MorphNMedia

A total of 22 employees were laid off Thursday at KMPH (Channel 26) and KFRE (Channel 59).

The two local stations are operated by New World TV Group, LLC, which purchased the stations earlier this year as part of the bankruptcy action against Visalia-based Pappas Telecasting Co.

New station general manager Jack L. Peck said the layoffs included 17 full-time employees and five part-time employees. None of the employees were on-air staff for the KMPH news programs. The employees let go were those who worked in production and behind the scenes. The 22 employees represented approximately 12% of the staff.

“I told everybody at the staff meeting today that 22 sounds like a lot. But, we are trying to keep from having to do this again. We did not want to lay off five employees now and five later. That way everyone would worry about whether today was the day they were going to lose their job,” Peck said.

He said that if the economy gets better, the company would be willing to hire people back.

“Right now, it is just scary,” Peck said of the loss of advertising revue. “The economy is so rough. I have been in the business for a long time and the first quarter of ‘09 is the worst in the history of broadcasting on a year-to-year comparison.”  More

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The FCC feels your pain

Good thing Federal Communications Commission chairman nominee Julius Genachowski is committed to public service, because his bank account(s) will take a hit next year.

Genachowski reported income upwards of $1.16 million for 2008, according to a financial disclosure form released late Wednesday. The form doesn’t require top federal officials to provide exact figures so that income estimate could be on the high side. However, the former IAC/InterActive Corp. executive and (current) venture capitalist did report about $770,000 in income from directors and consulting fees from companies including Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., and private equity firms General Atlantic and Jana Partners LLC.

Those income figures don’t include a significant number of investments in companies or funds, including Expedia, Google and Level 3, which are held by either Genachowski’s wife or kids.

By contrast, the FCC chairman will make $162,900 this year.

All told, it took Genachowski’s accountant some 24 pages to list all of the family’s investments, not including their house in a leafy Washington, D.C., neighborhood and the 529 accounts established for Genachowski kids. More from Amy Shatz at the WSJ

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Muchas Gracias Los Angeles!

Entravision Communications Corporation has announced that its Los Angeles based radio stations have generated significant growth among key demographics in 2009.

“Entravision’s Los Angeles station cluster is off to a very strong start in 2009 as we deliver substantial growth among key demographics coveted by our advertisers,” said Jeffery Liberman, President of Entravision’s radio division. “Our successful ‘El Gato,’ ‘Jose,’ and ‘Super Estrella’ formats have proven to be extremely popular among our core Hispanic audiences, adults 18-34 and 18-49. We are excelling at what we do best - offering relevant and entertaining content to our devoted listeners and delivering valuable consumer groups to our advertisers.”

Since the launch of the company’s contemporary Mexican Regional format “El Gato” on KDLD / KDLE 103.1 FM in January this year, ratings have increased over 200 percent among adults 18-34, according to Arbitron’s Personal People Meter (PPM) ratings system. “El Gato” replaced the former Indie format, which was moved online. In February, the station garnered a 2.2 share of adults 18-34, up from a 0.7 share during the last month the station played the Indie format. More from mnilive.com

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Avoing the Grim Reaper in San Francisco

A top Hearst Corp. executive says that the company is making enough headway to move the San Francisco Chronical back to profitability, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.

The story, written by Shira Ovide, says Steven Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, indicated on a conference call yesterday that the company was accomplishing enough cost-cutting that it may not need to shut the paper down. Wall Street Journal Online subscribers may read the full story here

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Taking a chance on Red 7

WHDH-TV Channel 7, Boston’s NBC affiliate, is refusing to air Jay Leno’s new talk show in the lucrative 10 p.m. hour in favor of its own hourlong local news show, and guess what? NBC doesn’t like it one bit.

“WHDH’s move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC,” said John Eck, president of NBC Television Network. “If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC-owned and operated station.”

The decision to program local news instead of Leno, the longtime host of “The Tonight Show” who grew up in Andover, follows the runaway success of the 10 p.m. newscast on rival WFXT-TV Channel 25, Boston’s Fox outlet. WFXT’s newscast averaged 210,600 total viewers in the March ratings sweeps, while the 10 p.m. newscast on WHDH sister station WLVI-TV Channel 56 drew 43,800 total viewers. On some nights, WFXT’s newscast beats network shows in the city, with help from lead-ins such as “American Idol” and “House.”

Leno’s show is scheduled to launch in September. More from boston.com