Summary: Local
TV stations often complain that the Kansas City Star's local media critic Aaron
Barnhart rarely writes at all about happenings at local TV and radio stations.
When he does, say insiders, he rarely lets the facts get in the way of a good
story.
The folks at WDAF-Fox 4 were not
thrilled with the tone of the Kansas City Star's story (below, 6/17) by
Aaron Barnhart regarding their recent layoffs where 13 folks were given their
walking papers, including sports reporter Jason Lamb
(see Jeffrey Flanagan story below)
whose departure leaves the station with two sports anchors.
Barnhart noted "even its early
news at 5 p.m. was up," which made it seem like he was surprised by this trend.
In reality Fox 4 has been second in that time slot for several books.
He also talked about "re-branding
the Problem Solvers." Not really, according to station insiders. The
"Problem Solvers Investigators" was added to the "Problem Solvers" segment.
Ax falls at WDAF newsroom
By AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star, 6/17/06
Fox may have been the hottest network in prime time this season, but it wasn’t
enough to save 13 jobs at the WDAF-TV newsroom.
Fox 4 on Friday laid off reporters Tom Gauer, Peter Marshall and Jason Friedman
and sportscaster Jason Lamb. Other names could not be confirmed, but it was
thought that half or more of the 13 cuts had come from the news department,
which has about 100 employees.
The move was a surprise, because Fox 4’s ratings were up in May, thanks to the
juggernaut of “American Idol” and Fox hits like “House” and “24.”
The station’s share of the audience for its 10 p.m. newscast jumped 13 percent
compared with May 2005. Even its early
news at 5 p.m. was up. Ratings for the three other news stations in town
were generally down.
A spokesman for News Corp., which owns WDAF, 34 other stations and the Fox
network, would not confirm the layoffs. But by Friday afternoon, rival newsrooms
had received inquiries and resumes from recently released WDAF employees.
Gauer, who had spent 11˝ years at Fox 4, said his first order of business would
be “to sleep in on Monday.” Gauer said that while he wanted to return to news if
it was “at the right place,” he is working on other ventures, such as a quiz
show he’s developing with his business partner, “Young & the Restless” star
Kristoff St. John.
There was no sign Friday that similar firings were taking place at other
Fox-owned stations.
So why WDAF?
One possibility is that the station is being primed for a sale. A trade magazine
reported in 2005 that Fox was considering the sale of stations in markets that
were 25th in size or smaller. Kansas City is the 31st-largest media market.
Another possibility is that it was a staff-size adjustment dictated by Dennis
Swanson, the new head of Fox’s owned-and-operated stations, in an effort to
bolster WDAF in the Kansas City market.
Swanson, a former Marine, told the publication Broadcasting & Cable last year
that “TV stations are like big battleships in the harbor … they turn around very
slowly.”
WDAF is an especially large ship. It has by far the largest newsroom in the
Kansas City TV market and puts on a hefty 49 hours of news programming per week.
As the very first station to sign on, in 1949, WDAF has had a history of being a
leader in the market. It still broadcasts a popular morning news program, but
its late newscasts lag considerably behind KMBC-9 and KCTV-5 in the ratings
groups most prized by advertisers.
It has tried rebranding its Problem
Solvers unit, tacking on the word “investigators” in what appeared to be
a reaction to the success of KCTV’s investigative unit.
Channel 4 sports team just
two-man crew
JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star
Channel 4 sports reporter Jason Lamb knew something was up last week when he
made a routine call to the station’s photo department to request a camera
shooter for a sport assignment.
“Usually it’s just a simple ‘yes, we can send someone with you’ or ‘no, we
can’t,’ ” Lamb said.
“But instead I was told I needed to talk to the assistant news director. I
thought that was pretty odd. And when I got to the assistant news director’s
office, I was sent to the human resources department. I thought that was really
strange.”
The next thing Lamb knew, he was told his job was being eliminated. Actually, he
was one of 13 people at WDAF who were told they had been laid off, apparently as
part of a corporate cost-cutting move by Fox.
“I think it was just a head-count thing,” Lamb said.
“The people that got laid off were reporters, like me, some photographers, some
clerical people. Not anyone with big salaries.”
Channel 4’s sports team is now down to two people: Frank Boal and Al Wallace.
And that means when one man is on vacation, the other better not get sick.
“You can’t function with just two people,” Lamb said.
Lamb, a Kansas grad who had been at Channel 4 since 2002, said he hopes he can
stay in television, but because he doesn’t want to move his family, he likely
will look for employment outside the industry as well.
“I’m not bitter or mad at anyone,” he said. “Just a little stunned.”
