Preferences Get Static in Broadcasting : * Controversy: Does giving women and minorities a leg up in getting licenses for radio and TV stations lead to greater diversity in programming?

After nearly nine years, Francine Rienstra has finally gotten a leg up in business thanks to government policy. Last month she won final approval to build a new FM radio station in Tucson, Ariz., under Federal Communications Commission guidelines that give partial preference to female applicants.

“We intend to target a women audience with a very different type of programming than what is currently available,” she said. “News, public affairs and information that will specifically deal with women’s issues.”

Rienstra, with seven other women, spent nearly $300,000 on engineering studies and lawyers to shepherd the application through the FCC’s labyrinthine appeals process. She hopes her women-owned-and-operated radio station will be on the air by the end of the year.

In her case, the government policy that gives preference to women is an important step toward diversifying ownership of coveted media outlets. But Rienstra is actually at the center of a bitter debate renewed Wednesday when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ruled that the FCC can no longer give women a preference when competing for broadcasting licenses.

Thomas wrote that there was no empirical evidence showing that ownership of broadcast stations among women leads to diversity in programming--the philosophical underpinning behind the preference system. He wrote the opinion while on the U.S. Appeals Court, but it was released only this week.

The decision, which came as a blow to women and minorities who have been seeking to break into the ownership ranks of the broadcasting establishment, was immediately assailed by public interest groups as a regressive measure advocated by conservative Republicans.

“This will make it much more difficult for women to obtain broadcast licenses,” said Katherine Schmeltzer, a Washington attorney and chairwoman of American Women in Radio and Television. “We were only beginning to see women rise in the managerial ranks.”

At the heart of the controversy is the issue of whether giving women, minorities or any other group preferences in being awarded scarce broadcasting licenses contributes to a broader choice in programming for the public.

Some of those who are against such preferences cite the two largest Latino TV broadcasters in the country--Telemundo Group and Univision--which are owned by Wall Street financier Saul Steinberg and Hallmark Cards, respectively. Neither are minority-controlled companies.

Nevertheless, in 1990, the Supreme Court upheld the practice of minority preferences in granting broadcasting licenses. But some critics note that that may not be enough to encourage minority ownership.

“Through a number of subtle and not-so-subtle policy shifts since the early 1980s, the FCC has signaled that minority ownership is no longer a high priority,” said James Winston, a Washington lawyer who heads the National Assn. of Black-Owned Broadcasters.

He said that between 1976 and 1981 the number of black-owned radio stations rose to 140 from 30, and the number of TV stations to 10 from one. But in the past 11 years, he says, those numbers have inched up to only 182 and 15, respectively.

Although there has been plenty of evidence that minority ownership of broadcast stations results in a wide choice of programming for the public, the picture is sketchier when it comes to permits won on the basis of gender.

“Neither Congress nor the FCC has ever attempted to define female-oriented programming because it could mean 17 different things,” said Michael Carvin, the lawyer whose challenge of the gender-preference issue won a favorable ruling from Justice Thomas.

Some communications attorneys complain that women have been used as “fronts” for investors and backers who want to use the gender-preference enhancement as an edge in getting a broadcast license.

“I think you can safely say that any time an application is filed for a new FM or AM station, the people who are involved are going to try and get a woman involved in a managerial capacity,” said Harry Warner, a Los Angeles communications attorney.

There are also rules that allow broadcasters selling their stations to delay paying capital gains taxes if they sell to a minority-controlled company. The FCC cracked down on that practice in the late 1980s after it became evident that an increasing number of broadcasters were abusing the rule.

“Whenever you have a situation where one person can get an advantage over another, it is not that unusual for the group to get a ‘token’ minority or woman to beef up their application,” said John Douglas, who, as the owner of six radio stations in California, is the state’s largest minority radio broadcaster. Most of his California radio stations air Korean, Japanese or Chinese-language programming.

But Rienstra noted that fostering minority or female ownership through a system that includes preferences should not be solely graded on the kind of programming these radio stations offer. She said the issue is a broader one of encouraging more women and minorities to become owners.

Her application, which was challenged by Sacramento broadcaster Ed Stoltz, was also favorably looked upon by the FCC because two of her eight partners are minorities. Furthermore, they are local Tucson residents who promise to be integrally involved in running the station.

“I never had a mentor,” she explained. “I intend to train other women how to operate and own radio stations, to run a business, opportunities that were denied me--because I am a woman--when I worked in sales at Tucson radio stations.”

Tuning Out Minorities

America’s radio and television stations are owned almost exclusively by whites or non-minority-controlled companies. Critics say greater diversity of ownership would promote wider variety in programming and more progressive employment practices. Chart shows percentage of ownership of AM and FM radio stations and television stations by ethnic groups as of Aug. 31, 1991. Data on station ownership by women is unavailable.

Black: 1.8%

Hispanic: 0.8%

Asian: 0.1%

Native American: .0004%

White: 97.3%

Source: National Telecommunications and Information Administration