Allen Media Group's controversial plan to fire local meteorologists and replace them with Weather Channel feeds faces fierce backlash from loyal viewers who call it “greedy,” “stupid” and “cheesy.” is reportedly backing down after being confronted with
Over the weekend, the Byron Allen-owned media company announced plans to lay off or reassign employees at all of its roughly 20 television stations, including FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates from California and Hawaii to Alabama and Arizona. It was reported that. press release.
“Allen Media should get out of the weather business completely. They've lost all credibility with their greedy and ridiculous plan to export local TV weather to the Weather Channel's central hub in Atlanta,” one viewer wrote on X. I was outraged by the post. “What a disaster.”
Now, the media group is laying off about 100 meteorologists and pausing plans to outsource reporting from the Weather Channel after members of the local community took to social media to condemn the callous cuts. According to The Deskis a digital news site focused on media and technology news.
“After receiving significant feedback in various markets, Allen Media has decided to pause and reconsider our strategy to provide local weather from the Weather Channel in Atlanta.” The station's sales manager told The Desk in a statement.
Allen Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amber Kulick, a meteorologist at WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama, announced last week that she had been fired and celebrated the turnaround on social media.
“Allen Media has reversed its decision to lay off all local meteorologists, so I will remain in Huntsville for the duration of the broadcast,” Kulick wrote. Post to X.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out and made their voices heard,” she added with a heart emoji.
Matt Hoffman, chief meteorologist for Allen Media's KDRV, said he was pleased with the policy suspension and announced that the agency's weather reporters and KEZI's weather reporters covering California and Oregon are continuing to work.
“We're staying put, folks!” Hoffman wrote in a post to X. “Our local meteorologists will continue to bring you the weather here at KDRV and KEZI. Thank you to everyone for your support!”
Allen Media stations, including WTVA in northeast Mississippi, KWWL in eastern Iowa and WSIL in southern Illinois, also said they had received word that their weather departments were intact.
It's unclear how many local meteorologists who have already received pink slips, like Kulick at the Huntsville station, will be able to keep their jobs.
The media group is reportedly moving ahead with plans to build an Atlanta-based team to lead reporting at the Weather Channel, which the company acquired for $300 million in 2018. local stations could still be forced to replace the team with the Weather Channel. feed.
Many weather reporters had already bid a tearful farewell, writing farewell messages on social media. But loyal viewers, many of whom rely on local stations for accurate weather information, slammed the decision on social media and called for a boycott of Allen Media's stations.
Another viewer lamented the death of WTVA Chief Meteorologist Matt Rauban, who was initially expected to be affected by layoffs.
Rauban was praised by community members for praying for Amory before the tornado devastated the city.
“I hope a better TV station hires Matt,” a WTVA viewer wrote to X. “It's such a shame for Allen Media Group and Byron Allen for being so cheap.”
A photojournalist from Kentucky agreed: “I hope the backlash against Allen Media Group's terrible weather decisions will inspire cooperation from major media outlets that are watering down local news.”
The layoffs were part of Allen Media's cost-cutting plan, but advertisers threatened to remove the affected stations from their slots after anger from local viewers, The Desk reported.
Allen Media did not respond to earlier questions about whether the layoffs were part of a cost-cutting plan.
