While WFOR managed to keep main anchors and all but one reporters in other cities the pink slips went out to some of the big shots too.
In LA KCAL/KCBS shed at least a dozen people including two longtime anchors – Harold Greene and Ann Martin probably the longest running anchor team in local TV news being together 3 decades – who will leave the station in May.
San Francisco’s KPIX CBS5 shed 14 staffers including two long time reporters who were with the station for 28 and 17 years. MercuryNews story
Boston’s WBZ CBS4 fired 32 people including veteran sports anchor Bob Lobel who started in 1979, entertainment reporter Joyce Kulhawik since 1981 and anchor Scott Wahle since 1989. BizJournals article Boston Globe story
In Chicago WBBM CBS2 said so long to at least 17 people. One of whom was the only anchor with a $2million dollar salary Diann Burns. Even Chicago’s NBC affiliate covered her departure. The station also fired its sports anchor and two reporters. Chicago Tribune story
Pink slips were given to at about 10 people at KDKA in Pittsburgh.
In Philadelphia KYW CBS3 fired 11 people in sales, news and other departments while KYW 1060-AM shed a dozen jobs a month before.
Two reporters were among 26 laid off at Sacramento’s CBS affiliate KOVR CBS13
Dallas CBS O&O KTVT CBS13 laid off about 20 employees, 3 were on-air
I grew up in Boston and I clearly remember Lobel and Kulhawik. I also read someplace else that Barry Burbank also left. This is clearly sad to see so many layoffs.
CBS Corporation is denying that they had anything to do with all the layoffs from all the O&O’s across the country on the same day, they say it is mainly coincidence.
Yeah ok, I highly doubt that… it just so happens that there are major layoffs from some of the biggest markets on the same day all on CBS O&O’s but corporate had nothing to do with it?!
You skim through those articles and you see an underlying theme. Most, if not all the people fired were news or some mid-level managers or technical people.
Notice how they fired no general managers or top managers within CBS? Seems like the ones who are in charge of running the ship aground should be held accountable.
The fact that CBS has not cut out the real cancer might lead one to believe that more failure and more layoffs are in store in the future. I would be nervous if I worked at any of these places because the decision makers will cut staff and budgets before they taking responsibility for failing to compete.
Good point Ben.
There is only 1 reason why CBS had a mass layoff! Their news product sucks! I love Katie Couric but what she reports as news sucks. KCBS/KCAL here in LA is so boring and their newscasts have so many blackscreens in between shots. I was watching KCAL 9 News at 10 and it was like watching a student produced newscast.