Heavy Layoffs at Young Broadcasting
TV-Station Owner Slashing $20M in Costs; Higher-Priced Talent First on Chopping Block
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/31/2008 7:10:00 AM
Just as a ratings book is about to begin, beleaguered broadcaster Young Broadcasting reportedly demanded a $20 million cut in costs across its station group, according to multiple sources. The higher-priced talent was the first to go, according to these sources.
Chairman Vincent Young neither confirmed nor denied the $20 million figure after several requests for comment.
WTEN Albany, N.Y., dismissed numerous reporters and anchors, reported Albany’s Times Union, including anchor Alyssa Van Wie, sports director Brian Sinkoff, meteorologist Chris Gloninger and reporter John Craig. All told, it was reported that 10 people were dismissed at WTEN and four open positions won't be filled.
Clicking on the staff profiles on the WTEN Web site prompts a message instructing users to “come back in a few days and check out our brand new ‘Meet the NEWS10 Team’ page.”
WKRN Nashville, Tenn., did away with weekend morning news due to what president and general manager Gwen Kinsey told the Tennessean was a “minimum audience” there. Reportedly, as many as 15 WKRN staffers were let go this week, according to sources.
WKRN added several Web features of late, such as newsroom blog WKRN News Extra!. Kinsey, who did not return a call for comment about the layoffs, told B&C last month, “As the convergence of media presents us with new opportunities to reach viewers, we're making sure we have the right tools in our tool kit.”
The 10-station group earned $232.83 million in 2006. Young is desperate to unload KRON San Francisco, now a MyNetworkTV outlet, which it paid $823 million for in 2000 (the station lost its NBC affiliation and plummeted in value). Earlier this month, Young announced that it hired banking firm Moelis & Co. to assist with the sale. It hopes to find a buyer and reach a deal by the end of the first quarter.
“Young keeps saying it’s not about KRON, but it’s all about KRON,” said one station consultant who asked not to be named. “They went over a bridge too far in going after KRON.”
Other Young stations include KELO Sioux Falls, S.D.; WRIC Richmond, Va.; and WBAY Green Bay, Wis.
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And now they'll lose more of their audience by demanding too high an increase with DISH Network and the end result will be more of us the viewing public going to other networks for our needs. They're going to price themselves out of even more stations and markets if they don't get their "ship" under control!
Steve Dutton - 12/12/2008 11:52:00 PM EST -
so what would you recommend they do?
jbv - 2/3/2008 3:31:00 PM EST -
Greed and stupidity are the operative words. Vince''''s decision to do
battle with NBC over KRON will probably be a half billion dollar mistake
(not bad for a bush-leaguer). It''''s unlikely that any wise PE player will
want to touch a Young Br. property after Vince''''s crew of cronies strip
them to the bones. One wonders if the "cost-cutting" includes sky-
boxes at major sports venues, country club memberships and golden
parachutes. If they do a great job at cost-cutting, they might get their
stock price all the way to .90 cents. Good job Vince! You deserve
much more than your $3 Million in salary and bonuses.
Big Deb - 2/2/2008 12:28:00 AM EST -
Young vastly overpaid for KRON by getting into a bidding war with NBC, and then promptly lost the network affiliation. A combination of greed and stupidity led to the station being stranded by high costs and a dearth of programming. It's unlikely that Young will recoupe much of their investment.
J. Edelman - 2/1/2008 6:59:00 PM EST
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