Dinovitz takes his heart and confidence to San Francisco

Fifteen years to the month since he returned to his native Kansas City to turn around KMBC, Channel 9, Paul "Dino" Dinovitz has accepted another daunting challenge. Dinovitz, 52, who left Kansas City for Sacramento, Calif., in 1998, was recently named the general manager of KRON-TV in San Francisco. "Where in the world can you go to have more fun than a place like the Bay Area?" Dinovitz said. "Tell me a more exciting city in the world. You ask me why (I would take this job). I say to you - why not?" Although the station is a powerhouse in a top five market - and life by the Bay, we hear, is very pleasant - Dinovitz will have his work cut out for him there. Last year, after half a century with one owner (the San Francisco Chronicle) and one network affiliation (NBC), KRON was sold. The new owner then announced that it could not come to terms with NBC, which was miffed at being the losing bidder for KRON, and would sever network ties in 2002. The double whammy left employees at the station reeling. Recently, top executives at KRON have started to bail out, and some on-air talent is said to be not far behind. Yet none of this has diminished Dinovitz's enthusiasm for his new job. In a recent phone conversation, he downplayed the pressure and accentuated the positive. "There's a lot of pressure in anything you do in TV," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're the market leader or in fourth or fifth place. We're all given report cards on a daily basis. Everybody has an opinion. That's a given. That's television. But I say to you, why can't we have fun with this?" Dinovitz helped make KMBC the leader in Kansas City television during the 1990s. He left to become general manager of KCRA-TV in Sacramento. He can't leave KCRA until his current contract expires at the end of the year, though he could leave sooner if a replacement for him is found. Union drive at 9 Meanwhile, the photographers at Dinovitz's old station will apparently vote soon on whether to form a collective bargaining unit. If the vote passes, the 17 video shooters at KMBC will be represented by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. AFTRA currently represents the photographers at channels 4 and 5 as well as Channel 9's on-air talent and directors. Don Scott, the executive director of the local AFTRA chapter, said the push to unionize wasn't the result of anything station management had done or failed to do. The employees are simply concerned, he said, about recent efforts by the station's owner, Hearst-Argyle Television, to streamline company policies. Several changes to existing station policies covering items such as sick days and overtime pay were included in a new Hearst-Argyle handbook issued earlier this year, according to one station insider. Other employees have expressed concerns about raises, insurance premiums, health benefits and job security. Scott characterized the discussions with KMBC so far as "friendly," and C. Wayne Godsey, Channel 9's general manager, said he will respect the photographers' decision either way. "I've told them that my concern, as always, is not whether they're represented or not but whether we win or not," Godsey said. As for the handbook, Godsey noted that some changes have already been made to it. "And many of those were made at the urging of general managers, myself included, who felt they weren't as well thought out as they could have been," he said. The WDAF, Channel 4, morning show is still doing its series of remote broadcasts from the Country Club Plaza from 7 to 9 a.m. Friday. Go to Mill Creek Park and look for the doughnuts. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Dinovitz @ART:Photo >>>