New Fox Chief Focuses on 7th-Night Expansion : Television: But journalists at annual press gathering dwell on the gender, not the agenda, of Lucie Salhany.

When Lucie Salhany took the podium Friday morning in Santa Monica during the annual winter television press tour, a gathering of national TV critics and journalists seemed more interested in her new position as the highest-ranking woman in broadcast history than in her plans for the TV network she now oversees.

“I think I got the job because of 25 years of experience, not because I’m a female,” said Salhany, the former Paramount Pictures TV executive who was named chairwoman of the Fox Broadcasting Co. four days earlier.

Salhany did talk some about her first priority at the network: to solidify Fox’s seventh night of programming. On Jan. 19, Fox expands to Tuesdays with the premiere of two one-hour dramas: the ensemble “Class of ‘96,” about a group of college freshmen, and the off-beat “Key West,” about a lottery winner who moves to Key West, Fla.

And Salhany, citing “expansion and growth” as the new bywords at Fox, vowed that Chevy Chase’s late-night talk show will premiere as planned in September.

But for the most part, the press wanted to talk about Salhany’s gender.

The new Fox chief conceded that the TV industry historically has been dominated by men, but when asked if Hollywood is a boys club now, she said, “I think it’s just a club, and I’m in it.”

While hurriedly preparing early Friday morning to make the interview session, Salhany said, it struck her that “the reason these jobs are held by men is that they don’t have to blow-dry their hair for a half-hour every day.”

One reporter wondered if Salhany, as a woman, would bring a different sensibility to the youthful Fox network. “I may bring a different sensibility,” she said, “but I don’t think the viewers will notice a change.”

Another reporter asked Salhany if she minded being treated like a woman. “Before 6 p.m. (I do),” she said, laughing. “During the day it bothers me. But don’t kid yourself: I use it. You have to go with the flow. Believe me, at 6 p.m. I go back to being a wife and mommy.”

Shortly after Salhany spoke, Fox Entertainment Group President Sandy Grushow, who replaced Peter Chernin just over a month ago, got down to the business of network programming. He announced that Fox will broadcast in February the pilot for a series starring Dame Edna Everage. Portrayed by Barry Humphries, Dame Edna is a flamboyant, matronly woman with blue hair. The character has a hit interview show in England and starred in several prime-time specials for NBC.

“A network, which shall remain nameless, got so preoccupied with losing a hit show and possibly losing its late-night talent that it neglected the person who’s just right for us,” Grushow said, suggesting that Fox stole Dame Edna from NBC when the option became available.