COUNTY APPEALS TO FCC : SUPERVISORS SUPPORT KEEPING KMEX-TV LATINO

Latino organizations opposing the sale of KMEX-TV (Channel 34) to non-Latino buyers won a new ally this week in the County Board of Supervisors. The board voted 3-0 to request that the Federal Communications Commission grant the station’s operating license to Latino buyers.

“Of course, we welcome this type of action by the board,” said Lawrence Amaya, chairman of the American GI Forum, one of several Latino community groups that last week attacked the proposed sale of KMEX and four other stations owned by Spanish International Communications Corp. to Hallmark Card Corp. and First Capital Corp. of Chicago.

Spanish International is selling the stations for $301.5 million partly in response to a January ruling by an FCC administrative law judge that the station’s licenses be revoked because the stations were secretly controlled by foreign interests in Mexico. The FCC challenge of Spanish International’s operating licenses came after an informal objection was filed by the Spanish Radio Broadcaster’s Assn. in 1980, an FCC spokesperson said.

Besides KMEX, the other major stations in the deal are KFTV-TV in Fresno, WLTV-TV in Miami, WXTV-TV in Paterson, N.J., and KWEX-TV in San Antonio, Tex.

Amaya and a still-evolving coalition of Latino organizations have charged that Hallmark and First Capital Corp. have not demonstrated a long-term commitment to Spanish-language broadcasting and that they lack experience in serving the Latino community. Moreover, coalition members charged that the sale of KMEX runs counter to federal policy encouraging minority ownership of television stations.

“We hope this (the board of supervisors’ action) has some influence with the FCC,” Amaya said. “The fact that we have a minority owner of the network who sells to Hallmark is a step in the wrong direction.” The coalition headed by Amaya has suggested that the FCC reconsider bids made by Latino investors before granting a license to the Hallmark group.

KMEX station manager Danny Villanueva was not available for comment. But Charles W. Hucker, a Hallmark spokesman, reiterated the firm’s commitment to long-term Spanish programming at the station beyond the two-year minimum required by the FCC.

“I can say that we are absolutely committed on a long-term basis to the Spanish-language format, and it is our intent to have the best possible programming available,” Hucker said. He said that Hallmark has a well-established record in contributing to Latino philanthropic causes.

Supervisor Ed Edelman made the motion to send a letter to FCC Director Mark S. Fowler requesting that a Latino firm be granted the operating license for KMEX in response to recent news reports that the station would be sold to Hallmark and First Capital Corp., Edelman’s office said.

The motion approved by the supervisors cited what it called Hallmark’s lack of experience in Spanish-language broadcasting, the importance of encouraging Latino ownership of television stations and the need to guarantee a dependable source of Spanish-language broadcasting in Los Angeles County.

Also voting for the measure were supervisors Kenneth Hahn and Mike Antonovich; Pete Schabarum abstained, and Deane Dana was not present.

A spokeswoman for the FCC in Washington said that the supervisors’ letter, once received, will be considered as a formal protest once Hallmark and First Capital Corp. conclude their negotiations with Spanish International Communications Corp and apply for an operating license.

Alan Clayton, an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens (a national Latino organization) and spokesman for the Los Angeles Chicano County Employees Assn., said that the board’s action indicated the supervisors’ increasing sensitivity toward Latino issues.