Cutbacks at News14?!!!

Say it ain't so, Mike?!

Luckily you're staying, but your staff is getting cut!

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2004/08/16/daily10.html?jst=b_ln_hl

 

As Bono would sing..."Monday, Bloody Monday."

Things will be different, that's for sure. As for me, stay tuned!

 

Harold Johnson retire yet? If not he should. You can have his job yesterday!:xyzthumbs

 

harold should go. and ch. 9 needs a serious revamp. maybe if mike heads there i can actually watch it.

sorry to hear about the tough times over there. i blame belo for screwing up their circulation figures. never trust a newspaper to run a tv station (heck, we don't even own any).

 

Is the station having major problems or are they just thinning the herd. Is any other department (weather, or news) getting thinned as well? All these cut backs have to effect the on air product

 

Yo mediafreak, post the article from your place today--I don't have the heart.

 

my heart goes out to you guys, Mike

News 14 Carolina cuts its staff by about half


TV channel moves some operations to Raleigh to cut costs

[size=-1]MARK WASHBURN[/size]

[size=-1]TV/Radio Writer[/size]



Time Warner Cable slashed the staff of its Charlotte-based News 14 Carolina by about half on Monday, the latest in a series of national cutbacks for the company's fledgling local cable news outlets.

Up to 50 jobs in the 90-person news operation are being eliminated, said David Auger, president of Time Warner's Charlotte Division. But the channel, launched in 2002 after a $10 million investment, will continue to operate.

Administrative, production and master control operations will move to Raleigh, where the company operates a sister station, also called News 14 Carolina. Eight people affected by the layoffs, mostly in production, have been offered positions at the Raleigh studios, Auger said.

Many of the on-air personalities known to News 14 Carolina viewers will continue with the station, including anchors Heather Childers, Kathleen Cochrane and Annette Newell, and forecaster Jeff Crum and sports director Mike Solarte.

News bureaus in Salisbury and Gastonia will be closed, and coverage of high school sports will be reduced, Auger said.

The drawdown comes about a month after Dallas-based Belo Corp. announced it was pulling out of a joint venture with Time Warner to operate the Charlotte cable station and similar operations in Houston and San Antonio. The two Texas stations were closed with a loss of 190 jobs and Time Warner took over full control of the Charlotte channel.

Belo, which also publishes newspapers including Dallas Morning News, said it lost $18.7 million on the three stations since the joint venture started in 2002. Belo also owns Charlotte's WCNC NBC6 (Channel 36).

Auger said Time Warner does not disclose financial performance of individual units like News 14 Carolina, but said the station has been among the best performers in the universe of local cable start-up channels run by the company. Time Warner, with more than 10 million cable subscribers nationally, continues to operate 24-hour news channels in Austin, Texas; and in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse.

"The present business model is not sustainable from a long-term standpoint and a business standpoint," Auger said. "It's a great product and has a huge amount of value to our customers as is obvious from the viewership. But we must tweak the model to make it viable."

Advertising recession

The station was launched two years ago during a severe advertising recession. Rates for ads were forced down amid fierce competition from other media, including the city's seven commercial television stations.Ad buyer Nancy Haynes, principal in the agency Collins, Haynes and Lully, found the station useful, especially for advertisers who didn't need the 22-county reach of the city's commercial stations. The newscast reached nine Charlotte-area counties.

"Very cost effective," she said. "It was a way for a small advertiser to get frequency with viewers."

News 14 Carolina tends to reach viewers in about 2,000 to 3,000 households at any one time, many drawn to its popular "weather on the 1's" feature, which will continue. Auger said that 224,000 households tune into the station weekly.

Switchover Monday

Raleigh will take over the master control functions early Monday, Auger said, and Charlotte viewers will begin to see more stories of statewide interest. Local features, including traffic reports, will continue.

The station's Web site, news14charlotte.com, which was honored this year with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, will continue.

News of the layoffs and

News 14 Carolina cuts its staff by about half


TV channel moves some operations to Raleigh to cut costs

[size=-1]MARK WASHBURN[/size]

[size=-1]TV/Radio Writer[/size]



Time Warner Cable slashed the staff of its Charlotte-based News 14 Carolina by about half on Monday, the latest in a series of national cutbacks for the company's fledgling local cable news outlets.

Up to 50 jobs in the 90-person news operation are being eliminated, said David Auger, president of Time Warner's Charlotte Division. But the channel, launched in 2002 after a $10 million investment, will continue to operate.

