Tom Patton, station manager of Jacksonville public radio station WJCT (89.9 FM), was let go Friday as part of an overall restructuring, WJCT President and CEO Michael Boylan said Monday.

Boylan said he is looking to hire a chief content officer who will be in charge of all of WJCT's platforms: radio, television (TV- 7) and Internet. So the radio station manager's position has been eliminated.

Boylan also said Rick Johnson, who was senior vice president and chief programming officer for WJCT, recently left to join the public broadcasting stations in Fort Myers.

Mark Basch/The Times-Union

GASOLINE PRICES TUMBLE DESPITE LIKELY OPEC CUT

Consumers got another break at the gas pump Monday, as prices dropped further below $3 a gallon and approached year-ago levels even as the near-certainty of an OPEC production cut pushed oil prices marginally higher.

Gasoline has fallen more than a dime a gallon since Friday, hitting a national average of $2.92 on Monday, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

Pump prices have fallen 29 percent from their July record high of $4.114 a gallon and are only 10 cents higher than a year ago. That difference could be bridged this week if gasoline keeps falling at the current rate.

Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Sunday that members plan to announce a "substantial" output cut at an extraordinary meeting that begins Friday in Vienna.

Associated Press

GM CUTS COSTS WITH BAN ON UNSCHEDULED OT

General Motors Corp. has told local union officials at two factories that it will not allow any more unscheduled overtime. That could help the automaker further cut costs as it burns through $1 billion in cash every month.

The officials at factories in Orion Township, Mich., and Lordstown, Ohio, say they were told of the ban Friday. They didn't know if it affects just their plants or if it is companywide.

A GM spokesman said Monday that the company has not told employees of any ban but is looking at ways to conserve cash.

The Orion Township and Lordstown plants make small and midsize cars, including the Chevrolet Malibu and Cobalt, and the Pontiac G5 and G6. Those have been some of GM's hottest-selling cars, even as the auto industry's U.S. sales overall fall by double digits.

Associated Press

INTERLINE BRANDS NAMES NEW COO

Interline Brands Inc., a leading distributor and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operations products, Monday announced the promotion of Kenneth Sweder to executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.

Sweder will manage the company's merchandising, inventory and distribution activities, and will direct the sales and marketing of certain key brands. He will also work with Michael Grebe, Interline's chairman and chief executive officer, to oversee the firm's corporate development efforts.

Sweder joined Interline Brands in April 2007 as chief merchandising officer. Prior to that, he was a vice president at Equity Residential, and a management consultant at Bain & Co.

Sweeder also spent nine years at PNC Bank in various capacities.

Sweder has an MBA from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

The Times-Union

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