The cruelty of the news business
The news business is harsh and cruel to the people who work within it. That's actually true of anyone who works in any "on-air" position in radio and television. I know this from my own personal observations. I was doing weekend overnights (Fridays and Sundays from 2am to 6 am and Saturdays from midnight to 6 am). My days as an FM jock.
I got a call at my day job (serving in the Air Force) from the station's program director. He had never called me during the week before. He called to ask me if I could do he 2 am to 6 am shift every night that week. I said yes without knowing why. I found out why when I arrived at the station that evening at 1 am to do my pre-show prep. The DJ I was going to take over from told me that the regular overnight guy had been arrested and missed shifts. As a result, he'd been fired.
They eventually hired a lovely lady who did a great job in the timeslot. She was doing the six pm to midnight slot on Saturday when I arrived to take over from her. There was a memo on the bulletin board. We'd had another open slot and the hope was that all of the DJs in the evening would move up one slot and I would get the overnight job on a permanent basis. There was a memo from the aforementioned program director. It announced the hiring of someone who'd been fired from a job in a larger market. He could call me to come in and fill-in, but he let me find out that I did not get the job I was hoping to get with a bulletin-board memo. My friend that I was relieving told me she had feared I would see the memo and promptly quit. I was a bit more mercurial then but that was not my style.
I mention this to show I have a tiny bit of understanding about what is happening at Los Angeles television station KTLA, Channel 5. Lynette Romero, who has 24 years of experience at the station departed suddenly. A poorly worded tweet from the station's official Twitter account. We, the audience, have been told that she was barred from the building. That her belongings were boxed up and brought to her outside the building. What could she have possibly done to deserve such horrible treatment after almost a quarter-century of employment?
She had the temerity to take a job with another local television station's newscasts. A step upward. How dare she leave them after all these years?
When I first read of her abrupt departure I wondered if history was repeating itself. KTTV, Fox 11 had gotten rid of Dororthy Lucey, Lisa Breckenridge and Jillian Barbarie in a "restructuring" Women in the news business are discarded because apparently executives in that business (not all, but a lot) believe that women do not age gracefully, like male news anchors do. But that was not the case here. Lynette had an opportunity and she took it. Good for her!
There is a backlash on social media at the moment. The question is, what will the long-term result be? Another station in the market gained a very talented news anchor; who has a gift for connecting with the viewers. KTLA is losing viewers. I have watched their morning newscast on weekends, every weekend for a long-time. No more.
I wish Ms Romero well in her new job. I wish the remaining on-air talent at KTLA's weekend morning news well, as they try to survive their incompetent management.
I got a call at my day job (serving in the Air Force) from the station's program director. He had never called me during the week before. He called to ask me if I could do he 2 am to 6 am shift every night that week. I said yes without knowing why. I found out why when I arrived at the station that evening at 1 am to do my pre-show prep. The DJ I was going to take over from told me that the regular overnight guy had been arrested and missed shifts. As a result, he'd been fired.
They eventually hired a lovely lady who did a great job in the timeslot. She was doing the six pm to midnight slot on Saturday when I arrived to take over from her. There was a memo on the bulletin board. We'd had another open slot and the hope was that all of the DJs in the evening would move up one slot and I would get the overnight job on a permanent basis. There was a memo from the aforementioned program director. It announced the hiring of someone who'd been fired from a job in a larger market. He could call me to come in and fill-in, but he let me find out that I did not get the job I was hoping to get with a bulletin-board memo. My friend that I was relieving told me she had feared I would see the memo and promptly quit. I was a bit more mercurial then but that was not my style.
I mention this to show I have a tiny bit of understanding about what is happening at Los Angeles television station KTLA, Channel 5. Lynette Romero, who has 24 years of experience at the station departed suddenly. A poorly worded tweet from the station's official Twitter account. We, the audience, have been told that she was barred from the building. That her belongings were boxed up and brought to her outside the building. What could she have possibly done to deserve such horrible treatment after almost a quarter-century of employment?
She had the temerity to take a job with another local television station's newscasts. A step upward. How dare she leave them after all these years?
When I first read of her abrupt departure I wondered if history was repeating itself. KTTV, Fox 11 had gotten rid of Dororthy Lucey, Lisa Breckenridge and Jillian Barbarie in a "restructuring" Women in the news business are discarded because apparently executives in that business (not all, but a lot) believe that women do not age gracefully, like male news anchors do. But that was not the case here. Lynette had an opportunity and she took it. Good for her!
There is a backlash on social media at the moment. The question is, what will the long-term result be? Another station in the market gained a very talented news anchor; who has a gift for connecting with the viewers. KTLA is losing viewers. I have watched their morning newscast on weekends, every weekend for a long-time. No more.
I wish Ms Romero well in her new job. I wish the remaining on-air talent at KTLA's weekend morning news well, as they try to survive their incompetent management.
posted by me at 7:20 PM
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