NO MORE ‘DOWNSIZING’ SEEN AT ABC-TV STATIONS

Layoffs of an estimated 165 persons at KABC-TV and three other ABC TV stations last weekend were part of what one executive euphemistically calls the “downsizing” of the ABC side of the new Capital Cities/ABC Inc.

The final tally of across-the-board cuts: nearly 50 at KABC in Los Angeles, and, according to industry reports, 41 at KGO in San Francisco, 36 at WLS in Chicago, and 38 at WABC in New York.

But there was a bright side for those at KABC who survived the layoffs yet remained jittery over rumors that from 80 to 100 more may be laid off in another round of firings at the station, which until last week had a staff of 350.

Although KABC Vice President and General Manager John C. Severino said that “we don’t discuss personnel matters,” a knowledgeable source said Monday that no more layoffs are in store.

“Finis,” the source said, meaning that the cuts were the last ones--barring unforeseen circumstances--to be made at KABC.

The axings at the once solely ABC-owned-and-operated stations came after a series of department-by-department studies and cost-cutting recommendations that began throughout ABC shortly after Cap Cities officially took over the company in January.

For weeks, there were rumors that layoffs were planned at the four stations by cost-conscious Capital Cities Communications, known for its lean, no-frills style of operation.

No cuts were made at the four Cap Cities TV stations that now are part of the eight-station chain of Capital Cities/ABC.

Last year, in preparing for the Cap Cities takeover, ABC began trimming its 13,000-person worldwide payroll by laying off 350 employees and eliminating 250 other jobs. The cuts continued this year. ABC News, for example, laid off 70 persons this month, in addition to about 30 it pink-slipped before the takeover.

A Capital Cities/ABC spokeswoman declined Monday to specify the current size of ABC’s worldwide staff, but ABC’s work force now is estimated to be “under 12,000” persons, with another 7,500 employees working for Cap Cities’ companies.

When asked if more ABC layoffs are in store, spokeswoman Patty Matson said that no corporate-wide answer is possible. Decisions about cutbacks, she said, are being left to the heads of each division or station in the Cap Cities/ABC operation as part of Cap Cities’ tradition of giving its executives great autonomy to run their respective units.

“We said right after the merger that the company would be leaner by the end of the year,” she said. However, she added, once decisions on layoffs are made, “there is no intention of going through cutbacks twice.”

And, she said, “once a department has been downsized to an operation that can effectively perform its function, that ends that (layoff) process.”

(A corporate source put it another way: The Cap Cities philosophy toward broadcasting “is not to affect the on-air product in any way, but to do the work with the least number of people possible, so that everybody is busier and more productive.”)

No company-wide or station-wide quota of job cuts ever was ordered, Matson said. Her comment was echoed by ABC Network Division President John B. Sias, who until named to his job in January was president of Cap Cities’ publishing division.

Emphasizing in a phone interview that he wasn’t speaking for the executives in charge of the merged company’s stations division, Sias nonetheless said that “we don’t deal in quotas like that. We really don’t.

“We certainly would ask a manager of whatever the operation is to ‘Look at what you’re doing,’ ” he said, and ask what is needed to get the job done, and then ask, “ ‘What are the minimum resources you need to get that done?’ ”

After that, he said, the manager is asked to see where cuts might be made. “But there never has been a quota or a number come out” of this process, he said. It is strictly up to the executive involved.

The KABC firings primarily hit behind-the-scenes personnel, with employees saying that the cuts struck heavily in the graphic arts department. It was reduced from 17 to six people and the 14-member creative services section reduced to seven staffers, with as many as 15 news employees also laid off.

One staffer, who asked not to be identified, said that morale at KABC had been down for several weeks, particularly in the graphics and on-air promotion departments because those are the areas that Cap Cities cost-cutters typically hit first.

In past years, the staffer said, “KABC has had the greatest on-air promotion for its series and mini-documentaries. If they’re going to cut that, what is that going to do for the ratings?”

(TV graphics departments create the symbols, drawings and maps electronically displayed onscreen during news shows, usually in a small “digital effects box” to one side of the anchor’s head. They also develop promotional materials, such as logos used for special series.)

At least two on-air staffers from the news department were dropped: John Corcoran and Inez Pedroza.

It is believed that entertainment reporter Corcoran, who declined to comment and was dismissed last Thursday--a day before the others got pink slips--was let go to make room for Gary Franklin.

(Franklin worked for rival KCBS-TV for more than five years as a critic and entertainment reporter. He is joining KABC, a spokesman for the station confirmed Tuesday.)

Pedroza, a 12-year veteran at KABC, said she couldn’t understand KABC’s decision, particularly since executives last year had given her a new four-year contract--one with a yearly option under which she’ll continue to be paid until June.

“But they made their decision, and that’s that,” she said. She always has tried to do her best, she added, and will leave with pride: “Now I go on to the next thing, wherever that will be.”

One axed employee, who declined to be identified, said that “it was kind of abrupt and shocking” when called in on Friday and given the bad news. However, the staffer said, she did get what she considered a fair severance package.

She refused to blame KABC’s management or even ABC’s new owners for the loss of her job.

She instead singled out ABC’s previous management, under whose reign the network began losing money, slipped into third in prime-time ratings last year and is expected to end this season still mired in third.

“They’re the ones who got us into this pickle,” she said.