Administrative, production and master control operations will move to Raleigh, where the company operates a sister station, also called News 14 Carolina. Eight people affected by the layoffs, mostly in production, have been offered positions at the Raleigh studios, Auger said.

Many of the on-air personalities known to News 14 Carolina viewers will continue with the station, including anchors Heather Childers, Kathleen Cochrane and Annette Newell, and forecaster Jeff Crum and sports director Mike Solarte.

News bureaus in Salisbury and Gastonia will be closed, and coverage of high school sports will be reduced, Auger said.

The drawdown comes about a month after Dallas-based Belo Corp. announced it was pulling out of a joint venture with Time Warner to operate the Charlotte cable station and similar operations in Houston and San Antonio. The two Texas stations were closed with a loss of 190 jobs and Time Warner took over full control of the Charlotte channel.

Belo, which also publishes newspapers including Dallas Morning News, said it lost $18.7 million on the three stations since the joint venture started in 2002. Belo also owns Charlotte's WCNC NBC6 (Channel 36).

Auger said Time Warner does not disclose financial performance of individual units like News 14 Carolina, but said the station has been among the best performers in the universe of local cable start-up channels run by the company. Time Warner, with more than 10 million cable subscribers nationally, continues to operate 24-hour news channels in Austin, Texas; and in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse.

"The present business model is not sustainable from a long-term standpoint and a business standpoint," Auger said. "It's a great product and has a huge amount of value to our customers as is obvious from the viewership. But we must tweak the model to make it viable."

Advertising recession

The station was launched two years ago during a severe advertising recession. Rates for ads were forced down amid fierce competition from other media, including the city's seven commercial television stations.Ad buyer Nancy Haynes, principal in the agency Collins, Haynes and Lully, found the station useful, especially for advertisers who didn't need the 22-county reach of the city's commercial stations. The newscast reached nine Charlotte-area counties.

"Very cost effective," she said. "It was a way for a small advertiser to get frequency with viewers."

News 14 Carolina tends to reach viewers in about 2,000 to 3,000 households at any one time, many drawn to its popular "weather on the 1's" feature, which will continue. Auger said that 224,000 households tune into the station weekly.

Switchover Monday

Raleigh will take over the master control functions early Monday, Auger said, and Charlotte viewers will begin to see more stories of statewide interest. Local features, including traffic reports, will continue.

The station's Web site, news14charlotte.com, which was honored this year with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, will continue.

News of the layoffs and consolidations with the Raleigh operation were discussed in a meeting with staff members Monday afternoon.

"It's a sad day," Auger said. "You never get over doing these sorts of things. A lot of people put a good two years of their lives into this ... there's a lot of disappointment in people seeing we were altering the model and changing the vision."

Some of the administrative personnel may be transferred into other openings at Time Warner, Auger said. The cable giant employs 1,200 in Charlotte region and 500 at the south Charlotte corporate office.

The Charlotte Division serves 391,000 customers in nine N.C. counties plus fringe neighborhoods in Charlotte's suburbs in South Carolina.

consolidations with the Raleigh operation were discussed in a meeting with staff members Monday afternoon.

"It's a sad day," Auger said. "You never get over doing these sorts of things. A lot of people put a good two years of their lives into this ... there's a lot of disappointment in people seeing we were altering the model and changing the vision."

Some of the administrative personnel may be transferred into other openings at Time Warner, Auger said. The cable giant employs 1,200 in Charlotte region and 500 at the south Charlotte corporate office.

The Charlotte Division serves 391,000 customers in nine N.C. counties plus fringe neighborhoods in Charlotte's suburbs in South Carolina.

 

Hmmmmmm, with CSET coming online soon (BTW, has A-N-Y-B-O-D-Y heard A-N-Y other news about it yet? Not a whole lot of news about the new network since the word came out !!!!!!!) and it is being setup by Time Warner, couldn't these people be offered jobs with CSET ? ? ? I mean, I'm sure whatever technical/production/reporting positions that NEWS14 has cut, CSET is going to need them.

Solarte: YOu still have 2 assistants workiing with you, right? Its a shame that your having to cut back on HS Sports reporting, especially with the football season right around the corner.

 

Time and temperature bug

Have any of you guys noticed that News 14 has reduced the size of the time and temperature bug that's usually down in the lower left portion of the screen. I can hardly read it now!! I hate it! I know the cutbacks were serious but I didn't think it would trickle all the way down to having to cut the size of the time and temp bug.

 

I know it sucks...I am not happy with it ither, but the Raleigh folks are in control of that. I am hoping they will give us the old bug back, because you do need glasses to read it currently.