Shortfall Forces KCET-TV to Trim Staff

In an effort to combat a $1-million shortfall in its budget projections for this year, public-television station KCET-TV Channel 28 said Friday it was eliminating eight staff positions and centralizing its three production units.

KCET President William H. Kobin said the moves would result in some layoffs, but he was unsure how many. Some employees in the eight affected positions probably would be moved into other budgeted positions that had been previously frozen, he said.

“There will probably be a small number of layoffs, but hopefully less than eight,” he said.

Phylis Geller, senior vice president of national productions, said Friday that she was resigning, but Kobin said the resignation was voluntary and unrelated to the reorganization or the elimination of positions.

He said the elimination of positions will help account for the $1 million shortfall due to a slowdown in donations. While the station has a record number of subscribers, those viewers are contributing less, Kobin said.

The reductions will bring KCET’s staff positions to 257, down from a high of 312 in 1990, the station said.

Unifying the station’s local, national and educational enterprises into one unit will also ultimately help the station run more efficiently and economically, said Barbara Goen, KCET’s vice president for public information.

The national and educational unit will be folded into the local production unit and will be headed by Stephen Kulczycki, KCET’s senior vice president and station manager.

Goen said it was too early to tell whether the moves would effect programming, but no immediate changes were forecast.

Meanwhile, KTLA-TV Channel 5 is also considering layoffs as a way to streamline the station’s expenses in a time of declining revenues throughout the local television business, General Manager Greg Nathanson said Friday.

Nathanson said that no final decisions have been made, but added that if pink slips become necessary, he would like to issue them before the holiday season. He said that KTLA already has moved to cut overtime and unnecessary long-distance phone calls and is exploring other cost-cutting measures as a way to avoid cuts in personnel.

Free-lance writer Steve Weinstein contributed to this article.