Before the
                    FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                          Washington, D.C.  20554
In re Applications of                  )
                                       )
Bloomington Twin Cities                )     File Nos. BR-890801VP
Broadcasting Corporation               )                    BRH-890801WV
     )
For renewal of license of              )
Stations WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM)             )
Bloomington, Illinois                  )
                       MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Adopted:  July 2, 1996                            Released:  July 24, 1996
By the Commission:
                             I.  INTRODUCTION
     1.    The Commission has before it for consideration:  (i)  license renewal applications
filed by Bloomington Twin Cities Broadcasting Corporation for Stations
WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM), Bloomington, Illinois ("WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM)"); (ii) a Petition to
Deny timely filed on November 1, 1989, by the Illinois State Conference of Branches of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP") and the Bloomington
County Chapter of the NAACP; (iii) an opposition from the licensee; and (iv) the licensee's
response to a staff letter of inquiry.
                              II.  BACKGROUND
      2.     The NAACP alleges that WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM) violated our Equal Employment
Opportunity (EEO) Rule and policies.  It requests that we conduct an investigation of the stations'
employment practices pursuant to Bilingual Bicultural NAACP on Mass Media v. FCC, 595 F.2d
621 (D.C. Cir. 1978) (Bilingual) and designate the renewal applications for hearing.  The licensee
charges that the NAACP has presented no evidence of discrimination, that the record indicates
compliance with the Commission's EEO Rule, and that unconditional renewal is warranted.
      3.     Standing.  In challenging an application pursuant to Section 309(d) of the
Communications Act of 1934, a petitioner must demonstrate party in interest status.  In addition,
a petitioner must, as a threshold matter, submit, "specific allegations of fact sufficient to show
... that a grant of the application would be prima facie inconsistent with [the public interest,
convenience, and necessity]."  47 U.S.C.  309(d)(1); Astroline Communications Co. v. FCC, 857
F.2d 1556 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (Astroline); Dubuque T.V. Limited Partnership, 4 FCC Rcd 1999
(1989).  The allegations, except for those of which official notice may be taken, must be
supported by the affidavit of a person with knowledge of the facts alleged.  47 U.S.C.  309
(d)(1).
      4.     Submitted with the petition was a statement under penalty of perjury from the
President of the Bloomington County, Illinois, branch of the NAACP.  He states that he is a
regular listener of WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM).  We find that the declaration meets our requirements
for standing.  Accordingly, we hold that the NAACP has petitioner status against stations
WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM).  See American Legal Foundation v. FCC, 808 F.2d 84 (D.C. Cir.
1987); see also Petition for Rule Making to Establish Standards for Determining the Standing of
a Party to Petition to Deny a Broadcast Application, 82 FCC 2d 89 (1980)(citing Warth v. Seldin,
422 U.S. 490, 511 (1975)).
      5.     Prima Facie Case.  The NAACP derived its factual allegations from the licensee's
EEO program and annual employment reports.  Review of its allegations led us to conclude, as
a threshold matter, that the NAACP presented a prima facie case demonstrating that unconditional
grant of the renewal applications would have been inconsistent with the public interest.  See
Section 309(d)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C.  309(d)(1); See also Astroline.
      6.     Review of the NAACP's EEO allegations as well as the licensee's renewal
applications, opposition and inquiry response, however, leads us to conclude that there are no
substantial and material questions of fact warranting designation for hearing.  In addition, we find
no evidence that the licensee engaged in discrimination.  Thus, a grant of the renewal
applications will serve the public interest.  47 U.S.C.  309(d)(2).  See Astroline.  However, we
will impose appropriate remedies.
                             III.  DISCUSSION
      7.     Section 73.2080 of the Commission's Rules requires that a broadcast licensee
refrain from employment discrimination and establish and maintain a program reflecting positive
and continuing efforts to recruit and promote qualified women and minorities.  When evaluating
EEO performance, the Commission focuses on the licensee's efforts to recruit and promote
qualified women and minorities and the licensee's ongoing assessment of its EEO efforts.  Such
an assessment enables the licensee to take corrective action if qualified women and minorities
are not present in the applicant pool.  The Commission also focuses on any evidence of
discrimination by the licensee.  See Sections 73.2080(b) and 73.2080(c).
