Walt Disney's hand-picked executives at KCAL-TV have opted to change channels; both claim their work at the station has been completed.

Walt Disney's hand-picked executives at KCAL-TV have opted to change channels

Less than two years after Walt Disney Co., as the new owner of KCAL-TV Channel 9, brought in a hand-picked management team to launch a three-hour, prime-time news block at the station, both of the top-ranking executives Disney hired have quit.

The most recent resignation came from Jim Saunders, executive vice president, who has been running the station since president Blake Byrne left in August. Saunders said he didn't seek an official title as president when Byrne left because "I was wondering even then whether this was a place I wanted to be for a long time. . . . I felt that this situation was best left in limbo."

Saunders and Byrne, both veterans of LIN Broadcasting, were brought in by Disney in the spring of 1989. A few months later, another former LIN executive, Bob Henry, was hired as vice president of news, forcing out news director Stephanie Rank, who had worked at the station (then KHJ-TV) for 16 years.

Henry said he doesn't plan to quit.

"So far, Bob Henry, the news director, remains intact. If Bob Henry leaves, or if there are staff cuts, then I'd be very concerned if I worked over there," observed Warren Ceregino, news director at competing station KTLA-TV Channel 5.

Ceregino was referring to an internal Disney memo that was leaked to the entertainment media and hinted at possible layoffs. Henry said he hadn't seen the memo, only the published reports, but he believed allusions to "fiscal responsibility" referred to Disney's motion picture business, not KCAL. The television station recently expanded its newcasts in the morning and now airs five hours and 30 minutes of news per day.

As long as Henry remains at KCAL, Ceregino said he would not expect the departure of Saunders and Byrne to have a significant impact on the news operation.

"As far as I'm concerned, the news is going to continue the way it's going," said Henry. "I will miss both of them, (but) in a business like TV, it's not uncommon for people to change jobs. It goes with the territory."

Randy Reiss, Disney's executive vice president in charge of KCAL, whom Saunders described as the "point man" in choosing his successor, did not return phone calls last week.

Both Saunders and Byrne said they decided to leave the station because they felt their task of converting to the all-news, prime-time format was complete, although neither man said he viewed the job as a temporary assignment when he agreed to take it.

Byrne became a private consultant when he left KCAL. Saunders, who is remaining at KCAL while a replacement is sought, has accepted a position as president of KXTV in Sacramento, a CBS affiliate, said KCAL spokeswoman Suzanne Lowe.

Saunders said KXTV poses a challenge because it "has had some though times" but is trying to carve out a niche in a market where "one station has had a comfortable lead."

Both Saunders and Byrne said Disney was a tough company to work for, but they expressed no bitterness about the time they spent at KCAL.

"Hell, yeah, they're tough. Have I worked hard? Yeah, harder than I have in my life," said Saunders. "They have supported what we've done. I don't have any regrets.

"It's been an extraordinary experience. I think (our) jobs are basically done. Whatever skills I have are more in the area of change, rather than maintaining. It's kind-of like, `OK, I'm done now.'"

Byrne, who worked as a consultant for a few months between the time he left LIN and joined KCAL, said he had planned all along to return to consulting eventually.

"I knew that's what I wanted to do after I finished the project," said Byrne. "I certainly didn't intend to stay there (at KCAL) ad infinitum.... Basically, we came out to revamp the situation. I felt we had achieved a good rating position and the rest was basically caretaking."

He said he enjoys being a consultant, although "it takes a little while to develop a clientele."

Byrne said he is "incredibly fond" of Saunders, whose leaving he described as a loss, but both men predicted the station would do well without them.

PHOTO : Station offices on Melrose Avenue: News programming is not expected to change