Media—KCOP-TV Trims 12 Staff Positions After Station Sale

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After months of speculation in local TV circles, KCOP-TV Channel 13 has laid off 12 employees in the accounting and programming departments, according to sources at the station.

The layoffs come in the wake of the purchase of the station’s parent, Chris-Craft Industries Inc., by News Corp., owner of KTTV-TV Channel 11.

David Boylan, general manager of both L.A. stations, had told KCOP employees in early August that no immediate operational changes were planned.

“With the duopoly, you’re going to… try to reduce costs and headcounts,” said a source.

KCOP management did not return calls seeking comment on the 12 layoffs.


PRWeek Comes to Town

Trade publication PRWeek has opened a Los Angeles office, citing the city’s importance as a public relations market.

Business journalist Anita Chabria has been assigned as L.A. bureau chief and will be writing stories about the Southern California area, including San Diego, L.A. and Orange counties.

Based in New York, PRWeek also has bureaus in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.


Powerful Women

The woman behind L.A.-based Radio & Records magazine has made it to the top.

Erica Farber, publisher and CEO of the trade publication, came in No. 1 on Radio Ink magazine’s list of the “20 Most Influential Women in Radio.”

The radio veteran also took the top spot in 1999 and came in second last year.

Other locals on the list were Val Maki, senior vice president and general manager for Emmis Communications Corp. in L.A., and Mary Beth Garber, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Assn.


Ads for Ahmanson

Several full-page ads touting the controversial Ahmanson Ranch project popped up in area newspapers last week.

Ahmanson Land Co., developer of the large development near Ventura County, took out ads that ran from Sunday through Thursday in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News and the Ventura County Star. The ads also appeared in The New York Times.

“There are some opponents… that have been vocal about the project and we conceived that advertising was one of the vehicles that we wanted to use to inform a broader public audience about the merits of the project,” said Ian Campbell, a spokesman for the developer.

Opponents have expressed concerns about the environmental impacts of the 3,050-home project.

Claudia Peschiutta can be reached at 323-549-5225 ext. 229 or cpeschiutta@ labusinessjournal.com

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