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The plight of blacks seeking to enter and remain viable in the broadcasting industry as television or radio owners was depressingly spelled out recently by the nation's only television black licensee.
In an appearance before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications recently, Ulysses W. Boykin, vice president of WGPR-TV, Channel 62, Detroit, first declared there "appears to have been a conspiracy in the United States that has kept the black minority out of meaningful participation in radio and television wonership, has prevented those black-owned stations from getting a fair share of the business as well as any financing."
These are sweeping charges. So is the one in which Mr. Boykin asserted that "those coconspirators include the Federal Communications Commission, the rating agencies, the banking and lending institutions and the advertising agencies."
Unfortunately, the charges are grounded in truth. I can honestly say, however, that FCC is no longer the culprit it once was in stifling minority ambitions to enter the broadcast industry. It is now moving in positive ways, to correct history's wrongs. Just recently, FCC held a two-day Minority Broadcast Owners Conference, a first, to address many of...