KCET Falls $2 Million Short of Goal : Budget: Station is combining pledge drive with stepped-up direct mail, telemarketing efforts to make up fund deficit.

Battered by declining donations and the third year of a sluggish economy, Los Angeles public-television station KCET-TV Channel 28 will likely end its fiscal year about $2 million short of its original projected budget of $40 million, President William Kobin said.

The station is scrambling to raise funds before June 30, combining a traditional June pledge drive with stepped-up direct mail and telemarketing efforts in an effort dubbed “KCET Countdown.”

Nevertheless, the station’s board of directors on Tuesday approved a budget of $40.5 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Station officials knew as early as last November that there would be a shortfall in their original projections for revenue this year, Kobin said, and reduced their spending accordingly. KCET will finish the fiscal year with a balanced budget and, unlike the previous year, was able to reduce spending without layoffs, he said.

The 1992-93 budget reflects projected increase in revenue of $2.5 million over Kobin’s estimate of where KCET will finish this year.

“I honestly believe that we have hit a dip and are on our way back up,” Kobin said in an interview. “We grew for eight years continuously, and then we got knocked down by the economy.”

The past year has been even worse than the station anticipated. At this time last year, KCET scaled back its budget projections by 17% over the year before. Kobin blamed this year’s unexpected shortfall in large part on dwindling gifts from local subscribers. While more viewers than ever contributed to the station, most gave smaller donations than usual, Kobin said.

Next year, the station plans to spend approximately $12 million on production, Kobin said. Local programming will account for $5.4 million--about the same as this year--while the budget for national programming will increase by between $1.5 million and $2 million, he said.

The station will also spend $2.5 million--a $200,000 increase--in dues to the Public Broadcasting Service, in order to broadcast PBS programs.

The biggest project on the boards for next year at the local level is continued production of “Life & Times,” the daily magazine and discussion program. Twenty-four episodes of the documentary segment of the program, which airs Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, will be produced and mixed in with reruns and specials throughout the year. The in-studio, discussion-based episodes, which air on Mondays and Fridays, will be produced throughout the year.

The station also plans a second special on arts in Los Angeles called “The Works” (the first is scheduled June 25), which may develop into a series if funds can be raised. Another special, on sexual harassment, is planned as part of the station’s “Lifeguides” series, which are sold as videotapes after they are aired.

The station has secured funding to expand production of journalist Huell Howser’s short “Videolog” pieces to include occasional half-hour specials.

On the national level, KCET has several programs in the works. A six-part sports series, whose title will be announced next week, is planned, as is a 13-episode educational program, “Math Smart.”

The station plans to begin work next year on the pilot for “The Puzzle Factory,” a new series for preschoolers that was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a grant earlier this year.

“Storytime,” which is being made by the station’s local production staff but is expected to go national, features adults reading stories to children. It is designed to encourage parents to read to their kids.

A science program, “The Human Quest: Searching for Meaning in an Age of Information,” will go into production next year but is not expected to be aired until 1994.

In other action Tuesday, the KCET board elected 14 new members and retired seven, bringing the total number of people on the board to 49.

Eric Johnson, chairman of TBG Financial Corp. and previously vice chairman of the KCET board, was elected chairman, replacing Sheldon I. Ausman, who was made chair emeritus.

“I don’t foresee any major changes,” Johnson said. “I’m planning to do a lot of listening to the current board members and see what they think.”

Among the new members are Dr. Willie Benton Boone, chairman of the board of Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science; Jae Min Chang, president and publisher of the Korea Times, and Anna Murdoch, who is married to media kingpin Rupert Murdoch.