ALBANY — The new Kansas City owner of WXXA-TV, Fox 23 on Wednesday launched a restructuring campaign that included 11 layoffs. Newport Television made a series of job cuts throughout its network, which includes the 56 stations it acquired in March from Clear Channel Television. A Newport spokeswoman said the company is reducing its 2,100-person work force by 7.5 percent, or about 158. Although Newport is reducing Fox 23’s staff, it is not cutting any newscasts. Affected departments included news, engineering, sales, general, administrative, promotion and production. “This was a difficult but necessary step to ensure that each station has the right team to compete over the long term,” Newport said in a statement. “We are excited about the strengths of each of these stations, and we are committed to providing the strategic and financial resources they need to deliver the absolute best programming to their viewers and to grow and improve our news product.” The cuts came less than a month after Newport installed a new general manager at WXXA, Billy Sally, who held the same position at WFFF-TV/WVNY-TV in Burlington, Vt. He replaced Sally Stamp.
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