Belo Corporation announced the company’s “It’s Your Time” program gave free airtime to 135 congressional and gubernatorial candidates on its 14 news producing stations during the 2012 election.

“The political coverage our stations provide our local communities is essential to citizens having the information they need to make informed choices,” said Dunia A. Shive, Belo’s president and chief executive officer. “Belo is pleased to give candidates the opportunity to air their positions on important issues through the ‘It’s Your Time’ program.”

The media company also said it aired an average of two hours of political coverage per week in the six weeks leading up to last year’s election. That works out to roughly 17 minutes of political coverage per day. Read more

Brad Ramsey has been named president and general manager of Belo’s Hampton Roads ABC affiliate, WVEC.

He comes from WCAV-WVAW-WAHU in Charlottsville, VA where was was vice president and general manager.  He succeeds Tod Smith who was tapped by Belo to run its New Orleans duopoly, WWL-WUPL.

“Brad is an up-and-coming leader in the television industry who has delivered consistent revenue and ratings growth in his previous positions,” said Kathy Clements, Belo’s senior vice president of media operations in a statement posted to the company’s website. “His experience in the Virginia marketplace will be a significant asset to WVEC.”

Ramsey began his career as an anchor/reporter for WHSV before working his way up to vice president and general manager of the Winchester, VA ABC affiliate.

His first day will be November 5.

Belo today announced the appointments of two new general managers at its stations in St. Louis and New Orleans.

Mark Pimentel has been named president and general manager of KMOV, Belo’s St. Louis CBS-affiliate, and Tod Smith has been tapped as president and GM of WWL in New Orleans, as well as MyNetworkTV sister station WUPL.

“Both Mark Pimentel and Tod Smith are outstanding leaders and have delivered noteworthy results throughout their careers,” said Peter Diaz, Belo’s president of media operations, announcing the hires. Read more

Belo today reported a 3% increase in total revenue for the first quarter of 2012, compared to the same period last year.

The Dallas-based company, which owns 20 stations across the country, generated $156 million during the first the months of this year.

Belo’s political revenue in the first quarter was up significantly.  The company’s Q1 political revenue totaled $1.6 million, a $1.2 million increase compared to 2011.

Excluding political revenue, total spot revenue was up 1%, with a 4% increase in local and a 5% decrease in national.  Belo attributes the growth in spot revenue to an increase in automotive and retail advertising. Read more

Belo has named former WFAA news director Michael Valentine vice president of content for the company.

Valentine has been with Belo since 2002 when he became news director of WVEC, the company’s ABC station in Hampton-Norfolk.  He moved to WFAA in 2005.

In the newly created position, Valentine will “direct news content strategies across multiple platforms” for Belo’s 15 markets.

In announcing the move, Belo president of media operations Peter Diaz remarked that Valentine has “delivered remarkable results” throughout his tenure at the company.

When Belo announced last month that it had struck a shared services agreement with Raycom Media in which the company’s Tucson Fox-affiliate KMSB would hand over its news operations to Raycom’s KOLD, a large-scale round of layoffs were expected.  Now it appears that at least a handful of KMSB staffers will be able to land jobs with their onetime rival.

According to Inside Tucson Business, KOLD has posted 15 full-time and three part-time job openings specific to the agreement, and additionally there are three positions at the station that were vacant before the agreement.  And KOLD may soon post three or four additional openings.

By Inside Tucson Business’s calculations, that means there will be roughly 20 available positions at KOLD for the 30 or so people who will soon be out of a job at KMSB.

It’s probably the most personal news KMSB anchor Lou Raguse has ever had to deliver to Tucson viewers. Following Belo’s announcement that the company was handing over news production at KMSB to Raycom Media’s KOLD, Raguse went on the air and told everyone that he was now out of a job.

“Beginning February 1st, Raycom will produce this newscast on Fox 11 as well as a two-hour morning newscast,” Raguse, who has been with KMSB since 2008, informed viewers at the top of the Fox-affiliate’s 9 p.m. newscast. “For right now, it means that all the news, sports, engineering, and production people here at Fox 11 are out of a job by that date.” Video inside… Read more

The American Cable Association is condemning the recently announced shared services agreement between Belo’s KMSB and Raycom Media’s KOLD.

Belo is shutting down news operations at KMSB, a Fox-affiliate, and turning those duties over to CBS-affiliate KOLD.  Dozens of KMSB employees are expected to lose their jobs as a result of the agreement.

“With breathtaking disdain for the public interest, Raycom is seizing effective control of Tucson’s CBS and Fox affiliates,” ACA president and CEO Matthew Polka said in a statement. Read more

The TV news landscape in Tucson is imploding.  Belo is reportedly shutting down news operations at Fox-affiliate KMSB and handing the reins to Raycom Media-owned KOLD, a CBS-affiliate.

40-50 KMSB staffers are expected to lose their jobs, according to the Tucson Sentinel, while others may be able transfer to another Belo-owned station or apply for a position with KOLD.

The only employees that will stay on at KMSB are those in the sales department. Read more

Belo announced today that its revenue dipped 7% in the third quarter, compared to last year’s Q3.

In addition to a significant decrease in political advertising, the company also experienced a drop in total spot revenue.  Belo took in $2.1 million in political advertising in the third quarter, compared to $11.2 million for the same period last year.  And total spot revenue, excluding political, was down 2% for the quarter with local spot revenue flat and national down 5%.

The company, which just reached a new retrans agreement with DirecTV after weeks of high-stakes negotiations, announced that retrans revenue was flat in the third quarter.

Finding a silver lining, Belo reported that automotive advertising was up 7% in the month of September and the company sees continued momentum going into the fourth quarter.