TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

53 Laid Off From Tribune Family

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By RICHARD MULLINS

rmullins@tampatrib.com

Published: March 31, 2009

The Florida Communications Group on Monday laid off 53 employees and eliminated 12 open positions because of continuing declines in the local advertising market, executives said.

"The various economic drivers of our business continue to be off, and we've just not seen any uptick whatsoever," said John Schueler, president of FCG, part of Media General Inc.

FCG operates The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and WFLA, News Channel 8. In addition, the company ceased publishing the Flair and Skirt lifestyle publications. Other specialty publications are under review, and the company is considering closing news bureaus, Schueler said.

One of the employees now out of a job is WFLA sports anchor Dave Reynolds.

Most of the laid-off employees worked in operations rather than newsrooms, which have seen their own layoffs in the past 12 months.

The company also added three unpaid furlough days to the existing 10 furlough days all employees must take by the end of the third quarter.

After the cuts, FCG will employ 1,047 people, and it remains profitable, Schueler said.

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