Raycom Media president and CEO Paul McTear says a steep decline in advertising revenue in the Tucson market is what spurred Belo to turn over KMSB‘s news operations to his company.

McTear told Inside Tucson Business this week that advertising revenue in Tucson has fallen by $25 million since 2007.  A smaller pie has forced Tucson stations to rethink their business models.

“If we don’t find different ways to run our business, we will have to shrink our operations and that means a dimunition of service to our viewers,” McTear said.

Even though the shared services agreement means that dozens of people will lose their jobs, McTear says it will also allow KMSB and KOLD to jointly expand their news coverage.

“This puts us in a place where KOLD will be hiring more people and expanding with extra news,”  McTear told Inside Tucson Business. “It’s better and more.”