Howard Beale

Big whoop. That amounts to one in ten games being shown on WPCH and elsewhere in the Gray universe. But, judging by how Gray promoted this, you'd think all 194 games (32 pre-season and 162 regular season) were coming to WPCH.

Guess I didn't watch far enough.

WANF (Atlanta) appears to be the next Gray station to have a sponsored 7 pm show. The station has a website with a countdown clock to January 6, 2024, when it will debut the revamped one-commercial-only newscast. I don’t know who’s sponsoring the show, but if it’s anything like KVVU in Las Vegas did, it’ll probably be a personal injury attorney. EDIT: A financial services company called Hoffman Financial Group is sponsoring the newscast.

TEGNA already has job openings listed for its cutdown version of creative services. I see 40 jobs for “multi-market commercial producer” or “multi-market creative producer” listed. Some stations have openings for both positions: KARE Minneapolis KGW Portland, OR KHOU Houston KPNX Phoenix KSDK St. Louis WFAA Dallas WGRZ Buffalo, NY WKYC Cleveland WTHR Indianapolis WUSA Washington, DC WXIA Atlanta Most only have an opening for a single commercial producer: KENS San Antonio KFSM Fayetteville, AR KREM Spokane, WA KTHV Little Rock KTVB Boise KVUE Austin, TX KXTY Sacramento WBIR Knoxville, TN WBNS Columbus, OH WCSH Portland, ME WLBZ Bangor, ME WMAZ Macon, GA WNEP Wilkes-Barre, PA WTOL Toledo, OH WWL New Orleans And these stations have openings for a single creative producer: KING Seattle KUSA Denver WCNC Charlotte What will these jobs pay? According to the salary listings for WGRZ — thank you New York and your salary transparency law — both jobs pay between $20 and $40.38 per hour. Or, $41,600 to $83,990 per year. In related news, one of TEGNA’s soon-to-be-former marketing directors said on LinkedIn that the company laid off at least 300 people in its creative services purge. Yikes!

I'm quoting the post here in case it gets deleted. Some people who've posted about TV news layoffs in that subreddit later deleted their posts.

I can't find a thread for general discussion about Cox Media Group, so let's start one with some actual news! WSB-TV anchor Justin Farmer is leaving the station after 16 years for an undisclosed finance job. Here's what's odd about this. WSB management announced the news to employees today (November 25) at the morning editorial meeting, and Farmer's last day is tomorrow (November 26th). A 24-hour turnaround from announcement to goodbye? This reeks of either a budget cut or a failed contract negotiation.

Chuck did not break the Guinness World Record. Former WHAM (Rochester, NY) anchor Don Alhart still holds that record.

I don't think this is as surprising as many of you would think. NBC has made clear that it is cutting costs. That includes salaries of its top-earning anchors. Chuck is a man with a seven-figure salary (as of 2011, it was estimated that he made $1 million per year, and that price has no doubt risen in the subsequent 13 years) that I'm sure NBC would like to not pay. I believe Chuck's decision to retire is his own, but even he surely saw the writing on the wall and figured it was time to get out while the getting was good. Not even veteran local news anchors like Chuck Scarborough are immune to the realities of the TV news business.

I saw a post from someone on LinkedIn who claimed that KREM in Spokane got rid of its producers in favor of AI. I can't verify that but I wouldn't put it past TEGNA to do that.

I think TEGNA is doing this as part of a prospective buyout or merger. Why do I believe this? Two reasons: Meredith Corporation did the exact same thing in 2020. It eliminated creative services departments at its TV stations in favor of two marketing hubs. At that time, Meredith executives were eagerly planning to get out of the TV business, and they hoped cost cutting would appeal to a prospective buyer. Gray Television (now Gray Media) answered the call a year later. TEGNA wants out of the business while the getting is somewhat good. Under previous CEO Dave Lougee, TEGNA tried to merge with Standard General, but the FCC effectively blocked the merger. TEGNA management knows that the incoming Trump administration will likely deregulate broadcasting in whole or part, so they’re hoping 2025 is the year they can cash out and get their golden parachutes.

TVNewsCheck has a glorified Gray Media press release under a Mark K. Miller byline, which announces the “retirement” of three general managers of the following stations: WAGM, Presque Isle, Maine WIBW, Topeka, Kansas WYMT, Hazard, Kentucky I say “retirement” because I believe these GMs retired in lieu of being fired in any future Gray budget cuts. These are all small-market stations, and I know WYMT lost a few people in the last round of Gray budget cuts. Perhaps Gray will have one of its many regional VPs oversee these stations, or a GM from a nearby market will also pick up one of these stations.

I wonder if Gray has decided to give up on promoting its news jobs due to the layoffs? I point this out because Gray's various recruiters on LinkedIn are only posting sales jobs. However, Gray's jobs website still has more news jobs versus sales jobs, and news jobs are still being posted. Just not being promoted by the recruiters anymore.

FTVLIve claims, in a paywalled story, that Scripps is going to lay off 100+ people. The insinuation is these layoffs are on top of the ones Scripps already announced. However, I believe FTVLive is basing that on a WARN notice Scripps filed with the Georgia Department of Labor, where Scripps discloses it will lay of 118 Georgia-based Scripps News employees. Scripps already disclosed those layoffs, but had to file a required WARN notice.

