The Federal Communications Commission changed the location of its meeting Tuesday in New York on "barriers to communications financing," which will focus largely on minority access, or lack of it, to capital.
The FCC did not explain the change but said that instead of Barnard College, the en banc hearing will now be held in Harlem at the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Boulevard). It also lined up a full two-dozen speakers.
A source said the Barnard room was just too small to accommodate the hearing, though the FCC would have tried to make it work if the Schomberg venue had not been offered.
The FCC is holding back-to-back meetings in New York, the other one in Brooklyn the next day on spectrum issues.
The FCC described the conference this way: "The purpose of the hearing and subsequent conference is to enhance the knowledge of the commission and attendees about: the present state of capital markets as those markets impact ownership diversity in the media and telecom industries and, particularly, the success of minorities and women entrepreneurs; how financing is secured for new, diverse, resource-limited ventures, focusing on actual problems encountered by women and minorities attempting to secure financing for media and telecom deals; and potential ways the commission can help facilitate financing opportunities for minorities and women."
The commission also announced the witnesses for the hearing, which goes from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. They are:
Panel 1: Raul Alarcon, CEO, Spanish Broadcasting System; Percy Berger, managing partner, Dempster Group; Pastor Delman Coates, Enough Is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility in Entertainment; James Fleming Jr., partner, Columbia Capital; Ronald Gordon, president and CEO, ZGS Communications; Anita Stephens Graham, partner, Opportunity Capital Partners; Reginald Hollinger, managing partner, Quetzal/JPMorgan Partners; Terry L. Jones, managing general partner, Syncom Funds; Brian Rich, managing partner, Catalyst Investors; Andy Schwartzman, president and CEO, Media Access Project; Diane Sutter, president and CEO, ShootingStar Broadcasting; and Frank Washington, chairman and CEO, Tower of Babel.
Panel 2: Charles J. Dreifus, managing director, CIT Communications, Media & Entertainment; Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner, InterMedia Partners; George Ivie, CEO and executive director, Media Ratings Council; William Lisecky, managing director, Oppenheimer & Co./Investment; Chesley Maddox-Dorsey, president and chief operating officer, Access1 Communications; Steve Morris, chairman, president and CEO, Arbitron; Susan Patrick, co-owner, managing partner, Patrick Communications; Michael V. Roberts Jr., chairman and CEO, The Roberts Cos.; John Stevens Robling Jr., managing director, LIATI Capital; Mayela Rosales, executive vice president, Azteca America, SWFL; Charles Warfield, president, Inner City Broadcasting; and James Winston, executive director, National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters.
