Tribune Offering Buyouts At Local Stations

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 983]

Tribune is offering buyouts to staff at its local stations

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/tribune-offering-buyouts-at-its-stations/178255

 

I was looking for a general Tribune thread, so if one does exist, feel free to move this there...

[ThatSowislander 52]

I wonder if that may have played a part in the recent depatures at WITI....

[TheRob 940]

I'm not surprised. The shareholders haven't been happy with the stock price, despite the good performances of many of the stations. After selling real estate, the salary dumps will be next.

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

I'll bet you this is why Dick Goddard is stepping aside later this year.

[Rusty Muck 4428]

I'll bet you this is why Dick Goddard is stepping aside later this year.

That, plus his advanced age and severely decreased workload...

[Eat News 4745]

I'm not surprised. The shareholders haven't been happy with the stock price, despite the good performances of many of the stations. After selling real estate, the salary dumps will be next.

 

And then what?

They rape the women...pillage the village...cash in all the aluminum cans in the break rooms..

After selling the office furniture so you can rent...you are finally down to a cheap Chinese transmitter on a rented tower, sharing with few class B fm's and a 2-way radio provider.

 

One day soon Tribune will be forced to do the "Walk of Shame"...AKA "The Slut Walk."

 

No assets....no self respect...no shame.

Keep some extra panties in the purse Tribune.

[Rusty Muck 4428]

And then what?

They rape the women...pillage the village...cash in all the aluminum cans in the break rooms..

 

...

 

One day soon Tribune will be forced to do the "Walk of Shame"...AKA "The Slut Walk."

 

No assets....no self respect...no shame.

Keep some extra panties in the purse Tribune.

So basically an outright reprisal of the Randy Michaels saga at Tribune Tower.

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

That, plus his advanced age and severely decreased workload...

 

Based on what FTVLive is reporting...

someone Dick's age who's worked at the same station THAT long is bound to make a boatload of money.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 983]

Just out of curiosity, is there a minimum of how many years they had to have worked there?? WXMI has only had a news department since 1999 and there's 3 peeps that I know of that have been there for 15+ years

[TheRolyPoly 2655]

Just out of curiosity, is there a minimum of how many years they had to have worked there?? WXMI has only had a news department since 1999 and there's 3 peeps that I know of that have been there for 15+ years

 

Michele DeSelms is one of them, right? I think she's one of the originals still left at WXMI.

[Rusty Muck 4428]

Based on what FTVLive is reporting...

someone Dick's age who's worked at the same station THAT long is bound to make a boatload of money.

So much so that they named the street where the studios reside at after him. Heck, that honor hasn't been done (yet) for Tom Skilling!

 

In all seriousness, WJW has a plethora of personnel that have been there for a long long time. John Telich has been there for 34 years, André Bernier for 28 years, Lou Maglio for 23 years (and his time with WEWS before that), and Bill Martin for 22 years. I forget when Wayne Dawson joined, but he's been there for a long time as well.

 

It's nothing new; since the Virgil Dominic days, WJKW/WJW has kept their home-grown talent in the fold, resulting in stability unlike any other station I can think of. Reporters like Bob Cerminara, Belinda Prinz, Gary Stromberg and Neil Zurcher (who became their "One Tank Trip" guy in 1979 until 2006) were at the station well into its status as a Fox O&O. Tim Taylor was there for four decades as an anchor, Wilma Smith for 18 years. It's mind-boggling, really.

 

I really REALLY don't want to speculate on what might transpire over there. But needless to say I have an uneasy feeling.

[TheRob 940]

Another round of buyouts (we had one in 2008-09 in which we lost then-sports director Frank Boal) could really gut us at WDAF. If it's an age 50/15 years of service deal, our two main nightside male anchors, chief meteorologist, weekend meteorologist, sports director, two or three reporters, general manager, assistant news director and at least four photogs would all qualify, as would multiple engineers, and a director. KTVI would suffer some big losses too with the veteran reporters and photogs they have on staff.

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 983]

Michele DeSelms is one of them, right? I think she's one of the originals still left at WXMI.

 

Yes Michele is one, Christian Frank is another... Kevin Craig has been there since 2001 -- those are the only 3 that have decent tenure there.

