Local TV stations face transition: Film at 11

GARY ROBINSON SPENDS a lot of his time watching the numbers, and he doesn't always like what he sees.

No, Robinson, the general manager of WCMH-TV, doesn't seem overly concerned these days about ratings - after all, Newswatch 4 is still the news leader, even without anchor Mona Scott.

The numbers that do concern Robinson are the ones in the ledger book.

Robinson says Channel 4's advertising revenue for the first six months of 1990 dropped 10 percent to 15 percent, compared with the same period last year, and the drop has him worried that the economic recession everybody in the East is talking about has hit Central Ohio - at least in his industry.

Tony Twibell, vice president and general manager at WSYX-TV (Channel 6), also saw a softer advertising market from mid-February through June. But he attributes it to a leveling off after a strong 1989.

In fact, the whole previous decade was strong, Twibell says. And while he has been at Channel 6 only since February, Twibell recites records for the period between 1982 and 1988 that indicate local advertising increased each year by at least 7.5 percent.

Moreover, Twibell thinks the advertising market is starting to turn around.

"We're not sure how the year will turn out, but we may be through the darkest part of the tunnel now," he says.

Total television revenue last year for the three network affiliates in Columbus and WTTE, the local Fox Network Television affiliate, was roughly $106 million, says an industry source familiar with the local TV market. Channel 4 lead the market in overall revenue in 1989 with an estimated $32 million; channels 6 and 10 earned roughly $30 million apiece; and channel 28 took in about $14 million, according to information provided by the same source.

At least one local advertising executive agrees with Twibell's conclusion of a turn-around. Although the market may have been "a little softer before," that isn't the case now, says Christopher J. Vlahos, media director for Lord Sullivan & Yoder Advertising.

LSY has been surprised to find advertising time heavily booked four to six weeks out during the summer - a traditionally slow period, Vlahos says.

Twibell believes local broadcasting is an industry in transition - and not an industry in recession. But the three local TV stations, including the one he manages, are operating during this period with a definite eye on the shrinking bottom line.

Channel 4, for instance, has a partial...