Disclosure: Jon Ellis was an employee of Gray Media Group at the time this item was posted. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.
Days after Allen Media Group announced plans to centralize weather forecasts at its TV stations, some Allen stations are reporting the plan is on hold.
On Jan. 18, Allen issued a news release saying that a team at The Weather Channel, which it owns, would produce forecasts for the company’s stations and that some local meteorologists would move to the network’s headquarters in Atlanta. The full impact on individual stations was not announced.
Two meteorologists from KIMT/3 (Mason City-Rochester) and three from KWWL/7 (Waterloo) had announced on social media that their jobs were being affected.
Allen Media also owns WQOW/18 (Eau Claire), WXOW/19 (La Crosse), WKOW/27 (Madison), and WAOW/9 (Wausau).
However, on Jan. 23, Allen’s WAAY/31 (Huntsville, AL) reported that Allen had “decided to postpone the full implementation of this strategy.” Allen’s WTVA/9 (Tupelo, MS) reported that the “decision has mostly been reversed.” The stations’ new statements were first reported nationally by NewscastStudio.
As of Thursday evening, an updated statement from Allen Media itself was not seen on the company’s website or the newswire which distributed the initial news release.
The changes would have been the latest in a series that included job cuts and the launch of regional newscast segments in some markets last month. The weather plan received national attention from NPR, CNN, and other outlets.
Weather has long been a leading driver of local TV news viewership. Stations of all ownership groups invest heavily in promoting their weather coverage and often position their meteorologists as local weather experts.
This item was first posted Jan. 20 and was updated Jan. 23. Due to the new developments, the names of meteorologists who had initially announced their impending departures have been removed.