Robin Sundaramoorthy

Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland. 

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted, only five radio stations out of the 5,500 on air were Black-owned. The next several decades brought incremental increases in Black broadcast ownership; even these would have been impossible, however, without pressure from the citizen groups and government officials dedicated to bringing attention to these dismal ownership numbers. This essay will show how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 set in motion a series of events that addressed increasing minority broadcast minority ownership. I interviewed media experts from the 1960s and 1970s, including two former Commissioners from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the former director of the National Black Media Coalition (NBMC), the executive director of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB), an attorney in the Carter White House Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP), and the former administrator for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, a spate of legislation and executive orders were instituted over the next several years. These actions abolished poll taxes; gave citizens the right to vote in any election for President, Vice President, or Congress; and mandated affirmative action. By 1969, Robin D.G. Kelly and Earl Lewis say, African Americans were “surprisingly optimistic [about these] remarkable gains.”[1] Theoretically, these actions were supposed to end Jim Crow laws and gender discrimination, but racism was embedded into the very fabric of peoples’ lives and buckled very little in the face of these initiatives.

The FCC was not immune to changes taking place in the broader culture, but it was slow to act. FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson was quite vocal during his seven-year tenure and spoke out vehemently against racism. Business Week called Johnson a “young maverick.”[2] Rolling Stone said he was a “triple threat” because, unlike lawmakers, he could “talk, write and think.”[3] Ebony’s Phyl Garland likened him to a “renegade.”[4] Even Johnson considered himself “too hot to handle.”[5] The self-proclaimed rabble-rouser accused his fellow commissioners of failing to take charges of racial discrimination and worked to advocate for Black empowerment in the telecommunications industry.

While most of his FCC colleagues were collegial, he told me about a time when Dean Burch, FCC Chairman at the time, threatened him for speaking out so forcefully for African Americans. Johnson recalls Burch saying in an open meeting that “if I kept doing that, he was going to take me out behind the FCC building and beat the hell out of me.” That never happened. Despite the tensions, Johnson continued advocating for Black empowerment. Understanding his actions would limit future opportunities after his FCC term ended, Johnson said: “I knew what I was doing at the FCC. I would never have a job in a Washington, DC law firm… but I knew that, and I was willing to pay that price.” Johnson said his goal was to make sure African Americans knew they were welcome to speak their minds to the FCC. Of his actions, he said: “It just seemed to be the natural thing to do. I did it because it was right, and it needed to be done.”

Change at the FCC would not come in any meaningful way until 1968, when the FCC adopted Equal Employment Opportunity requirements thanks to pressure by the United Church of Christ Office of Communication, and the Kerner Commission released its scathing report about the role the media played in fostering divisive race relations.[6]  The Kerner Commission determined that the media failed to communicate the truth about race relations to both White and Black communities and severely misrepresented and distorted African Americans in the media.[7] Former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown was quite blunt in his assessment: “You’ve got all these Black people sitting and watching all these White people succeeding in our society while Black people are being held back. Something had to be done to change that.”[8] The results of that report impacted FCC Chairman Richard “Dick” Wiley deeply. The Republican from Illinois felt compelled to address the inequalities in the broadcast industry and instructed Ben Hooks, the first African American FCC Commissioner, to hold a two-day conference on minority broadcast ownership.

The event, held at FCC’s headquarters in Washington, DC in April 1977, brought government officials, industry insiders, academics, and concerned citizens together to discuss the dismal state of minority ownership, barriers to access, and possible solutions to these problems. By 1977, only 56 of the 8,000 radio stations in the US were owned by Blacks. In his opening remarks at the event, Wiley said he found the ownership numbers “disturbing” and insisted that “the acquisition and successful operation of broadcast properties must be free of racial, ethnic or sexual discrimination.”[9]

