Picking Up Mixed Signals

The plan to merge the news operations of KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV is being hailed by its managers as a dynamic marriage that will better serve viewers by combining resources and experience.

But the staffs of the two newsrooms were preoccupied Tuesday with speculation about probable job cuts because of overlap of the two operations, which roughly number between 200 and 300 people. And local news executives and industry observers eyed the move with uncertainty. Bigger might not necessarily be better, they said.

“The optimist might look at this and say, ‘More resources, better news coverage,’ ” said Joe Saltzman, associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “But the realist will look at this and see that the viewers are losing an independent news station, lessening their options for news. It’s not better for them at all.”

KCAL-KCBS executives downplayed such concerns, saying the merger will prove especially beneficial to viewers of KCBS, which they intend to finally make a contender against its chief news rivals, KNBC-TV and KABC-TV, after decades of trailing them in news ratings.

The newsroom merger, which was announced Monday and will take effect in September, is happening because Viacom, which previously owned only KCBS, won final approval in May for its purchase of KCAL from Young Broadcasting.

The KCAL-KCBS “duopoly”--two stations owned by the same company--is one of four such arrangements in the Los Angeles TV market. Federal regulations prohibiting the concentration of media ownership were relaxed in 1999.

The combined news operation will be run by Nancy Bauer Gonzales, who had been KCAL’s news director. Her staff will produce newscasts for both stations, which total 11 hours a day, including KCAL’s three-hour block in prime time.

“There’s got to be one leader at the top, and this will eliminate any confusion that may exist,” said Princell Hair, who had been KCBS’ news director since December. Hair is returning to his previous position as director of news operations for Viacom Television Stations Group.

No changes in the anchor lineups for the two stations are immediately planned, but executives acknowledged there may be staff reductions.

“We’re bringing two families together in a marriage, and we will evaluate the marriage as it evolves,” Gonzales said in an interview. “We don’t have any magic numbers or solutions at the moment. We want to see what we need to add or lose.”

Saltzman predicted that a lot of staffers would be let go and worried that the decisions on who stays on may not be based on journalism credentials. “They may pick people on cosmetics or on audience appeal rather than on journalistic standards,” he said.

Gonzales maintained that viewers will be the major beneficiary of the joint operation.

“We’ll be able to serve the Southern California viewer as they’ve never been served before,” she said. “We will have a huge amount of coverage, and our emphasis will be on breaking news and local news.

“For us, our overriding mission will be to make sure that content is king. Unless news is well-written, it doesn’t connect with its audience, so we will be putting a large emphasis on that.”

She added that both stations would start focusing more on community-oriented stories: “One thing that no station does enough of is stories from where people live. Usually that’s because of time limitations. Now we will have the luxury of doing those stories.”

No changes in either station’s newscast schedule are planned for the near future. KCBS has scattered newscasts throughout the day. KCAL has afternoon newscasts plus the three-hour prime-time block. The only overlap is at noon, and both those broadcasts will continue for the time being.

Don Corsini, general manager of the two stations, said KCBS and KCAL will have distinctive brands despite their merger. “But one of our goals is to improve KCBS’ image in the marketplace,” he said.

Gonzales, who had previously been news director at KNBC-TV, said running the massive partnership “will be the biggest challenge of my career. I’m going to have an incredible management team that will be able to run both of these operations at once.”

Yet to be determined is whether reporters for one station will appear on the sister station’s newscast. “We’re experimenting with the overlap,” she said. “We’re not sure at this point how much sharing there will be.” KCAL has already started promoting KCBS’ newscasts.

Improving ratings for KCBS will be a major priority of the duopoly. One Viacom executive called the KCBS news operation unfocused “and totally lacking in direction. It’s lucky they have the numbers they have.”

Said Gonzales: “I think KCBS will really benefit from being under Don Corsini. Don’s a very straight shooter and has a clear sense of direction.”

She said she likes some of the features of KCBS News, particularly its Special Assignment investigative reports. But she said other aspects of the newscast are problematic.

“We don’t have a timetable for turning things around there, but it needs to happen now, not a year from now, not a few months from now,” Gonzales said. “We really have to hit the ground running.”

Competitors of KCBS and KCAL say they were unsure how the merger will affect competition in the nation’s No. 2 TV market.

Said Paula Madison, general manager of KNBC-TV, which airs daytime and evening newscasts against KCBS, “We’ll wait to see how the merging of the two Viacom stations affects the competitive environment.”

Bill Burton, a spokesman for KABC, which also competes with KCBS during the day and evening, said, “This is new territory. We don’t know what, if any, impact this will have. In this competitive environment, we worry about ourselves first, and make sure what we’re doing is right. But clearly, we’re in uncharted waters here.”