Local TV stations hit hard by ad declines

San Francisco Bay Area television stations were already competing for shrinking advertising dollars amid an explosion of new ways a tech-savvy audience was getting its news and entertainment — and then the recession hit. It's been rough sledding ever since. Revenue for the Bay Area stations is down nearly 15 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the first quarter of 2008, according to analysts. Stations have laid off workers in the past year, both on-air and off. To compensate for shrinking ad revenue, local stations are running more hours of news, with broadcasts starting as early as 4 a.m. This spreads the smaller news teams thin, but dropping news is not an option, since half or more of revenues come from the newscasts.