Frank Washington argues that Black radio was key to Carter’s win. Washington, who is African American, worked as an attorney in the Carter White House Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP). According to Washington, Black-owned and Black-oriented radio stations in several major markets played Carter campaign ads, which worked in persuading Blacks to vote for him.[10] After Black voters helped propel Carter to victory, he decided to make increasing minority broadcast ownership a key goal of his administration. Carter tasked his newly created National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) with leading the charge and asked agency leader Henry Geller to find ways to help more minorities enter broadcast ownership. Carter also replaced Wiley with Democrat Charles D. Ferris. Prior to leading the FCC, Ferris worked on Capitol Hill and helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ferris said the changes taking place legislatively were “long overdue”[11] and credits the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with providing African Americans with “some measure of control, some relief to the despair that had been a part of their lives for so long.”[12] Lester Fettig holds the same sentiment. Fettig was Carter’s choice to head the procurement process in OMB in the Carter White House. One of Fettig’s responsibilities was making sure federal contracts were set aside for minorities. He was also tasked with defining the term “minority” to ensure business was being conducted with the proper groups as well as appropriations for other programs aimed at helping minorities. Last but not least, he worked closely with White House officials who were trying to make sure people of color and women had an opportunity to enter broadcast ownership. When asked why all of this was occurring, Fettig said it was because “tolerating the intolerable” was no longer acceptable.[13]

Jim Winston, president of NABOB, credits the work done by community organizers, civil rights organizations, and others in changing the FCC. Winston said, “We were fortunate enough eventually with the civil rights movement to be able to move into ownership ourselves because there was an important connection that we could provide to the community and didn’t have to be artificial with.” However, the FCC did not make that process easy and was not eager to change.[14] Pluria Marshall, former executive director of NBMC, agrees. He too credits the civil rights movement with starting the NBMC and speaks fondly of the efforts of Bill Wright, founder of Black Efforts for Soul Television (BEST), to advocate for better media content and opportunities to enter broadcasting. NBMC was known for challenging broadcast licenses, but the organization did much more. NBMC also submitted a number of proposals for new rules to be implemented at the FCC. For example, in 1972, NBMC petitioned the FCC to create a Minority Affairs Office to help people of color navigate the financial and technical requirements needed to acquire a TV or radio station. A few years later in 1975, the group asked the FCC to promote “affirmative action on the airways”[15] by taking substantive measures to make sure African Americans and other minorities had a chance to become owners.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 set in motion a series of events that addressed increasing minority broadcast minority ownership 14 years later during the Carter Administration. The Minority Tax Certificate, the Distress Sale Policy, and FCC Docket No. 80-90 were adopted during the Carter presidency. The Minority Tax Certificate provided a tax credit that would encourage the sale of stations to minorities. The Distress Sale Policy gave disgraced White broadcasters a chance to keep their licenses if they sold their station to a minority. Docket 80-90 created 689 new FM stations across the country and provided preference points to minorities who permits to build new stations in small towns or mid-sized cities. The Minority Tax Certificate had some modicum of success, the Distress Sale Policy less so. At least 10 African Americans built Docket 80-90 radio stations, but ultimately, each measure failed. Despite this, an effort was made to give minorities a voice, and that impact is still felt today.

 In 2021, Representative Kenneth Butterfield, a Democrat from North Carolina and who has since retired, reintroduced the Minority Tax Credit. When I asked Butterfield about his motivations, he emphasized the importance of America’s diversity and replied: “Minority-owned broadcast stations offer platforms for stories and viewpoints that may otherwise go ignored.”[16] In April 2024, a group of Democratic congressmen and women picked up where Butterfield left off and introduced legislation in support the Minority Tax Credit. The Broadcast VOICES Act, which stands for Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service, is cosponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow, Tammy Baldwin, Brian Schatz, Richard Blumenthal, Amy Klobuchar, Ben Cardin, and Rep. Steven Horsford.[17] There is broad support from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

It has been 60 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. While much progress has been made in the fields of journalism, mass communications, and telecommunications, there is still so much more left to be done. Hopefully in the years and decades to come, a new generation of broadcasters will learn from what has been done in the past, and the essays commemorating the mass communication milestones of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will have much more to celebrate.

Bibliography

Broadcasting. “FCC Undertakes Aid to Minorities in Acquisitions.” May 2, 1977.

Brown, Tyrone. Telephone interview by the author, November 21, 2021.

Business Week. “Beaming to the Ghetto: Black Radio Tells It Like It Is.” September 1968.

Butterfield, G.K. Email message to the author, September 7, 2021.

Fife, Marilyn. “Promoting Racial Diversity in US Broadcasting: Federal Policies versus   Social Realities.” Media, Culture & Society 9, no. 4 (October 1987): 481–504. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344387009004006.

