Black TV station owner: 'It's fight back time'

Charles Glover, chairman/CEO of the Corporate Media Group, which is based in Ohio, Wednesday called on African Americans to organize and turn up the heat on U.S. senators who have the power to reverse a FCC ruling that will literally pull the plug on their stations forever.

Glover, who owns two TV stations in Portland, ME, and is negotiating a Fox affiliation TV station in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, said the FCC ruling which expands ownership to a single company in several media outlets is designed "to shut out the smaller guys.

"We're probably one of the more onery people; so, we'll never sell out to any of the larger corporations, and we'll keep them at bay as long as it's humanly as possible.

"The ruling doesn't do anything to help minorities. It was pretty much a sell out on behalf of the FCC motivated by political considerations of George Bush and Dick Cheney," Glover said. He made his comments after attending a workshop entitled: "The State of Minority Ownership Within the Communications Industry: Will It Survive When Being No. 1 Is Not Enough" held at the 32nd annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition convention.

Born in Detroit, Glover, who said Blacks own 22 TV stations, stated: "Diversity takes the biggest hit in this situation because you're quieting the voices. The Republicans and the right-wing are using a smoke screen of cable TV as a fact that increases diversity.

"Actually, they own all of the cable channels," he added.