Jose Rios Named News Director at KCBS-TV

In a top-level shake-up at KCBS-TV Channel 2 on Tuesday, Jose Rios was named news director, making him the first Latino to hold that position at the CBS owned-and-operated station as well as any other of the major VHF outlets in Los Angeles.

The move becomes effective Tuesday.

In a letter to a locally based watchdog group, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, that was released along with a formal announcement naming Rios to the position, KCBS-TV Vice President and General Manager Robert Hyland denied that Rios had been promoted due to recent pressure from the coalition about the station’s hiring practices.

“Jose has earned this job entirely on his own merits, and in fairness to him, I hope it will not be suggested otherwise,” Hyland wrote in the letter, which was written in response to recent threats by the coalition to challenge KCBS’ license with the Federal Communications Commission.

Rios, a 12-year veteran of KCBS-TV and the station’s assistant news director since 1987, replaces Michael Singer, who has held the station’s top news position since August, 1989. Singer will remain at the station as executive producer of Channel 2 Investigations.

KCBS is the lowest-rated Big Three network station in Los Angeles .

Rios’ promotion comes only days after Eric Ober, formerly head of CBS’ stations division, which oversees all CBS owned-and-operated stations, was named president of CBS News. A station source said the shift of KCBS news directors had been in the works while Ober was still with the stations division.

The decision also follows the July resignation of commentator Pete Moraga, who left the station after overall cost-cutting at KCBS led to an effort to substantially cut his pay. In a July 16 letter to Hyland, Moraga called the pay cut “a slap in the face of the Hispanic community.”

Moraga’s departure was reportedly a factor in triggering the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s most recent grievances toward KCBS.

Coalition chair Esther Renteria has alleged that KCBS has not hired enough Latinos in “policy-making positions,” and that the station is well below FCC minority hiring standards. Renteria said federal regulations call for Latinos to fill at least 20% of management, professional, sales and technical positions at area television stations.

In his letter, Hyland responded that “KCBS-TV is the clear marketplace leader in its employment of minorities, both overall and in the FCC’s top-four job categories, while we are virtually tied for first in our overall employment of Hispanics.” (KCBS counts Latinos Maclovio Perez, Sylvia Lopez, Chris Conangla, Penny Griego and Dave Lopez as major on-air news personalities.)

“I wouldn’t call it a victory, but it’s a win,” Renteria said about Rios’ promotion.