A Few Good Women . . . are needed to fill a communications industry void.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
What do Eve.com, Oxygen Media and USA Networks have in common?They're communications entities founded by women.
Despite these successful ventures, however, women owners aremostly missing from this industry. "Women have become generalcounsels and senior vice presidents, but we're not seeing womenCEOs or COOs of [communications] companies, or board members ofmajor companies," says the FCC's Susan Ness.
Cynthia Ringo, 47, laments the number of women involved in theequipment side of telecommunications. "[It's] a highlytechnical field that hasn't been particularly attractive towomen, nor has it been conducive to accepting women," saysRingo, CEO of Santa Clara, California-based CopperCom Inc., whichmanufactures the copper wiring that facilitates voice-over-DSL.
Ringo has been among the lucky few. CopperCom, which has a goodrepresentation of women at the vice president and director levels,has raised $155 million in venture funding since Ringo started itin 1998.
Part of the problem is industry consolidation, particularly inradio, where stations are gobbled up by large groups, making itdifficult for smaller operators to afford properties.
Another impediment is the lack of statistics detailingwomen's ownership numbers and roles in the industry, making itdifficult to identify obstacles and devise solutions to involvemore women. The most recent statistics date back to 1987, when 1.9percent of all television stations and 3 percent of radio stationswere owned by women.
Past efforts to open the industry to a wider range ofentrepreneurs have primarily targeted minorities. For instance,there was Broadcast Capital Inc., or BroadCap, a venture capitalfund that committed $17 million in seed funding to communicationsentrepreneurs from economically disadvantaged communities.
"The early BroadCap fund was a good publicity tool, but Idon't think more than eight companies received funding-and fiveare no longer in existence," says 40-year industry veteranDorothy Brunson, owner of the independent Philadelphia-basedtelevision station WGTW.
"It's not a matter of what obstacles [keep women fromownership]; it's a question of what it takes to get itdone," contends Diane Sutter, president of Shooting StarBroadcasting, which recently sold its Abilene, Texas, CBS affiliateand is acquiring another television station.
Sutter's success came as a result of two things: "One,I had access to information. Two, I had the opportunity to buildthe relationships necessary to [develop] my own company. I knew thebankers, brokers and other group heads," says the SouthernCalifornia entrepreneur, a 23-year industry veteran. She acquiredher knowledge from 15 years of managing radio and televisionproperties and six years serving as a group president.
Sutter used her experiences to help create a newindustry-financed ownership training program with the NationalAssociation of Broadcasting that targets women and minorities.During the 10-month Broadcast Leadership Training Program,participants meet monthly to learn from bankers, lawyers,accountants and other industry professionals, and developrelationships with the very people who will evaluate their stationfinancing packets.
Other efforts are in the works. Private-sector woman CEOs areorganizing a push to spotlight high-level women to include onindustry superpanels or add to short lists of candidates forstation or group manager slots. In addition, The Quetzal Fund, anew $170 million private equity fund from Chase Capital Partners,is aimed at communications firms controlled, owned or managed byethnic minorities and women.
These programs are just a start. Establishing morewomen-controlled communications firms will be a long-term processinvolving the industry, the government and the women who want tomake it happen.
Contact Sources
- CopperCom Inc., www.coppercom.com
- Shooting Star Broadcasting, (818) 788-8228, fax: (818)788-8009
- WGTW TV48, (215) 930-0482, www.wgtwtv.com
