Layoffs at Channel 11
Wow. This is huge. Uncle Barky reports that Channel 11 has laid off reporter Robert Riggs and producer John Sparks. Reporter Kaushal Patel is gone, too, but with all due respect, the Riggs and Sparks sackings are the big news. This does not bode well for 11.
Update: I got Tracy Rowlett on the phone as he was preparing for his 5 o’clock newscast — meaning he didn’t have much time to talk. In short: “It’s a sad day,” he says. “It’s a station-wide deal. Every time a door closes, you wonder who is next. I’ve watched this happen so many times in this business. But it’s the economy. It’s going to hell in a hand basket.”
28 Comments to “Layoffs at Channel 11”
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With all due respect to Tracy, it isn’t just the economy. The money CBS has poured into Katie Couric and a (repeatedly) failed Early Show had to made up somewhere.
Ironically I am watching Ch. 11 as I read this and Tracy Rowlett is asking viewers “if you have a news story you’d like us to look into, you can email that information to us”.
Oh boy, interactive investigative journalism.
Now they run the “nipple (boarding) gate” story. Yawn.
I will miss Robert Riggs - and so will Ch. 11.
Hey, old man. I’ve got to agree with you. When Ch. 4 showed people the door not too long ago, they, too, were the investigator types, though none none were the faces we see on television. Just their producers. I guess no one wants to pay anybody to think anymore. Most of the folks on TV now are talking heads, except a slim few (who I won’t name in case the folks at CBS are looking for more to chop).
the future of tv news. cheap, cookie cutter, shallow stories.
It took longer for CBS to realize this, than it took NBC.
If I were a bureaucrat who specialized in thievery and hijinx, right now would be the time to breathe easier in Dallas and get rich off the public blindness. Geez, there’s no telling what’s going to happen at the DISD, DART or the Trinity River highway project without any serious investigative journalists thumbing through paperwork. “I saw it on TV” is a lot more threatening than “We’ll put it in the paper, dull it down in a confusing jumble, bury it in the back and put an incomprehensible, balanced headline on it.”
not sure who else got the ax at KTVT, but it is in every department.
You can Maria Arita to that list.
What will happen to Kaushal, who in my view is the 2nd hottest reporter in Dallas(Everyone comes in 2nd to Ms. Hawksworth).
Please inform Kaushal that I’ve got broad shoulders for her to cry on, and more.
nice to see they can still afford all their managers, 6 weatherpeeps AND Tracy Rowlett
Hawksworth is leaving, Cesc. Going to Fox affiliate in Boston.
NOOooooooo. Russ, say it ain’t so.
I agree with cesc, Kaushal was nice on the eyes. Getting back to Robert Riggs, he is one of the best reporters in town. I thinks it’s interesting how the reporters either living on their own (Jeff Crilley), and those pushed out recently (Rebecca Miller, Clif Caldwell, Rebecca Aguilar,) and now Robert all seem to be over 40.
The pattern shows that if you’re young and probably cheaper than the above named your odds are having a job are better than when you’re over 40. I’m watching CNN
Anyone else noticed how WFAA’s Shelley Slater is much hotter looking when reporting from the field than when doing anchor duty? It’s like the makeup folks there are way overdoing it for the in-studio HD broadcast. Back off, guys. She’s hotter with less makeup work.
On page 10 of Berkshire Hathaway’s 2007 Annual Report (www.bersirehathaway.com, Warren Buffett is telling a story about some of the worst business decisions he has ever made and one example was not buying an NBC local TV station (I know 11 is CBS) in Dallas-Ft. Worth.
He was explaining that he should have bought the station 15 years ago when he had the chance. To prove his point, he said the in 2006, the station earned 73 million, pre tax.
My point is if the economics of local TV stations in large markets are that favorable, than why in the heck would the suits at Channel 11 get rid of a guy like Robert Riggs, or Kaushall for that matter.
Even if the ecomony is struggling, have the economics of local TV stations in large markets like DFW changed that dramatically?
Rowlett many blame the economy but I stopped watching local newscasts a long time ago.
The majority of “stories” deemed news worthy are nothing but pure crap. The writing, for the most part is terrible, and the “in the field” camera shots are random and many times not related to the story being covered. The field reporters end up looking like jackasses covering a story that’s hideously inane or standing out in weather- showing everyone how bad it is- like we didn’t know! Good Gawd!
Yeah, Dallas has the one snowflake and it caused a pile up on 75.
