Please help us by making a tax-deductible donation
Please support us by donating to our Founders campaign today! We are a 501(c)3 so your donation can be tax-deductible. Here's a list of current Founders.
Anchors Away!
Time was when a broadcast news station pinned it's future on Anchormen, and Anchorwomen. I once heard that an on-air personality was the face of a television station. Enter the age of the Faceless news outfit. Almost every local broadcast station in San Diego has undergone an Anchor transplant, or simply trimmed the salaries of their on-camera talent. It's not only San Diego. Top anchors in cities from New York to Los Angeles are getting fired. People who were once the face of the station, are now trying to save face, swallow some pride, and take a paycut.
Last week's announcement that Carol Lebeau is leaving KGTV after 28 years is just the latest round of departing anchors. Last year popular anchor Stan Miller left channel 8, Brian Christi, and Estha Trow left channel 6. Infact that station recently did away with not only the sports anchor, but the entire sports department. Who's next? Just stay tuned, Which brings me to the point. Are these Anchorpeople really necessary for an on-air or web style newscast? What about the long standing relationships many anchors have with their communities, and their viewers? Will those viewers come to rescue them in an hour of need. All the public has to do is tune-in, raise the ratings, and insure their favorite anchor stays put. That's not the case, and in these tough times some stations are using the high salaries they once paid anchors, and hiring up to 4 reporters. They call them backpack journalists, or one-man bands who shoot, report, edit, and present their product. What if you eliminate the anchor all together, and have reporters present their stories round-robin style. Is this what people want?
WNBC in New York is betting on the future by providing that city with a 24-hour news operation. That local station has fired many of it's long standing reporters, and some high priced anchors. So far the public response is negative. It is always sad to see friends you grew up watching leave the air. However, it's seen that some old-school type anchors stand in the path of progress. All safe-bets are off as local news operations evolve into the type of content generating centers simular to WNBC New York. Many news analysts point to Anderson Cooper, the face of CNN. He's the anchor who sprouted legs, and walked away from the traditonal news studio desk, and travels to hot-spots around the country. I propose a hybrid, a newscast that delivers news on demand, and people decide whether they need to listen to an anchor, or just click on the story, content, or video directly without all the set up. Anchors aren't what they used to be. Perhaps their job description, and place in a newscast, and community is destined to change forever.
Filed Under
Topics: Business Models -
Type of Content: Blog -
Tags: journalism - TV news - broadcast news - san diego 6 - CNN - anderson cooper - kgtv - wnbc tv new york -
Post to Twitter
wow carol lebeau is
wow carol lebeau is leaving... well can anyone be really surprised? and i'm sure she's thinking that she's getting out in the nick of time. or do you think she just couldn't handle any more botox? ;)
In poor taste
What an unkind comment! Carol is a good journalist and a fine human being. I hope she is going on to even better opportunities.
Thanks for your comment,
Thanks for your comment, There are always rumors when someone leaves a station. A personality is free to sign with any station in the market. Carol is a solid journalist, and pro. I feel she will be able to land a position with other outlets in San Diego, or enjoy her time away from the media. She is the latest of about a dozen top anchors who have exited our airwaves in the past two years. The question is will people care, do they tend to go elsewhere???
Wow Lebeau, Anchors Away
It's more a case of Local TV Stations budgets. They say they can no longer afford to pay people salaries that were bound by contracts of the past. You will be watching younger, less experienced anchors behind the desk. A Yuma Arizona journalist has already been hired to work at KGTV as an anchor. This is a trend throughout the country. The big issue is many of these new anchors coming in from other cities don't have knowledge of San Diego news, or a sense of community with people here. Have a good retirement Carol.
Where have all the anchors gone?
I don't really watch anymore. The news has become soooo impersonnal there is no connection anymore. The only local news in SD that has a bit of continuity is KUSI--which is not a great news station but it has familiarity and there is something to be sad for that.
