SterlingNorth 33 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I titled the thread as thus because I'm sure other stations are troubled like WUSA -- though you'd think WUSA was closest to the verge of collapse. Thus this report from DCRTV... 9 Cutting Weekend Morning News - 1/6 - UPDATED: DCRTV first reported on Monday that budget-slashing Gannett's Channel 9/WUSA will be axing its low-rated weekend morning newscasts. Last one: 1/18. The replacement: Mainly revenue-generating infomercials. In a staff memo, WUSA President/General Manager Allan Horlick writes: "Effective January 24th, we have decided to utilize the Saturday and Sunday morning time periods where we have traditionally produced our weekend morning newscasts, as the launch pad for a variety of new initiatives which we will now be free to develop. Some of this content may be produced under the direction of our Information Center and some by other departments in the station... These time periods will be used to directly generate sales revenue through outside productions"..... Coming up next, "Cooking with Cathy, brought to you by Cathy's Country Catering." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnchorManNick 0 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 or SLAP CHOP and more Billy Mays' SCREAMIN' for products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3504 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 The same thing is happening in Cleveland.....WJW AND WOIO have both cancelled their sunday morning news shows....and replaced the time with....you guessed it...more infomercials. Sally Bernier, the Sunday AM meterologist is rumored to be out at WJW, although her husband, Andre is still working the evening newscasts along with longtime chief Dick Goddard. Anchor Kevin Freeman is most likely going to be reporting full-time. WKYC has also re-assigned their longtime weekend co-anchor Jeff Maynor to do the weekend evening newscasts, replacing the recently departed Lydia Esparra. This leaves Kim Wheeler to anchor the AM newscasts solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucc 4 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 WTEN-ABC 10 Albany, NY doesn't have weekend AM newscasts, the did do a special report the other weekend cuz it snowed, but no weekend am newscasts are part of there "cost cutting measures" that went into effect about 1 year ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 WTKR cut down their Sunday morning news, it used to be 3 hours (6-9am) now it's 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsguy22 59 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 WTKR cut down their Sunday morning news, it used to be 3 hours (6-9am) now it's 2. WTKR's Sunday morning newscast was cut to two hours to make room for NFL football programming (NFL Today, etc). The NFL shows would have pre-empted the Joel Osteen show, which was moved to 8am, thereby cutting into the last hour of the news. Not sure if the 3 hour morning show will make a return once football season ends... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnchorManNick 0 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Who watches those weekend morning shows anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucc 4 Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Who watches those weekend morning shows anyway? I do, our CBS station has a better weekend then weekeday AM show I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsguy22 59 Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Who watches those weekend morning shows anyway? You'd be surprised. Especially the Sunday morning newscasts. Lots of church-goers watch the early shows while they get ready in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasFury 0 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Who watches those weekend morning shows anyway? Master Control Ops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsJunkie247 1 Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Allbritton Communications has cut 30 jobs at WJLA - http://dcrtv.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Well, Allbritton layed off 15 people at WBMA/WCFT/WJSU including the weekend sports anchor Melissa Lee and full-in meterologist Brian Peters. Its looks like cuts have occured at their top 2 stations so look for cuts coming soon to the other Allbritton stations in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsMan 0 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 KATV also made cuts but its not known who was cut on air yet..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SterlingNorth 33 Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 Since I started this thread on the back of WUSA, I might as well post this article about the rise of down-market ads in primetime and infomercials everywhere else. Yes, the stations "need caa-aash" about as badly as those who wind up foolishly trading away their car titles for it. I've also seen surprising downscale ads on CNBC (both locally sold and national). As for WUSA, Allan Horlick had this to say in the article: "[it's]not a reflection of [the TV] industry, it's a reflection of the general economy. You have to sit back and ask, in a recession, what types of businesses will flourish? And these are the businesses that are stepping forward right now." You have got to hand it to him, forever the optimist, believing the downturn will be brief. Yet, he must see the headwinds buffeting the TV industry have predated the economic collapse, and was probably being masked by things like unsustainable spending by the auto industry on ads. Also, I have to wonder how long advocacy groups will continue these DC+cable news only publicity ad buys, when they can get near the same publicity with a cheap YouTube posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVY 10 Fan 232 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/pilot-13-news-sign-after-nearly-12-years-air It looks like, in an attempt to save money, WVEC is ending its' 10:00 p.m. "Pilot 13 News" on COX Cable in Virginia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3504 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 WKRG's 9am show is history. It started off as an hour long show, then was cut in half by an infomercial about a year ago...and now looks like the entire hour will be filled with...you guessed it...infomercials. Meteorologist Jere Hough and 9 other staffers have been let go...this comes over a month since the station laid off 7 people back in December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sctvhound 27 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Media General in Charleston cut their top news anchor at WCBD, Warren Peper, an icon in the market, and a photographer, also. http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/jan/30/wcbd_fires_anchor_peper70053/#comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Media General has cut the sports anchor, Rob Jones, for WVTM. His last newscast was this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3504 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 As mentioned in the "WSYX/WTTE News Director out" thread, WCMH's longtime (and notorious) news director, Stan Sanders, is out, along with 10 other employees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVY 10 Fan 232 Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Looks like WVEC's longtime "emergency" sportscaster Pete Pochowski is a cost-cutting casualty. http://vartv.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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