Ferris, Charles D. Interview by Donald A. Ritchie, DC, April 15, 2004, transcript at https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/ferris-charles-d-full-transcript-with-index.pdf.

Fettig, Lester. Zoom interview by the author, March 14, 2023.

Garland, Phyl. “Blacks Challenge the Airwaves.” Ebony 26, no. 1 (November 1970): 35–44.

“Horsford Introduces the Broadcast VOICES Act to Enhance Diversity in Broadcasting    Ownership.” Accessed March 30, 2024, https://horsford.house.gov/media/press-        releases/horsford-introduces-the-broadcast-voices-act-to-enhance-diversity-in-      broadcasting-ownership.

In the Matter of Amendment of Part 73 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding AM Station           Assignment Standards, Docket 20265. Comments of National Black Media Coalition on           Congressional Black Caucus’ Petition to Formulate a New Policy to Promote Minority     Ownership of Broadcast Properties, February 2, 1977. Communications Workshop      Meeting: Minority Ownership in Non-Commercial Broadcasting 6/30/77, Office of the Assistant to the President for Special Projects, box 5, Records of Martha (Bunny) Mitchell, Jimmy Carter Library.

Johnson, Nicholas. Telephone interview by the author, March 30, 2023.

Junker, Howard. “The Greening of Nicholas Johnson.” Rolling Stone, April 1, 1971.

Kelley, Robin D. G., and Earl Lewis. “Introduction.” In Into the Fire: African Americans since 1970. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1968.

Washington, Frank. Telephone interview by the author, November 9, 2021.

Winston, Jim. Interview by the author, June 4, 2021.

[1] Robin D. G. Kelley and Earl Lewis, “Introduction,” in Into the Fire: African Americans since 1970 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 6.

[2] “Beaming to the Ghetto: Black Radio Tells it Like it is,” Business Week, September 7, 1968, 75.

[3] Howard Junker, “The Greening of Nicholas Johnson,” Rolling Stone, April 1, 1971, 32.

[4] Phyl Garland, “Blacks Challenge the Airwaves,” Ebony 26, no. 1 (November 1970), 38.

[5] Nicholas Johnson (former FCC Commissioner) in discussion with the author, Thursday, March 30, 2023.

[6] Marilyn Fife, “Promoting Racial Diversity in US Broadcasting: Federal Policies versus Social Realities,” Media, Culture & Society 9, no. 4 (October 1987): 481–504, https://doi.org/10.1177/016344387009004006.

[7] National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1968).

[8] Tyrone Brown (former commissioner, Federal Communications Commission) in discussion with the author, Friday, November 21, 2021.

[9] “FCC Undertakes Aid to Minorities in Acquisitions,” Broadcasting, May 2, 1977, 31.

[10] Frank Washington (former deputy chief, Broadcast Bureau, Federal Communications Commission) in discussion with the author, November 9, 2021.

[11]Charles D. Ferris interview by Donald A. Ritchie, DC, April 15, 2004, transcript at https://www.senate.gov/about/resources/pdf/ferris-charles-d-full-transcript-with-index.pdf, 81.

[12] Charles D. Ferris interview by Donald A. Ritchie, 12.

[13] Lester Fettig (former administrator, Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget) in discussion with the author, March 14, 2023.

[14] Jim Winston (president, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters) in discussion with the author, Friday, June 4, 2021.

[15] In the Matter of Amendment of Part 73 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding AM Station Assignment Standards, Docket 20265, Comments of National Black Media Coalition on Congressional Black Caucus’ Petition to Formulate a New Policy to Promote Minority Ownership of Broadcast Properties, 3, February 2, 1977, Communications Workshop Meeting: Minority Ownership in Non-Commercial Broadcasting 6/30/77, Office of the Assistant to the President for Special Projects, box 5, Records of Martha (Bunny) Mitchell, Jimmy Carter Library.

[16] G.K. Butterfield, email message to the author, September 7, 2021.

[17] Steven Hosford, “Horsford Introduces the Broadcast VOICES Act to Enhance Diversity in Broadcasting Ownership,” Accessed March 30, 2024, https://horsford.house.gov/media/press-releases/horsford-introduces-the-broadcast-voices-act-to-enhance-diversity-in-broadcasting-ownership.