Where, Anchors away
This represents our thoughts at newmediarights.org, Our stand is that Local TV News no longer serves our local communities. Too many folks like yourself don't watch local Tv news anymore. But, now we need to look at new models for news, and how those future programs can serve the public, while staying solvent. Stay tuned to newmediarights.org for more on this topic.
Anchors Cost Money and Outlived Their Purpose
The bottom line of the game will always be profits. In the meantime, I have some comments and predictions about TV and print media.
Anchors are either retiring or being let go because they are too expensive and aging. During hard economic times, I predict multiple network mergers and more cheap inexperienced replacements because advertising revenue has decreased. These replacements are superficial in many cases, but nice to look at. They're cheap and until a new business model of merging is achieved, this is what we get.
Additionally, because one can go online and read desired sections of print media, I predict they will start charging for online subscriptions within the next year or they won't exist.
The purchase of the Union Trib in San Diego and the sale of other national print media will have to focus on local issues and local individuals. People want to see their names in print, their photos and want to know only local issues impacting their lives financially or personally. They don't care about criminals in Nevada unless a scam has hit their inner circle or neighborhood.
CNN and Fox have the national news covered 24/7 on TV and on their websites. People are sick and tired of watching local news with too many commercials when they can record PBS, CNN, Fox and channel 70 and watch without commercials using TIVO. Ads are the name of both print and TV. Even CNN and Fox seem like they've increased commercial time in order to increase profits.
The methodologies are changing. What is not changing is the desire to make money with these changes. We can call it "the way of the future" if we want, but the ongoing fact will continue to be revenue profits.
Anchors cost
Money, that is the name of the game! You put it so well, news anchors are losing their jobs all across the country. Veterans like Paul Moyer in L.A. are being dropped because they're simply too expensive.
Question is who, (what) will preplace Moyer, or other anchors? I feel we've just started to explore that subject, and perhaps discover a new business model that will become the new standard. I often compare today's broadcast finance model to water. Water is known to find its own level. The news business is in that state of flux right now. There is much declines in quality, and performance in local news. I hate the fact we have to settle for less coverage, content, and perspective in news. Perhaps that "water level" I spoke of will find its bottom rung, then we can build from there.
missing news anchors
I had no idea that local stations were dismissing long-time anchors but had wondered why they were no longer present. I'm so fed up with the news format on most stations, including CNN, that I've taken to only watching the Lehrer News Hour on PBS, which does still have the same remaining anchor of longstanding and actually reports on news for an entire hour without promo-ing upcoming pieces or running commercials every 2 to 5 minutes. Besides that, it's real news, not car chases, etc.
Keep up the fight, Pete.
Missing news anchors
Thanks for your comments. Yes the flipside of missing anchors is the fact viewers get attached to some of the Personalities. There is a lot to be said about the fact people gravitate to someone they know. In their desperation to cut cost many companies are missing the key ingredients, "emotion, relationship, and integrity"
Without those you might as well be watching "Max Headroom"
Missing Anchor blues
TangoRango
I had also noticed that some 30+ yrs experienced and much loved weather person(s) were cut like a bad habits at KXAS in Dallas Texas. There was no farewell sobbing speeches, just a new person with a new promo and a message of this is how we are doing it from here on. Everyone loved Rebecca Miller (Weather Lady for 30+ yrs) and now we have to get comfortable with some new faces and it hurts not to hear that familiar voice informing you on the day’s weather and traffic. Another weather anchor at same station decided to start a new legacy in a small market station in Oklahoma and get back to his small town roots.
Is this Anchor Recycling? Are news stations "doing away with the old" and resurrecting their ratings with an "in with the new" approach to local media news?
"Stay Up, Stay Informed, The News Starts Now."
Missing news anchors
In with the new, that seems to be the mantra these days. That approach works with an objective product like soap. A soap thats been improved. News doesn't have to improve, They throw a new format up, or bring in a new anchor and call it an improvement. What's improved? Perhaps the bottom line has for the station. The viewer tends to be the big looser when it comes to integrity, experience, and content.
Post new comment