composite week
to certain types of programming:
|
Question 3A |
Original |
Amendment |
|
|
(percent) |
(percent) |
|
News |
6.7 |
6.7 |
|
Public affairs |
1.8 |
2.2 |
|
All other
programs, exclusive of entertainment and sports |
3.7 |
4.9 |
In addition, the licensee amends its
response to Question 14 to state the minimum amount of time it proposes to devote
normally each week to these same types of programming:
|
Question 14 |
Original |
Amendment |
|
|
(percent) |
(percent) |
|
News |
7.0 |
7.1 |
|
Public
affairs |
1.7 |
2.4 |
|
All other
programs, exclusive of entertainment and sports |
3.4 |
4.7 |
The licensee states that "[the]
foregoing reflects a re-computation of religious programming in the Composite
Week logs and correction of mathematical errors in the calculation of the
percentages in other categories." The licensee also notes that "a reanalysis
of the news programming of the station" reveals that "approximately
25%" of the news broadcast during the Composite Week consisted of local
and regional news. The licensee proposes that the 25% figure will
constitute a minimum percentage in the future.
Further, the licensee amends the
renewal application to reflect an increase from 75 to 125 in the minimum number
of public service announcements [*24] that the station proposes to
broadcast during a typical week.
In addition to the above, the licensee,
by way of further amendments to the KOFY renewal application, notes that
meetings have been held with you and with representatives of the
Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Spanish-Speaking
Surnamed Political Association,
(1) The station has initiated a
series of five minute news and public affairs programs which are conducted by
the Program Director of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational
Fund,
(2) The station is broadcasting a
new weekly public affairs program devoted to such topics as consumer
protection, discrimination and reapportionment;
(3) The station's news announcer has
been instructed to gather and report additional news concerning the local
Spanish-speaking community;
(4) A new reporter has been added to
the news staff to gather "news and information from Latin American groups
in the Bay Area;" and
(5) The station has cooperated in
the establishment of a "bilingual broadcast course" at a local
college.
Please be
advised that we have carefully evaluated (1) your informal objection to renewal
of the KOFY license, (2) the KOFY renewal application, (3) the licensee's
opposition, and (4) the subsequent amendments to that application. In
doing so, we have sought to determine whether KOFY's programming during the
past license period served the needs and interests of the Spanish-speaking
population within the station's service area; whether the licensee properly
surveyed both the community leaders and members of the general public to
ascertain the problems faced by their community; and whether the station has
proposed programming which is geared to meet those problems which were
ascertained. In making this determination it should be observed that we
accord great weight to the good-faith judgment exercised by the licensee, both
in evaluating the results of his ascertainment process and in selecting the
programs to be presented to meet the problems ascertained.
Accordingly, we conclude that the
allegations made in connection with KOFY's past and proposed programming are
without merit. The mere citation of what is deemed to be an insufficient
showing of news and public affairs programming, without any evidence that such
performance has failed or will fail to meet community needs is insufficient to
raise a substantial and material question of fact as to whether a station will
serve the public interest in a future license period.
Further, your complaint that the station
does not employ a "full-time news staff" also lacks merit. The
Commission's concern in this area is only that the station show that it has
employed sufficient personnel to assure the presentation of an amount of local,
national and international news which is commensurate with needs of the
community. [*25] It does not defy reasonableness to conclude
that a station with a small staff (here 9 full-time and 15 part-time employees)
could provide adequate news coverage to its service area by assigning "several
employees on a part-time basis to handle the news." In this regard, we
also note, as mentioned above, that by its March 21 amendment the licensee
advises the Commission that another employee has been assigned to cover events
of particular interest to the Spanish-speaking community.
In view of the foregoing, therefore,
we conclude that you have failed to show that a renewal of the KOFY license
would be prima facie inconsistent with the public interest. Accordingly,
we hereby deny your informal objection to the application for renewal of
license of KOFY.
Commissioner
Nicholas Johnson dissenting and issuing a statement. Commissioners H.
Rex Lee and Benjamin L. Hooks absent.
BY
DIRECTION OF THE COMMISSION, BEN F. WAPLE, Secretary.
DISSENT:
DISSENTING OPINION OF COMMISSIONER
NICHOLAS JOHNSON
Station KOFY (AM),
A group representing the
Spanish-language population in KOFY's listening area -- the California La Raza
Media Coalition (CRMC) -- has petitioned the Commission to deny the station its
license renewal.
The Commission brushes the petition
aside and renews KOFY's license. I dissent.
CRMC alleged that KOFY's license
renewal application stated its programming to be as follows:
|
|
Composite |
Proposed |
|
|
week |
programming |
|
Public
affairs (percent of total time |
|
|
|
On air) |
1.8 |
1.7 |
|
Local and
regional news (percent of total |
|
|
|
time on
air) |
.67 |
.7 |
|
PSA's
(number per week)*h29 |
75.0 |
|
Understandably outraged, CRMC
charged that this was simply not enough programming to serve the needs for news
and public affairs of the Cuban, Puerto Rican, Latin, Spanish American and
Mexican American population the station is licensed by the FCC to serve
"in the public interest."
And what does the station
reply? It has the gall to answer that CRMC has failed to show why KOFY's
programming is inadequate!
For six years I have been struggling
with this Commission's adamant refusal to establish any minimal programming
requirements of its licensees. And now it is engaged in a massive effort
to "de-regulate" radio further. As it is were possible!
The argument is sometimes made that
in an area with 20 to 50 radio stations there need be no programming
requirements, that the market place will insure the availability of a range of
entertainment. [*26] There is something to that argument --
even though it is not clear that profit-maximization will produce a full news
and public affairs service for an area.
But a foreign language station has
obligations going far beyond those of an English-language station -- however
minimal the Commission may find the latter to be. There are 364,000
Spanish-speaking people in the San Franciso Bay area (out of over 3 million in
the state of
The licensee, and the Commission,
make much of the station's confusing on-rush of embarrassed amendments,
"corrections," and upgrading of the renewal form report of past
programming and promises for the future. Not only do I not find this
activity persuasive, it is, in my judgment, even more reason to set this
renewal for hearing. There are factual disputes (which can only be
resolved by hearing). Upgrading is an admission, of sorts, that things
could be better. There may have been misrepresentations to the
Commission. The Commission's eager acceptance of these changes only
renders more obvious, and indecorous, its consistent favoritism of the licensee
in the face of community outrage.
I dissent.