The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 44

4-C Sunday, Dec. 16, 1984 The Philadelphia Inquirer a network of TV stations in East Texas concert promoter, was born in Nac the part of black investors," admitted know how to receive a UHF signal, said station manager Wes Ferns, and thick East Texas fog interfered with reception. Yet, McLaughlin said, she prepared herself. "People think because I'm a black woman, I don't know what I'm doing," she said. "Well, I've done my homework.

I built this station from the ground up." When the station was applying for bank loans, McLaughlin encountered prejudice, although it usually was subtle and polite. "People have a tendency to overreact to her, to patronize her because she's a black female," said Ferns. Rumors about the "black station" began circulating months ago in this city of 72,000, where racial prejudice lingers in some places. Some feared it would cater mainly to blacks. Instead, although half its investors are black, the CBS affiliate is striving for a mainstream audience.

Two of the station's reporters are black, and there is ho minority programming. "It's been a very sensitive issue on chief executive officer of the station, has no television-management experience. She has been an author and a businesswoman, the wife of a Houston gynecologist and the mother of two young children. And if her Longview station succeeds, she plans to open additional stations in the Texas towns of Deni-son, Nacogdoches and Paris. She has FCC permission to build the stations.

Initially, the Longview station was plagued by accumulating debts when the opening was delayed for 13 months and many of the investors pulled out "We had a lot of people who wanted to pitch in a penny and make a million," said Mel Lewis, a Longview stockbroker and an investor in the station. "They lost faith and dropped by the wayside." National advertisers also have been slow in placing accounts with the Longview station, waiting, perhaps, for the first ratings that will show how many viewers KLMG is attracting. Also, television viewers did not ogdoches. "His grandparents were slaves in East Texas," McLaughlin said. In 1972, she graduated from How-ard University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in journalism.

Four years later, she published The Black Parents' Handbook: A Guide to Healthy Pregnancy, Birth and Child-care. The book launched her on a career as author, speaker and host of a local TV program in Houston. In 1979, she decided to start a station and was encouraged by a college friend who worked for the FCC. She picked Longview because the area was not served by any local television stations. With the backing of investors and banks in East Texas, she obtained an FCC construction permit in 1982 and CBS affiliation in 1983.

Her status as a minority is one reason the station succeeded, Lewis said. "The fact that she's a woman, a black woman, enabled her to open some doors that might have been difficult for others to open," he said. Lewis. "They know that Longview, Texas, is not going to support a black station with black programming." The station broadcasts from what once was Longview's all-black school, and McLaughlin had to convince investors the building was a shrewd purchase. Blacks in Longview have supported the station, and they have said they expect KLMG to add minority progamming.

"I feel they'll give the black community a fair shake," said James Wall, president of the local NAACP chapter. "In a few months, they'll probably venture into doing some black talk shows." There are few black-owned television stations in the United States. Twelve out of 1,181 commercial stations in the nation are licensed to minorities, according to the FCC. No statistics are available about the number of stations owned by women. McLaughlin was raised in Gainesville, where her mother ran a federal day-care center.

Her father, a "People think because I'm a black woman, I don't 'know what I'm doing" says Clara McLaughlin. "Well, I've done my homework. I built this station from the ground up." In Longview, McLaughlin is regarded with a mixture of awe, admiration and suspicion. "It's been 30 years since we had a local television station," said Opal Jones of the Longview Chamber of Commerce. "We feel proud." Stores have had trouble keeping television antennas in stock since the station began broadcasting.

"People want to watch home-town stuff, not foreign policy," said Dennis Harris, a Radio Shack employee. McLaughlin, 40. president and a BMSdim mum szk szs fit Forging By Peter Dallas Times Herald At 5:30 a.m., Clara McLaughlin climbs into her Rolls-Royce. She leaves Houston and drives into East Texas. Darkness covers the pine forests where her ancestors lived in slavery a century ago.

At 9:20 a.m., she reaches Longview, Texas. The car is parked under a satellite dish. Clara McLaughlin, the first black woman in the United States to be the primary owner of a television station, is ready for work. McLaughlin is trying to forge a television network in East Texas. Her quiet determination has disarmed skeptics at CBS and the Federal Communications Commission, and at banks and board meetings.

She raised $6 million to finance the building of the Longview station from scratch, bringing television to households dependent on cable or on the station in Tyler. The station began operation Sept. 9, and KLMG Channel 51 now reaches about 210,000 homes in an 11-county area. Old mission geared to student life By Charles Hillinger Los Angeles Times SANTA CLARA, Calif. Every year, 400 or more students at the University of Santa Clara are married at the Mission Santa Clara de Asis.

Also each year, the historic church centerpiece of the Jesuit university is the site for baptisms of at least 100 babies born to collegiate couples, and for funeral services for current and former members of the university community. "Since 1851, the mission has been the property of and administered by California's first institution of higher learning, the University of Santa Clara," said Charles White, 28, director of the mission church for the last seven years. "Because of this tradition, weddings, baptisms and funerals pe-formed in the mission are limited to students, faculty and staff, present and past, with student use far outnumbering staff and faculty." Mission Santa Clara de Asis was founded in 1777 as the eighth of the 21 California missions. The current mission building is a replica of the church dedicated on the same site in 1828. On Oct.

24, 1926, the 1828 building was destroyed by fire. The mission was rebuilt and rededicated in 1928. Original walls Original adobe walls are part of the church. The cross in front of the mission is the cross first erected in 1777. It is encased in redwood for protection.

Three of the mission bells that ring on campus were part of the original 1777 mission building. "It is unique among California missions. It not only stands as a replica of a historic relic but functions as a student chapel," White said. "For Catholics among the 7,000 students and those on the faculty and staff of the university, this is their parish." Six Masses celebrated each Sunday in the mission attract nearly 2,000 students. "The campus parish has a style unique to the students," White said.

"Classical and folk music accompany the celebration of Mass with the musical instruments being mainly guitars, flutes and clarinets. "Sermons are often as not topical, touching on such subjects as the women's movement, international issues." Concerts, speeches During the week, the church is used for concerts, speeches, performances and special programs. Plaques in the mission commemorate Santa Clara students who have died in combat since the Civil War. Marble holy-water fonts on the altar were gifts of the class of 1887. Attendance at the Masses is not limited to the university community.

"Divorced Catholics in the Santa Clara area feel welcome here, unlike in their own churches," White said. "Others who feel their pastors are too slow in implementing Vatican II reforms come here." When California entered the union in 1850, Father Joseph Alemany was named bishop for the state. It was the bishop who realized that a college was needed, and he offered Jesuit priest John Nobili the mission property. The following year Santa Clara College was founded by Father Nobili, starting with two teachers and 12 students. Father Nobili and one of the first students, James Murphy, are buried in the mission church.

The Jesuit residence on campus is called Nobili Hall. inquirer Classified LnJUU 4 4 I- fjjtfrtj wmii fa lrvrOT I -mmmmii 4 TkK frlf I I i i If i i I Jl; ttfitlh -A i 1 ui sxpress' I fliiif lu Mm wwri And Visa Honored. I "til jj ff I Seiko Watches on Main, Chestnut..