Veteran’s Departure Leaves Management Gap at SBS
Media
by Claudia Peschiutta
The nation’s largest Spanish-language radio broadcaster is searching for someone to oversee its L.A. operation following the recent departure of veteran Bob Visotcky.
Only six months after becoming vice president and general manager of Spanish Broadcasting System Inc.’s local stations, KLAX-FM (97.9) and KXOL-FM (96.3), Visotcky resigned on Jan. 25, according to Carroll Larkin, the company’s senior vice president.
“He decided to pursue other opportunities,” said Larkin, declining to comment further.
Visotcky, who turned now-defunct “Mega 100” into the “Jammin’ Oldies” station, was brought in last August to position Spanish-language pop station KXOL in the market.
Visotcky made another local radio veteran, Marko Radlovic, station manager for KXOL and KLAX, and expected to soon move into a corporate position with SBS, said an industry source. When that didn’t happen, Visotcky decided to leave. Visotcky was unavailable for comment.
The stations “slightly improved” during Visotcky’s tenure, Larkin said.
Staples Studio
Fox Sports Net is leaving Century City and moving into a studio at Staples Center in April, said a source close to the negotiations. The 70 local employees of Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Net 2 will be housed at Staples and out of nearby offices on Flower Street. Once the move is completed, the network’s nightly “Southern California Sports Report” will be broadcast out of the arena. Having a studio inside the center likely will better position Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Net 2, which carry Lakers, Clippers and Kings games. Fox, of course, has an ownership stake in the Staples Center.
KCET Goes Green
KCET-TV (Channel 28) is getting $500,000 worth of energy-saving improvements from the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, a move expected to cut the public television station’s energy bill by about $100,000 a year.
The DWP loaned KCET the money to retrofit lighting fixtures, change a 15-year-old chiller unit, place reflective coating on exterior windows, and install a treated and insulated roof on the station’s administration building. Instead of paying back the loan in cash, KCET is providing the DWP with airtime to promote its “Green LA” conservation programs. The department also gets ad space in the monthly KCET Magazine
Farewell to Fair
One of the better known figures at the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists is moving to the other big performers’ union in town, the Screen Actors Guild.
After four years as AFTRA’s associate executive director and 20 years with the union, Pamm Fair is leaving at the end of the month to become the national director for policy, planning and external affairs at SAG.
Ms. Editor Search
Ms. has new owners and a new office in L.A. Now, all the feminist magazine needs is a staff and an editor-in-chief.
The L.A.-based Feminist Majority Foundation, which took over in January, is conducting a nationwide search for an editor-in-chief with “a solid understanding and knowledge of feminism and the history of the struggle for women’s equality.” E-mails have been sent out and ads have been placed in the Los Angeles Times and other publications.
Katherine Spillar, executive vice president of the foundation, a feminist research and action group, said she had received 40 resumes for the post as of last week.
The next issue of Ms., due out in March, will be guest edited by former Editor-In-Chief Suzanne Braun Levine. It will be a collection of the best of Ms. from the past 30 years, Spillar said.
Not So Grim
Ad revenues last year at L.A. radio stations fell 8.1 percent, to $836.4 million, from the record-breaking results of 2000, according to the Southern California Broadcasters Association.
On the bright side, local ad revenues, which account for 80 percent of the total, were down less than 3 percent last year and some stations actually saw an increase over 2000, said SCBA President Mary Beth Garber. The results are based on a survey of 51 stations in L.A. and Orange counties.
Local ad revenues for December were higher than for the like year-earlier period, and Garber said December saw a lot of automotive advertising, which she attributed to the zero-percent financing deals.
January figures will not be released until later this month.
Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 229 or at
[email protected].
Andersen: We’re Your Neighbors
Talk about a public relations nightmare.
Andersen is trying to regain the public’s confidence even as it continues to make headlines as the auditor of Enron Corp. The accounting firm, accused of shredding Enron-related documents, recently kicked off an advertising campaign that includes an appeal from its local office.
“We want you to know the full story,” wrote John Niemann, managing partner of Andersen’s L.A. office, in a full-page “open letter” published in the Los Angeles Times.
Thousands of Andersen employees “who had absolutely nothing to do with this matter continue to serve clients with professionalism and integrity.”
Niemann points out that Andersen employs 1,200 people in the L.A. area and has contributed “countless hours” and more than $3.7 million to civic organizations like the United Way and Habitat for Humanity. The letter, similar to ones printed by other Andersen offices in their local newspapers, appeared in the Times on Feb. 1.
“We took out the ad because we think our side of the story needs to come out, and we don’t think our side of the story is being adequately portrayed in the press,” Niemann said. “Our clients, our people, our friends in the community are happy to see that we’re talking about our situation.”
The L.A. office has seen no significant decline in business since the Enron controversy began making news in December, Niemann said. “I thought it was a good idea to try to communicate with the people in Southern California,” he said. “We’re here in this community every day and that’s part of our message ‘We’re your neighbors.'”
Claudia Peschiutta