News 2 lays off staff, implements hiring freeze

GM cites industry conditions, but employees point to parent's San Fran troubles

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

Update 4:02 p.m. – Speaking to NashvillePost.com, News 2 General Manager Gwen Kinsey disputed the number of layoffs and unfilled positions reported below, but would not provide exact figures, saying that "we've laid off a few people and reassigned other people," both in the news department and elsewhere at the station.

"We're in a news environment where news doesn't happen on the hour anymore," she said. "We're figuring out how to provide local content that's meaningful to our audience – both on air and online. Continuing to do the same shows at the same time is unrealistic."

Kinsey also said other Young stations are making staffing changes, but that those decisions are being made locally and are focused on the same market forces driving her moves at WKRN. Regarding KRON in San Francisco, she said "our business is changing regardless of what's happening in San Francisco. If that station sells tomorrow, it doesn't change what's happening here."

As originally reported:

The staff at WKRN News 2 were informed Monday afternoon that a number of their colleagues are being laid off and that several open positions in the company will not be filled.

Sources have told NashvillePost.com that General Manager Gwen Kinsey told the News 2 team that eight jobs are being eliminated and four open slots will not be replaced. Among those now looking for work are morning reporter Jenna McKee and WKRN’s weekend morning news program and its staff.

Company insiders strongly believe that the decision earlier this month by Chris Stout, who had been on the sports desk, to leave WKRN and start his own financial advisory business likely spared several other colleagues from the ax. From what NashvillePost.com has been able to learn, all of those who lost their jobs were victims of “last hired, first fired.”

Sources also tell NashvillePost.com that other cuts are being made at WKRN’s parent company, Young Broadcasting. A call to Kinsey – who is in Knoxville today – and Young President Deb McDermott was not returned by publication time.

News 2 staffers feel that much of Young's current troubles stem from the 2000 purchase of KRON-TV in San Francisco. More than one individual who heard Kinsey speak Monday said that it was obvious that the gorilla in the room – the purchase of KRON, which Young is now attempting to unload at a loss – is the reason for the cutbacks.

Instead, Kinsey focused on telling staffers that “now is a difficult time for our industry” and mentioned that market leader WTVF NewsChannel 5 – which has been put on the auction block by Landmark Communications – will face similar cutbacks when it comes under new ownership.

KRON was a highly rated NBC affiliate in that market when it went on the block in the spring of 2000. According to sources, Young Broadcasting felt KRON would be “the jewel in the crown” and ignored warnings that it would lose the NBC broadcasting rights for San Francisco if it bought the station. The group issuing the warnings was none other than NBC, which was bidding against Young.

Young beat out the peacock network, paying $738 million for what is now its largest station. But, true to its word, NBC did not renew its affiliation at the end of 2001, chopping $59 million from Young’s 2002 top line and slashing the value of the station and its parent, which had borrowed heavily to make the purchase. KRON is now ranked fourth in the San Fran market.

Until 2006, KRON was an independent station – the largest in the country – but that year, it affiliated with MyNetworkTV, the division of Fox Entertainment that also has branded WUXP in Nashville.

Because that shift moved much of KRON's syndicated primetime programming into late-night slots that earn fewer ad dollars, the company was forced to write down the value of that programming by $4.5 million, creating more financial troubles that WKRN staff now say have made their way to Nashville.