      8.     Review of the licensee's renewal applications, opposition and inquiry responses
reveals that the stations had 23 full-time hiring opportunities, including 18 for upper-level
positions, from August 1, 1986, through August 1, 1989.  In its renewal applications, the
licensee indicated contacting the following minority and general sources: the Illinois Broadcasters
Association Minority Internship Program, the United Private Industry Council, the Pantagraph,
Radio and Records Magazine, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Eastern
Illinois University, the Bloomington Human Relations Commission, the Illinois Department of
Job Services, the Radio-TV News Directors Association and employee referrals.  The licensee
indicated that it received the following number of minority referrals from the following sources:
the Illinois Broadcasters Association Minority Internship Program (3), Illinois State University
(1), the Radio-TV News Directors Association (1) and employee referrals (1).
      9.     In response to letters of inquiry requesting recruitment efforts data, the licensee
was unable to provide such information.  It indicated that, prior to November 1988, it did not
keep any records of actual sources contacted for each vacancy.  However, the licensee claims that
it contacted six recruitment sources on a regular basis, but not for every opening.  Moreover,
for the period prior to August 1989, the licensee was unable to provide the number, gender and
race or national origin of those who applied or were interviewed for each position.  The licensee
maintains that it was unaware of the recordkeeping requirements resulting from the Commission's
adoption of Amendment of Part 73 of the Commission's Rule Concerning Equal Employment
Opportunity in the Broadcast Radio and Television Services, 2 FCC Rcd 3967 (1987) (Broadcast
EEO).  Nevertheless, the licensee was able to provide the referral sources for 12 of the 16 hires
that it made prior to November 1988.  The following referral sources were used for these 12
hires: a general newspaper (7), employee referrals (4) and Illinois Job Service (1).  Additionally,
the licensee indicates that it knew the exact number of minority applicants for each position
during the period under review.  The licensee states that two Blacks applied for a clerical position
and one Black applicant was hired for an upper-level position in the news department.
Furthermore, the licensee claims that for all of its news positions, including five of the 23 full-
time vacancies, it contacted minorities who had placed advertisements with the Radio-Television
News Directors Association.  The licensee also asserts that it met with minority students at
Illinois State University and wrote letters to minority degree candidates from Southern Illinois
University, encouraging them to apply for positions at WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM).  However, the
licensee did not receive any applications from these contacts.
      10.    The NAACP contends that neither the licensee's 1982 nor 1989 renewal
applications reflect whether the licensee undertook an effective EEO program.  Neither the 1982
nor 1989 EEO programs listed any minority organizations or schools as recruitment sources.  The
NAACP argues that three of the six minority referrals listed in the 1989 renewal application may
not have been referrals for full-time positions because they were connected with an internship
program.  According to the NAACP, most of the stations' referrals came from a daily newspaper
which generated 59 female referrals.  The NAACP theorizes that if those 59 referrals represented
half the applicants during the renewal year, then the licensee had approximately 120 applicants
and did little to diversify its applicant pool.  The NAACP quotes the stations' 1975 through 1989
Annual Employment Reports and surmises that the licensee's longstanding under-employment of
minorities may be due to the licensee's belief that it need not employ minorities on a regular
basis.  The NAACP argues that the licensee should have known that aggressive corrective steps
were required based on its previous license renewals.  Yet this is at least the second renewal
term, according to the NAACP, in which the licensee has neither shown nor proposed any such
steps.
      11.    In response, the licensee first argues that the Commission should consider only the
information quoted by the NAACP relating to the December 1, 1982, through November 30,
1989, license term.  It contends that precedent clearly indicates that when reviewing a station's
record at renewal time the Commission will consider only the record during the license term
immediately preceding the filing of a renewal application.  United Broadcasting Co., 100 FCC
2d 1574, 1577 (1985); Tele-Broadcasters of California, Inc., 58 RR 2d 223, 225 (Rev. Bd. 1985).
Second, the licensee contends that the facts quoted in the petition are incomplete and fail to
provide an accurate reflection of its EEO practices.  It states that it has employed minorities on
at least a part-time basis during each year of the license term and has undertaken efforts to
recruit, employ and promote minorities even though the stations' applicable labor force is only
5.1% minority and few identifiable minority organizations exist in the Bloomington-Normal
MSA.