[ThatSowislander 52]

http://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2016/09/gm-roger-bare-to-leave-kiah-cw39.html

Will be interesting how KIAH will look in the coming months...

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

As for Dick Goddard, once he goes "part time" for his pet stuff, Discount Drug Mart will probably bring him on as another spokesperson... (He used to sell calendars and have autograph sessions at their locations...do they still do this?)

[news89 468]

As for Dick Goddard, once he goes "part time" for his pet stuff, Discount Drug Mart will probably bring him on as another spokesperson... (He used to sell calendars and have autograph sessions at their locations...do they still do this?)

His calendars haven't sold at Discount Drug Mart in a few years. Mr.Goddard will be around for pet segments, and the Woollybear festival. Which I may go see this year.

[news89 468]

So much so that they named the street where the studios reside at after him. Heck, that honor hasn't been done (yet) for Tom Skilling!

 

In all seriousness, WJW has a plethora of personnel that have been there for a long long time. John Telich has been there for 34 years, André Bernier for 28 years, Lou Maglio for 23 years (and his time with WEWS before that), and Bill Martin for 22 years. I forget when Wayne Dawson joined, but he's been there for a long time as well.

 

It's nothing new; since the Virgil Dominic days, WJKW/WJW has kept their home-grown talent in the fold, resulting in stability unlike any other station I can think of. Reporters like Bob Cerminara, Belinda Prinz, Gary Stromberg and Neil Zurcher (who became their "One Tank Trip" guy in 1979 until 2006) were at the station well into its status as a Fox O&O. Tim Taylor was there for four decades as an anchor, Wilma Smith for 18 years. It's mind-boggling, really.

 

I really REALLY don't want to speculate on what might transpire over there. But needless to say I have an uneasy feeling.

 

We're still the one Cleveland's Own Newscenter8.

[Rusty Muck 4428]

As for Dick Goddard, once he goes "part time" for his pet stuff, Discount Drug Mart will probably bring him on as another spokesperson... (He used to sell calendars and have autograph sessions at their locations...do they still do this?)

Oh don't remind me. Walk into any Discount Drug Mart and you'll hear one of Wilma's radio spots play every 10 minutes or so on their MUZAK system.

[MidwestTV 1270]

Another round of buyouts (we had one in 2008-09 in which we lost then-sports director Frank Boal) could really gut us at WDAF. If it's an age 50/15 years of service deal, our two main nightside male anchors, chief meteorologist, weekend meteorologist, sports director, two or three reporters, general manager, assistant news director and at least four photogs would all qualify, as would multiple engineers, and a director. KTVI would suffer some big losses too with the veteran reporters and photogs they have on staff.

 

No way even half of them would take that deal.

[StandbyStandby 1]

KTVI here- we're losing two veteran reporters and four engineers AFAIK.

[ThatSowislander 52]

Longtime WNEP main anchor Marcia Burke and chief meteorologist Tom Clark have accepted the buyouts..

http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2016/10/6/taking-the-buyouts-in-wilkes-barre

[WAVY 10 Fan 233]

And now some employees in Master Control were axed at WPMT on Friday (article also contains speculation WTKR could serve as a Master Control Hub for Tribune)

http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2016/10/16/layoffs-start-at-tribune-stations

[TheRob 940]

The way Brutus works, pretty much any station could serve as a hub. I wouldn't feel safe as an MCO anywhere. I wouldn't feel safe as a graphic artist either.

[Eat News 4745]

The way Brutus works, pretty much any station could serve as a hub. I wouldn't feel safe as an MCO anywhere. I wouldn't feel safe as a graphic artist either.

 

Can Brutus be installed without suspicion , so as not to tip off employees?

Because if WPMT let go those MC employees it would be logical that another MC site was already under construction...or can you set that up( Brutus) on the sly pretty quickly?

[TheRob 940]

Can Brutus be installed without suspicion , so as not to tip off employees?

Because if WPMT let go those MC employees it would be logical that another MC site was already under construction...or can you set that up( Brutus) on the sly pretty quickly?

 

All stations have had Brutus for at least a year. We were one of the last to get Brutus. The Tribune guys were here for two weeks installing, testing and finally launching it. What I don't know is how many actual humans are needed to run an MCO hub. When we got Brutus, a big renovation of the master control area came with it. Our master control area has space for four or five people to work at once, even though just one person is usually in there.