Handing out pink slips to dozens of beloved small-market local TV news weathercasters would be ill-advised even in the best of times. But to do it right as unpredictable and dangerous weather disasters tear across the country this month — from wildfires in California to a historic freeze in the south — was particularly tone deaf.
And yet, that’s what Allen Media Group did last week, announcing that it would be getting rid of trusted local weather anchors in a cost-saving move. The idea was to just feed forecasts from its Weather Channel hub in Atlanta to the company’s stations across the country. Allen Media Group said it might move some of its local meteorologists to Atlanta, but for the most part your local forecast would now be handled by someone hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away from the community served by the station.
In a press release, the Allen Media Group — which owns 27 television stations across the country, in addition to the Weather Channel and other outlets — attempted to spin it as a big win for viewers: “This initiative aims to transform the way local weather is reported — ensuring the most accurate, timely, and engaging forecasts for communities across the country,” Allen Media Group said. What it didn’t elaborate on was the local layoffs that would ensue. Allen Media Group declined to give a number on how many people were affected.
But Allen Media Group was clearly not ready for viewers to see right through that explanation. And they somehow forgot how personally attached news viewers are to their local weathercasters. These TV personalities are superstars in their local markets, often because they’ve been the most important source of information when weather gets scary. They know exactly where that tornado is hitting, where the winds are blowing and who’s in the path of danger because they live there too. Not some meteorologist in Atlanta.
I also don’t think they expected so many farewells from their local stations would go viral. I found myself tearing up at a goodbye from Allen Media Group’s Terre Haute, Ind., station WTHI-TV anchors Patrece Dayton and Kevin Orpurt. I had never heard of them, and I’ve never been to Terre Haute, but I could immediately see why that town loved these two — and weren’t happy with the decision to can them.
That was repeated with both weathercasters and other anchors all over Allen Media Group stations around the country as stations underwent another brutal round of layoffs. That’s not just an Allen Media Group problem, it’s a journalism problem, period, as both national and local news outlets make drastic cuts — right when we need them the most.
Allen Media Group, of course, isn’t the only TV station group to make drastic cuts by centralizing operations — Sinclair, CBS, Gray Media and others have done variations of the same in recent years. These cost-cutting moves are a disappointing financial reality given a soft advertising marketplace and audiences turning their attention away from TV. It’s also happening in newspapers, of course.
But what’s lost in these moves to centralize coverage is the local expertise and nuance that comes with having your boots on the ground, knowing the intricacies of your community and having a personal relationship with viewers. Ironically, removing all of that will only hasten the demise of local media as we know it. What is more local than the daily weather forecast? Stripping away the very selling point that still makes broadcast valuable — its live, local nature — may help save a few coins in the short run, but it’s a recipe for obsolescence in the long term.
As I recently wrote, the L.A. fires here reminded us of the importance of local media in an age where social media has become in large part a worthless firehose of lies, conspiracy theories and hate. And things are just going to get worse under the new regime in Washington, D.C. — one that rewards those lies and covers up truth.
When it comes to weather, the effects of climate change will also only make our environment more dangerous and unpredictable in the coming years. This is a public safety issue, and broadcast stations carry an FCC license that requires some responsibility to operate in the public interest. Firing your meteorologists and beaming in reports from Atlanta is the opposite of that.
Byron Allen has proven himself to be a savvy entrepreneur in building Allen Media Group into a diversified company with assets across broadcast, cable, streaming and film distribution. Of late, he’s also known for making billion-dollar bids on media companies, so he has the resources. And according to some local media reports, Allen Media Group may be reconsidering the mass weathercaster layoff and looking to bring some of them back after advertisers also objected. Requests for comment to Allen Media Group have gone unreturned, so it’s unclear how many staffers may or may not be keeping their jobs. But this has been a lesson for all broadcasters: Take the “local” out of local TV at your own peril.