      12.    The NAACP states that Bloomington Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the parent
company of the licensee, also owns three  stations in Tennessee and Michigan against which the
NAACP also has petitions pending.  The NAACP requests that because BBC "displays a pattern
of systematic EEO noncompliance at its various stations" the Commission should consider when
analyzing these stations' EEO records whether BBC has engaged in intentional discrimination.
In response, the licensee argues that the NAACP has failed to allege any facts showing
intentional discrimination.  In addition, the licensee contends that the inquiry responses it
provided for its three stations in Tennessee and Michigan contained information establishing that
no racial discrimination had occurred at the stations.  The licensee argues that because the
NAACP's allegations of discrimination are unsupported, "there is no reason for the Commission
to depart from its case-by-case consideration of renewal applications filed by the BBC
subsidiaries."  We agree.
      13.    There are no substantial and material questions of fact warranting designation for
hearing.  See Astroline.  In this regard, we find no indication of employment discrimination
because the licensee attracted, interviewed and hired minorities during its tenure.  Under these
circumstances, grant of renewal is appropriate.
      14.    The record in this case indicates that the licensee recruited for only 12 of its 23
hires.  As a result, it reported only three minority applicants.  In addition, the licensee did not
begin recruitment efforts with minority specific sources until the final year of its license term.
During the inquiry period, the licensee failed to gather information necessary for adequate self-
assessment of its EEO efforts.  The licensee was unable to provide the number, gender and race
or national origin of those who applied or were interviewed for each position until the end of the
license term.
      15.    The sanction which we would ordinarily impose for the sort of deficiencies noted
here is the issuance of a Notice of Apparent Liability ("NAL").  However, an NAL is barred by
the applicable statute of limitations provisions of former Section 503(b)(6) of the
Communications Act, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  503(b)(6), and by former Section 1.80(c)(1) of
the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  1.80(c)(1).  Although the statute of limitations period was
extended to cover the entire license term by an amendment enacted on October 27, 1992, in this
case the then-applicable three-year statute of limitations period expired two months prior to the
statutory extension, i.e., in August 1992, three years after the last evidence of violations in
August 1989.  Nevertheless, to ensure that the licensee conducts meaningful self-assessment and
maintains an adequate EEO program, we will grant renewal and impose reporting conditions as
set forth below.
                              IV.  CONCLUSION
     16.  Upon review of the record, we find that grant of the renewal applications is in the
public interest.  However, we will grant the renewal applications of WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM)
subject to reporting conditions.
                           V.  ORDERING CLAUSES
     17.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Petition to Deny filed by the Illinois State
Conference of Branches of the NAACP and its Bloomington County Branch (NAACP) against
WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM) IS DENIED.
     18.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the license renewal applications for
WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM) ARE GRANTED subject to the reporting conditions specified herein.
     19.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the licensee of WJBC(AM)/WBNQ(FM),
submit to the Commission an original and one copy of the following information on August 1,
1996:
     (a)  Two lists divided by full-time and part-time job vacancies during the
          twelve months preceding July 1, 1996, indicating the job title and FCC job
          category, date of hire, the race or national origin, sex, and the referral
          source of each applicant for each job, and the race or national origin and
          sex of the person hired.  The list should also note which recruitment
          sources were contacted;
      (b)    A list of all employees as of the July 1, 1996, payroll period by job title
             and FCC job category, indicating full-time or part-time status (ranked from
             highest paid classification), date of hire, sex, and race or national origin;
             and
      (c)    Details concerning the station's efforts to recruit minorities for each
             position filled during the 12-month period specified, including
             identification of sources used and indicating whether any of the applicants
             declined actual offers of employment.  In addition, the licensee may
             submit any information it believes relevant regarding the station's EEO
             performance and its efforts thereunder.
      20.    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that the Mass Media Bureau send by
Certified Mail -- Return Receipt Requested -- one copy of this Memorandum Opinion and
Order to all parties.
      21.    The report is to be filed with the Acting Secretary of the Commission for
the attention of the Mass Media Bureau's EEO Branch.
      FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
      William F. Caton
      Acting Secretary