NEWSReport No. MM 96-20     MASS MEDIA ACTION       May 1, 1996 

      FCC DENIES PETITION TO DENY FILED BY NAACP AND LULAC REGARDING
          RENEWAL APPLICATION OF KOCE(TV), HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA; 
        GRANTS RENEWAL OF KOCE(TV) SUBJECT TO REPORTING CONDITIONS 

 The FCC denied the petition to deny filed by the California State Conference of branches of the
NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) regarding the renewal application
of KOCE(TV), Huntington Beach, CA; and granted the renewal application of KOCE(TV), subject to
reporting conditions.

 The NAACP/LULAC petition to deny was based on the licensee's failure to provide data as to
minority referrals in its 1993 EEO Program Report.  The 1993 EEO Program Report indicated that such
data were "not recorded," raising the question as to whether KOCE-TV maintained adequate records
concerning its recruitment efforts.  Petitioners further noted that KOCE-TV's 1988 EEO Program Report
also failed to include data as to minority referrals and that an EEO inquiry letter had been sent by the
staff in connection with KOCE-TV's 1988 renewal application. Finally, petitioners alleged that KOCE-
TV's annual employment reports reflect no "net new hires" of minorities for upper-level positions. 
KOCE-TV responded that referral data were not included in the 1993 EEO Program Report because the
necessary data were maintained by the licensee's Office of Human Resources and were not available to
the station personnel who prepared the report.  KOCE-TV is a division of a noncommercial educational
authority that also includes three community colleges and has a centrally administered EEO plan.  The
licensee also noted that, following staff inquiry, its 1988 renewal was unconditionally and routinely
granted.  Finally, it urged that the Commission's EEO Rule does not require that a station necessarily
have "net new hires" of upper-level minorities.

 The FCC granted the renewal application for KOCE-TV. The record reflects that the station has not
engaged in discrimination and has a program of recruiting minority and female applicants.  The absence of
net new minority upper-level hires does not alone establish an EEO violation.  Nonetheless, the fact that
referral data are not available to the staff directly responsible for station operations is indicative of an
inadequacy in KOCE-TV's efforts to self-assess the effectiveness of its recruitment efforts, especially in
view of an apparent need for careful assessment of the licensee's efforts in recruiting Hispanic applicants. 
Hispanics constitute a significant and growing segment of the area labor force.  Accordingly, the grant is
subject to reporting conditions.

     Action by the Commission April 1, 1996 by MO&O (FCC 96-148).  Chairman Hundt,
Commissioners Quello, Ness and Chong.
                                      - FCC -
     News Media contact:  Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0500.
     Mass Media Bureau contact: Roy W. Boyce at (202) 418-1450.