had statements about his dark brown with the boy. TV license renewal still being battled By David Koenig Review-Journal Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — In a case that has dragged more slowly than the summer reruns, former state Sen. William Hemstadt seeks to overturn a judge’s decision to re new the license of KVBC-TV (Channel 3), the top-rated televi sion station in Las Vegas. After three years of hearings and legal maneuvering, administrative law judge Joseph Stirmer said KVBC has built “an enviable re cord of service” to Las Vegas. The judge rejected Hernstadt’s claims that KVBC’s owners lied to the Federal Communications Commis sion about ownership and manage ment of the station. Hemstadt appealed Stirmer’s ruling to the FCC appeals board, which heard oral arguments on Dec. 16, and is expected to issue a decision soon. The board’s ruling can be appealed to the five-mem ber federal commission, and be yond that to the federal appeals court in Washington. Still, the administrative law judge’s ruling was a major victory for Valley Broadcasting, the com pany that owns KVBC, and its president and chief owner, James Rogers, a Las Vegas medical mal practice attorney. Rogers holds 49.97 of the company’s stock. His wife, Janet (Phillips) Rogers, is ex ecutive vice president and owns another 11.07 percent. Louis Wie ner Jr., a longtime Las Vegas attor ney and accountant, is the second largest stockholder with a 30 per cent stake. Hemstadt’s play for KVBC is chronicled in 2,500 pages of hear ing transcripts that, along with other papers from the proceeding, fill 21 phone book-sized binders. The file speaks volumes about the lucrative nature of owning a license to broadcast on the public air waves, especially when the station enjoys the best ratings in its mar ket, as KVBC did in 1988. In the 1970s, Channel 3 was op erated by the Donrey Media Group, which owns the Review- Journal, but lost its license because it ran local advertisements in time slots also paid for by national ad vertisers. The FCC granted Valley Broad casting temporary authority to op erate the station in 1979. But Val ley soon ran into severe financial problems and tapped shareholders for $1.4 million to stay on the air. This divided the owners into two groups. One side favored cutting expenses, while the other, led by Rogers, favored spending more money to compete with the other two network-affiliated stations in Las Vegas. During this time, Valley’s own ers were a constantly changing cast of characters as the two stockhold er groups fought for control. Hemstadt charged that Valley Broadcasting lied to the FCC about ownership changes, concoct ed a phony sale of stock to protect one owner’s wealth from a govern ment loan foreclosure, misled the commission about who would man age the station, and failed to dis close stockholders’ interests in oth er broadcast outlets. In its defense, Channel 3’s own ers said they did their best to com ply with myriad reporting rules. They also gathered glowing testi monials from civic leaders and key politicians of both major parties, including then-governor and now Sen. Richard Bryan, former Sen. Please see LICENSE/4B to county commission