Journal Communications’ television station revenue was $42.3 million in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 43.4% on the year-ago quarter. The first quarter revenue increased 7.6% on a same station basis.

While political advertising revenue was down due to an expected decrease in political spending, local advertising revenue increased 36.7% and national advertising revenue (excluding political) increased 50.1%. Local advertising revenue was strong in the automotive category and national advertising revenue was strong in the media and restuarant categories.

Operating earnings from Journal’s stations were $7.1 million, an increase of 84.3%. Operating expenses increased 37.2%, primarily because of increases in network fees and employee-related costs, according to Journal.

Alvin Pritchard is the new vice president of finance for Journal Communications’ Broadcast Group. He will begin in his new role on April 1, reporting to President-CFO Andre Fernandez.

Pritchard was most recently at NBC Universal. For the past nine years, he has been VP of Finance at the NBC-owned stations in Chicago, WMAQ and Telemundo Chicago.

“Alvin will have financial oversight for Journal’s owned and operated stations in our 14 markets in both television and radio and will serve as a key strategic partner to the broadcast leadership team,” Fernandez said in a statement. We’re confident that his experience will play a valuable role in helping us execute on Journal’s strategic and operational direction.”

Journal Communications’ 14 TV stations brought in $29.5 million during the first quarter, a 7.5% increase compared to the $27.5 million in revenue from the same period last year.

Journal’s TV stations saw increases in both local and national advertising during the first quarter this year.  Thanks to an increase in automotive advertising, core local advertising was up 2.6%.  And core national advertising increased 18.1% due to an influx of communications and financial advertising.

Political advertising was also up for the quarter:  $1.2 million compared to $0.8 million last year.

Journal Communications, the owner of Journal Broadcast Group, which operates 13 TV stations in 12 states, today reported a 15.4% drop in revenue from its stations for the fourth quarter, compared to the same period in 2010.

Journal also reported a 7.5% decrease in TV station revenue for the full year of 2011.

The Q4 revenue dip was driven by a significant decrease in political advertising for the period, compared to 2010 numbers.  Journal TV stations brought in $0.7 million in political advertising during the fourth quarter, compared to $8.8 million in 2010. Read more

Univision has named Raul Rodriguez vice president and general manager of its San Francisco operations.  In the role, Rodriguez will oversee KDTV as well as Univision’s Bay Area radio stations, KSOL and KBRG.

Before joining Univision, Rodriguez served as VP-GM of Journal Broadcast Group‘s Palm Springs operations, which includes NBC-affiliate KMIR.  Prior to that, he was director of Hispanic sales for News-Press & Gazette‘s six Spanish language stations.

“Raul’s ample experience in broadcast media coupled with his invaluable knowledge of our burgeoning Hispanic community makes him a critical asset to the Univision team in San Francisco,” said Luis Patiño, senior vice president of Univision Television Group, in announcing the move. “It is paramount that we continue to further our stations’ reach and growth, along the growth of Hispanics, and with Raul on board, we will remain on track to success.”

Journal Communications, which owns 14 TV stations across the country through the Journal Broadcast Group, announced a 6.8% decline in TV revenue for the third quarter, compared to the same period last year.

“Journal Communications remained focused on growing our local market revenue share in a soft economic environment in the third quarter,” said Journal Communications CEO Steven Smith, trying to put a positive spin on the results. “While total Broadcast revenue was down, core revenue, excluding political and issue advertising, was up.”

Journal brought in $27.9 million in revenue from its TV stations for the third quarter, a notable decrease from the $30 million for Q3 last year.  Excluding political advertising revenue, TV revenue was actually up 1.6% due to a slight boost in retail and automotive advertising.

Investigative reporter Rob Koebel is joining Milwaukee’s WTMJ.

The NBC-affiliate announced today that Koebel, who received a Murrow award during his time with Fort Myers Fox-affiliate WFTX, would join the station later this month.

The move is essentially a promotion by Journal Broadcast Group, which owns both WTMJ and WFTX.

“Rob has been a strong watchdog of government agencies for the viewer. We are excited to have him as a strong member of our investigative unit,” said Journal’s vice president of news Bill Berra, in making the announcement. “His work for us in Ft. Myers has been extraordinary.” Read more