FCC Keeps Watchful Eye on KFMB-TV Hiring Practices

In a sense, KFMB-TV (Channel 8) has been put on probation by the Federal Communications Commission.

In 1988, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Black Media Coalition requested that the FCC deny the license renewal application for Channel 8 and five other California television stations, charging that the stations failed to follow federal equal employment opportunity guidelines.

Since then, KFMB has been in limbo while the request worked its way through the FCC bureaucracy. If found to be at fault, the commission could have revoked the station’s operating license.

The FCC finally issued its decision in May. One of the six stations was fined $12,000 and forced to reapply for its license in three years instead of the usual five, and another was fined $5,000.

KFMB and the other four stations weren’t fined, but the FCC imposed “reporting conditions” against the stations. For the next three years, KFMB will have to file detailed annual reports on its hiring practices, including a list of all its job vacancies and all the efforts it has made to hire minorities.

If the reports indicate that KFMB’s hiring practices are still lacking, the FCC could impose fines or, in an extreme case, force the station to reapply for its license, according to Lewis Pulley, the attorney adviser for the FCC’s mass media bureau, equal employment opportunity branch.

“It’s the mildest possible sanction,” said KFMB’s Washington-based attorney, Gregory Schmidt, who said the station’s problem was primarily a “deficiency in record keeping.”

KFMB officials are undoubtedly aware of the implications of the FCC’s actions. Although they never acknowledged any wrongdoing, soon after the license renewal was challenged in 1988, KFMB hired two minority reporters. The station also formed a commission that reviews all hirings to ensure that proper guidelines are followed for each position.

KGTV (Channel 10) is planning to switch “Inside San Diego,” the local chat show hosted by the perky Bill Griffith and Laura Buxton entering its fourth year on the air, from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. The “Home Show” will move from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The change will probably be made sometime next month.

The move will get the show away from the stiff competition of the massively popular soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” At the same time, the focus of the show will continue to move away from news and toward softer features.

“We realize our audience is mainly women 25 to 54 years old,” said Production Manager Mike Biltucci. “The topics you see on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Good Housekeeping and all the other magazines that the audience buys are the type of topics that the audience goes for.”

Weird is the word more than one KFMB (B-100) radio staffer used to describe a series of supposedly voluntary seminars for workers at the station. The workshops’ premise seems to be that everybody will be happier if they are more productive and work longer hours, one staffer said. “Real ‘Stepford Wives’ material,” said another.

“That’s not it at all,” said station General Manager Paul Palmer, adding that the seminars are a chance for the staff members to freely express themselves, and that he wants to “bring together a team with a clear focus.”

Meanwhile, the staff is in a state of upheaval. Both AM promotions director Sandi Banister, who had been with KFMB for seven years, and FM promotions director Dianna Eades have been given their walking papers. And longtime B100 music director and disc jockey Gene Knight is the station’s new program director, replacing Mike Novak, who left abruptly two months ago.

“We’re talking about a station that has had virtually no turnover for 15 to 16 years,” Palmer said. “To be as healthy as we can be we need a combination of people who have been here and some fresh blood.”

Ex-councilwoman Linda Bernhardt’s stint as a KSDO-AM (1130) once-a-week commentator is over after just two months. “We didn’t think the project was going anywhere, primarily because the audience had no recourse to respond, unlike with the other (talk show) hosts,” said news director Kelly Wheeler. The station has dropped all the morning commentaries. . . .

When someone broke into KSDO Administrative Assistant Laurel DeHaan’s car Thursday night, the thief ignored her stereo and other items to take a package on the back seat. It contained the station’s 22 entries for the San Diego Press Club Awards contest. The robber apparently didn’t like the loot. DeHaan and her companion found the entries a few hours later in a trash bin. . . .

Former KCBQ (105.3) co-owner Simon T is back in the business. He’s been named “special assistant to the president and acting chief operating officer” of Beasley Broadcast Group, the Florida-based operation that owns stations around the country. . . .

Jim Seemiller is the new general manager of KCBQ. He moves over from the executive offices of Adams Communications, which owns the station.