Local broadcasters scale back as advertising fades

The withering economy and a decline in advertising are forcing Boston's TV stations to readjust their 2009 budgets, scale back programming, and eliminate employees.

Comcast Corp. will lay off at least 50 people and close the Brookline-based operations of the CN8 Network in New England early next month, according to paperwork filed with the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick said a final headcount hasn't been determined. The layoffs are part of a larger move to consolidate network operations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., he said.

At WCVB-TV Channel 5, officials have been quietly reducing their payroll, mostly through attrition, said Bill Fine, the station's president and general manager. He did not disclose how many people and jobs have been affected but a small number of off-air employees have been offered buyouts or early retirement.

"WCVB is not immune to the difficult advertising environment," Fine said.

Nor is Boston's Univision affiliate, WUNI-TV Channel 27, where Eduardo Guerrero, coanchor of the station's flagship 6 p.m. newscast, was recently laid off. The Spanish-language program is now being helmed solely by Sara Suarez.

A combination of factors is forcing stations to make cuts. Revenue continues to fall as advertisers - particularly auto dealers - pare spending. Auto ads amount to a third of revenue for local broadcasters, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising.

This year, $22 million in political ads for Bay State ballot questions, the New Hampshire Senate race, and the presidential election helped cushion local TV stations. But 2009 is a nonelection year.

"The local broadcast industry has always seen itself as a two-year cycle, feast and famine," said Gary Belis, spokesman for the Television Bureau of Advertising, which estimates local broadcasters around the country are down 7 percent in ad revenue this year.

"The even years are a feast year because of the political [elections] and Olympics," he continued. "The odd years are lean. The revenues normally that we would see in a fat year were there. . . . But they couldn't overcome the massive drop in the other categories."

Stations have also gradually seen their overall ratings erode year to year because of growing competition from cable channels and viewers migrating to the Internet.

In the recent November sweeps, most stations were down or flat in some of their key newscasts compared with the year before.

But a few saw increases. WHDH-TV Channel 7 and WFXT-TV Channel 25 grew their morning viewership, while WCVB grew at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. WBZ-TV Channel 4 maintained a lead at 11 p.m. but was virtually flat from a year ago.

TV stations use their numbers from sweeps to set advertising rates.

It's not just TV outlets feeling the financial squeeze. At least five Boston radio stations, including WBZ, WBCN, WBMX, WZLX, and WODS, have said they are laying off administrative staff to reduce costs. Mix 98.5 (WBMX) did not renew morning deejay John Lander's contract last week. WEEI-AM's Glenn Ordway told listeners last week he may be off the air for the rest of the year as his contract is negotiated. NPR also said it is downsizing its national workforce 7 percent after consistent losses in funding, though those cuts won't affect NPR's local station, WBUR-FM, said Corey Lewis, station manager.

"So far we have weathered the past 12 months of the recession on solid ground," Lewis said.

But the weak financial picture continues, and outlets are looking to save money wherever possible. WBZ-TV, for example, canceled its annual holiday party to reduce costs. "We decided to . . . redirect resources elsewhere," said Ro Dooley Webster, spokeswoman for WBZ.

While WBZ said yesterday that news director Jeff Kiernan will leave the station next month, Ed Piette, general manager of WBZ and sister station WSBK Channel 38, was quick to say the post will be filled, perhaps as soon as Feb. 1.

Kiernan, who arrived at WBZ in September 2007, has been named vice president and news director for Chicago's WBBM-TV, a CBS owned and operated station in the country's third-largest TV market. Since Kiernan took over as WBZ's news director, the station has won four sweeps periods for the 11 p.m. slot.

Of course, the current changes are minor compared with last April, when the station eliminated 32 employees, including sports anchor Bob Lobel, on-air personalities Joyce Kulhawik and Scott Wahle, and many production staffers. The purge, which amounted to 15 percent of WBZ's workforce, was the largest among CBS owned and operated affiliates nationally. The station also had layoffs in January 2007.

Most local news stations - with the exception of WHDH, which is owned by Sunbeam Television Corp. - are part of publicly held companies such as CBS, Hearst-Argyle, and News Corp., and have stockholders to appease. Station managers are reducing costs to improve their bottom line.

But even WHDH viewers have noticed subtle changes in the newscasts. Among them: having one anchor, Sorboni Banerjee, helm the weekend morning newscasts. Two anchors have shared the job in the past year.

Chris Wayland, the new vice president and general manager of WHDH and sister station WLVI-TV Channel 56, said the reassignment isn't related to budget issues, but he is looking at how to manage expenses in the new year.

"We are preparing for what we think will be anemic advertising spending for next year," Wayland said. The station remains lean after cutting 150 employees from WLVI in late 2006 when Sunbeam acquired the former WB affiliate from Tribune Co. WHDH has been broadcasting its 7 News at 10 p.m. on Channel 56 from the WHDH studios in downtown Boston.

"In terms of staff and services, we haven't cut back. We are a privately held company without stockholders," Wayland added. "It's going to be a drastically different marketplace going forward."

At WFXT-TV, spokeswoman Maggie Hennessey-Nees said her station hasn't reduced staff, saying the station is "pretty lean."

NECN has implemented a hiring freeze but hasn't had any layoffs, said Charles J. Kravetz, president and general manager. NECN is partially supported by Comcast cable subscriptions.

"NECN has certainly felt the drop-off in advertising," he said, "but we are maintaining our programming schedule and watching our pennies."

Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com.