The trade publication Broadcasting & Cable magazine last month provided a glimpse into the business workings of the Tucson TV market noting that, although the market ranks No. 68 in population, the local stations beat that and were ranked No. 59 among the nation’s TV markets for the amount of revenue taken in last year.

According to data from BIA Financial Network, the Tucson stations took in $84.6 million in revenue last year. Here’s how it was split up among the biggest players:

• $24.3 million - 28.7 percent - to NBC-affiliate KVOA 4.

• $23.2 million - 27.5 percent - to CBS-affiliate KOLD 13.

• $19.2 million - 22.8 percent - to ABC-affiliate KGUN 9.

The article didn’t specify how the remaining $17.6 million was split up but said the other playerss in the market included the Fox and My Network TV combo of KMSB 11 and KTTU 18 and the local Spanish-language Univision and Telemundo stations.

The brief profile on the market noted the news ratings race among the top three stations is extremely close and that the local retail market is stressed, hit hard by the lending debacle that took down First Magnus Financial Corp. last August.

But the outlook for this year is not doom and gloom. Separate from the article, BIA Financial is forecasting TV revenues for the Tucson market will increase between 10 percent and 12 percent this year.

Names in news

Paul Pecora has left Comcast where he had been vice president and general manager of the cable company’s Tucson operation since 2003. Officially: "Paul left Comcast to pursue other opportunities. He is a fantastic leader and he will definitely be missed; however, we continue to be available to our customers 24/7 while we search for a new general manager." Sounds like one of those corporate decisions that are never fully explained to the public.

At Clear Channel Radio, Steve Clement has taken on the added responsibilities for sales of the company’s two Spanish stations, La Preciosa KTZR 97.1-FM and Radio Tejano KXEW 1600-AM. Since 1997 Clement has been sales manager for hit music station KRQ 93.7-FM and in 2000 he added hip-hop and R&B station Hot 98.3 KOHT 98.3-FM. His title is now general sales manager. The additional responsibilities fill the void created when Patty Ruiz left Clear Channel in December.

A couple of recent arrivals doing weekend duties on local TV: Tammy Vo is the new weekend anchor at KGUN 9 News. An Arizona native and graduate from Arizona State University, she comes to Tucson from Phoenix where she worked as a reporter at both the Fox and ABC affiliates. She started her career in Yuma... Meteorologist Jeff Beamish is now reporting weather on KVOA 4. He comes from Duluth, Minn., and is a graduate of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

Oscars ratings tank

No matter which way you look at it there was not a lot of reason to celebrate the ratings for this year’s Academy Awards telecast Feb. 24. They were good enough to win the ratings for the night and for the week but its 32 million viewers was the lowest in the 33 years they’ve been shown on TV. It also failed to achieve its boast of reaching more than 1 billion viewers worldwide. Further, among 18-to-49 year-old viewers in this country, the awards telecast got beat for the week by the Feb. 19 installment of "American Idol."

To put the national ratings into more perspective only once before - in 2003 - did the number of viewers dip below 35 million. Besides that there were only four other years -1985, 1986, 1987 and 2006 - when it even fell below 40 million viewers. Mind you, these are fewer actual viewers despite the growth in population.

Let the speculation begin as to why: Jon Stewart is not a popular host? The movies weren’t particularly inspiring this year? Was it because nearly 11 million people were watching the delayed Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race? (Which, by the way, ranked No. 10 for the week among 18-49 year-olds.)

Quick takes

• Comcast has added five new high-definition channels: CNN is on channel 229, AMC ( originally American Movie Classics) on channel 232, Sci-Fi on channel 234 and TLC (The Learning Channel) on channel 235.

• A scholarship fund has been started with Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation in memory of the late Ron Bergamo, the founding general manager of KWBA 58/cable 8 who was killed in a January car crash near Prescott. They’re planning a luncheon and auction at 11:30 a.m. March 14 at US Airways Center Pavilion, 201 East Jefferson, in Phoenix. Tickets are $200 each with packages for tables of four, six and 10. Information is online at http://www.maricopa.edu/resdev/foundation .

• Most of the news reports on Clear Channel’s news-talk station KNST 790-AM these days are coming out of sister station KFYI in Phoenix. It’s difficult to make the case it’s a good thing that much of the Tucson news staff was let go, but then again, they never seemed to do much real local reporting. And certainly the Phoenix-based reporters sound a whole lot more professional.

• Another Clear Channel note: the San Antonio Business Journal got hold of a memo put out last month by John Hogan, president and CEO of the company, telling market managers to cut spending and immediately stop hiring. The company, which is in the final stages of being acquired by a private equity group, is experiencing a "revenue shortfall" in the first quarter of this year coupled with expenses that are up 4 percent.

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237. Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.