Let's talk some more about these layoffs! This is huge! According to this post on Reddit, layoffs happened at 12 stations thus far, and I'm sure more are to come. Some stations only had one or two layoffs, while others (like KEYC in Mankato, Minnesota) lost most of its news staff. This has to be especially bad if Gray can't wait until after Election Day or the November book to start cutting.

Here's something substantial from the Scripps world. The company settled a discrimination lawsuit filed by Michael Brooks, a former KJRH-TV news anchor who said the station fired him because he's gay. Source: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/scipps-media-gay-tv-anchor-settle-workplace-discrimination-case (paywalled) Here's some background on the case: https://casetext.com/case/brooks-v-scripps-media-inc According to the lawsuit, KJRH's then-GM Amy Calvert learned Brooks was gay, and told him his sexual orientation could affect his job "because this is Tulsa after all." He was later reassigned and given more work responsibilities. The lawsuit shows Calvert also falsely accused Brooks of trying to extort then-news director Gerardo Lopez. Brooks was later fired. Calvert is now the GM at KOKH-TV, the Sinclair-owned station in Oklahoma City. Lopez left KJRH to become news director at WBZ-TV in Boston.

19 people at Fox affiliate KADN in Lafayette, Louisiana lost their jobs in Allen Media's layoffs. The weekday morning and noon newscasts are also cancelled. Source; https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/kadn-lays-off-19-including-four-from-its-morning-show/article_454e0644-8650-11ef-89df-df9c993ae5fb.html

It sounds like Hearst is also toying with the idea of “one manager in charge of several stations” money-saving concept that Scripps embraced. KCRA (Sacramento) news director Derek Schnell is now a regional news director who’s also responsible for KSBW (Monterey, CA) and KOAT (Albuquerque), and still has to be ND for KCRA. Source: https://tvnewscheck.com/journalism/article/hearst-television-promotes-derek-schnell-to-regional-director-of-news/

How is Adam Symson still the CEO despite everything going on with Scripps? Scripps has cut numerous jobs, Scripps News is dead as of November 15, and the company's stock price is down by nearly 59% since this time last year.

FTVLive's Scott Jones says he believes Scripps plans to sell its Detroit station, WXYZ, based on the fact that the company is renovating the station. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/9/24/is-scripps-looking-to-sell Correlation does not equal causation, yadda yadda yadda. But in my experience, broadcasters that want to unload stations will give the place a proverbial coat of paint beforehand, to help win over any potential buyers.

FTVLive reports, in a paywalled story, that Gray is "tightening hiring." I haven't seen what's behind the paywall, and Gray's recruiters still seem to be pretty active on LinkedIn when it comes to posting job openings. However, I would not be surprised if Gray did decide to leave some open jobs unfilled. It's harder than ever to recruit ANYONE to work in TV news.

I’m old enough to remember the hand-wringing that occurred when KRON-TV in San Francisco publicly embraced the MMJ concept as a cost-cutting move. After all, one-man-bands were for small-and-cheap markets, not top-ten markets! But look what happened in the following two decades. MMJs are everywhere, even in New York City (and I’m not just referring to NY1), and they’re not going away. Other broadcast companies will follow Scripps’ lead if it means saving money. That includes anchor-less newscasts, pre-recorded newscasts, etc. This kind of cost-cutting may very well hurt the business. But the people who drove the metaphorical Titanic into the metaphorical iceberg don’t seem to care.

The Scripps “neighborhood reporter” is just a reimagined beat reporter or a bureau reporter from the old days. What’s old is new again. Whatever you call the concept, I think it’s a good thing because it encourages journalists to become specialists (for lack of better word) in the community they cover. That usually leads to better stories. The difference is whether Scripps will stick with the idea or ditch it. And with the way the Scripps stock price has dropped? The odds are more likely that CEO Adam Symson — the architect of the “neighborhood reporter” concept — will be out of a job and a new person will come in and change things up.

Large journalism schools like Syracuse and Missouri (among others) have the means, resources, and industry clout to keep offering courses in on-screen reporting even if the demand is not there. Smaller schools do not. For example, Arkansas State University discontinued its MMJ program last year due to low enrollment. TV news does not interest today's college graduates, and therefore, these schools have an incentive to offer courses in subjects that do interest students. After all, who wants to pay tuition for college courses that prepare you for a job where the median starting salary — according to a RTDNA survey — is $37,500?

Lougee is getting out while the getting is still good for him. He made $10.9 million in total compensation in 2023, and stands to make at least $6 million simply by retiring. I’m certain Tegna will have a nice and comfy arrangement for him in his “senior advisor” role as well. Source: https://investors.tegna.com/node/29976/html#executive_summary

It doesn’t sound like Graham is adding more managers. I think they're combining several management jobs into one. I say this, because one of the MCC job duties is to “act as the news director in their absence.” That’s typically up to the assistant news director to do. Other duties listed in the job posting sound similar to what you’d expect from an executive producer and a managing editor. It therefore sounds like Graham will reduce at least five jobs — assistant ND, morning EP, dayside EP, evening EP, and managing editor — into three MCC jobs. And I'm sure the salaries won't match the job responsibilities either.