You couldn’t pay me to watch local or any ABC, NBC, CBS national program either. I heart Brit Hume and the All Stars especially Krauthammer.
I find it much more convenient to read/watch news via the news channel websites. When I DO watch live news on TV I find myself making fun of what they’re wearing, annoyed when a station touts their own reality shows as “news” (Channel 4/American Idol) and watching the women morph into stepford wives having succumbed to plastic surgery (i.e. Gloria C. and Kristine K.) God I miss Harold Taft.
Last night a Channel 8 anchor reported a train derailment near downtown on the “United Pacific.” Where do they GET these people?
Of all the local news stations, i think NBC hands down has the worst news coverage. They usually have 1 story thats newsworthy and then the rest is on surveys that state drinking coffee is great for mental sharpness or some crap like that.
Out here in Lubbock, where I moved to from the DFW region, we depend on the Big City fellas to keep us informed on whats happening when we’re not friskin for rings.
Oops gotta go Katie Couric is comin on………
Hey all of you peeps out there I tried to save everyones jobs but the brass in NY told me if I didn’t start firing people I would not get my bonus this year! Oh well guess I will have to sell one of my 5 houses so I can take the wifey poo to Europe for another ound of plastic surgery! ROFLMAO
Read about Riggs yesterday, then last night on my DVR I found a Bill Moyers program I recorded Jan. 25 (been a little busy, I guess). The piece was about how much money local TV makes off political advertising, and how in the new corporate era all that money is (I think this is the quote) “sucked right up to corporate headquarters in New York.” Moyers also had an analyst who said the station managers get “a number” from corporate and the marching orders are these: Make the number, or we’ll get someone who can.
At some point someone’s gonna run up the black flag and start slitting throats.
Note to Ch. 5 - please, please, please, please, please, please fire Ken Kalthoff. He is, without a doubt, the most obnoxious and unprepared reporter in DFW.
Its not the profits, its the stock price that drives all these decisions. The CEO’s job is to make the stock price rise. Wall Street is not impressed with the incredible profits TV makes. Its only impressed with growth, and its hard to grow when 40 cents out of every dollar is already profit. So when the economy craters, and profits drop, the only way to make the bottom line look better is to cut expenses.
That’s how every business does it. The only problem is News isn’t just a business. Its a responsibility broadcasters get in exchange for the liscense to print money that a station liscense is.
Its time for the public to A:remember the airwaves belong to you, not CBS, NBC, Belo or their stockholders. and B: you deservre quality news way more than stockholders deserve increase stock price.
Until the public demands quality in exchange for the use of its airwaves, we will continue to get crap.
And don’t wait for politicians to speak up. The first rule of politics is “never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the train car load.” WFAA=DMN, Time=CNN, NY Time, Post-Newsweek, they all own broadcast interests too, and need favors from the government. They are all snug in bed together, leaving the public interest shivering in the cold. Who has the guts to challenge the status quo?
channel 11 laid off about 25 people some while they were on vacation. Most of the people they kept are 40 or younger. there were about 25 empty slots that had not been filled, So management says. I doubt they are done playing roulette with peoples lives. Management does not want real news stories anymore. They want their reporters to slant,sensationalize,evoke,twist,and “dumb down” their stories to the public. I’m quit sure they will try to run off a few more. So if you see junk coming from reporters who use report real news, you will know why. They are told to “report” what management thinks is news, not what IS NEWS.
It’s not the stock, CBS simply didn’t make their quarterly profit requirements. Instead of having $20 Billion in profit they only had $12 Billion, So the slack has to be made up somewhere. Plus Only months before the layoffs they buy millions in new HD equipment. I know they need to stay competitive but as much as I want CBS 11 to be the #1 Station in the market, I would rather be the worst station in the market if it ment all those people could still have a job. By the way It was about 60 people they laid off.
P.S.
M3Girl
The airwaves do not belong to the public. They Belong to the FCC who leases them to the broadcast entity(ie. CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.). The FCC is funded by those licenses and not the tax paying dollar.
If you want to get upset about something get upset about the FCC forcing people to buy new TV’s or converter boxes, just so they can lease more frequencies.
For those of you who have Time Warner Cable, you can watch Kaushal anchoring on CNN International from midnight to 7am. I guess the CBS deal ended up working out for her, she landed in a much better place! She’s based out of Atlanta, though, and unfortunately Time Warner and Cox are the only domestic cable companies that carry CNNI at this time. She is seen in 200 other countries worldwide, though! And she looks as fabulous as ever!