Allen Media Group is reportedly reversing its controversial plan to ax local meteorologists and replace them with a Weather Channel source after facing backlash from loyal viewers, who called the move “Greedy.” , “funny” and “Damn cheap”.
The Byron Allen-owned media company over the weekend unveiled plans to lay off or reassign workers across its nearly two dozen television stations—including Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates that stretch from California and Hawaii to Alabama. and Arizona, according to a press release.
“Allen Media should get out of the weather business altogether. Lost all credibility with their greedy, ridiculous plan to export local TV weather to a Weather Channel headquarters in Atlanta,” one viewer chimed in in a post on X.” What a disaster.”
Now, the media group is hitting pause on its plan to lay off about 100 meteorologists and outside coverage from the Weather Channel after local community members slammed the callous layoffs on social media, according to the Desk, a digital news site focused on media and technology LAJM.
“After receiving significant feedback in various markets, Allen Media has decided to pause and re-evaluate the Weather Channel’s local weather coverage strategy in Atlanta,” a sales manager at an Allen Media-owned station 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, Ala. Who shared last week that she was resting, celebrated the reversal on social media.
“Allen Media has gone back on the decision to drop all local meteorologists, so I’ll be staying in Huntsville on the air,” Kulick wrote in a post on X.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out and made your voice heard,” she added, along with a heart emoji.
Matt Hoffman, Chief Meteorologist at Allen Media’s KDRV, welcomed the political hiatus and reported that the weather reporters at his station and Kezi, both covering California and Oregon, were keeping their jobs.
“We’re sticking around, folks!” Hoffman wrote in a post on X. “Our local meteorologists will continue to bring you the weather here at KDRV and up in Kezi. Thank you all for your support!”
Allen Media-owned stations including WTVA in Northeast Mississippi, KWWL in eastern Iowa and WSIL in southern Illinois also said they received word that their weather departments were being unaffected.
It’s unclear how many local meteorologists who already received pink slips, like Kulick from the Huntsville station, will get to keep their jobs.
Media Group is reportedly still moving forward with its plans to build an Atlanta-based team to lead coverage at the Weather Channel, which the company bought for $300 million in 2018, so some local stations may be forced replace their teams with food
Many weather reporters had already bid tearful farewells and written farewell messages on social media. But loyal viewers — many of whom turn to local stations for accurate weather coverage — took to social media to blast the decision and call for a boycott of Allen’s media stations.
Another viewer mourned the loss of WTVA’s chief meteorologist, Matt Laubhan, who was initially determined to be affected by the vacation.
Laubhan was praised by community members for praying for the town of Amory before it was struck and destroyed by a tornado.
“I hope to God a better TV station out there will hire Matt,” wrote one WTVA viewer on X. “A damn shame on Allen Media Group and Byron Allen especially for being this damn cheap.”
A photojournalist in Kentucky chimed in: “I hope the backlash against Allen Media Group’s terrible weather decisions wakes up the big media conglomerates that are destroying local news.”
The moves were part of a cost-cutting plan at Allen Media, but outrage from local viewers caused advertisers to threaten to pull their spots on the influential stations, the desk reported.
Allen Media did not respond to earlier questions about whether the layoffs were part of a cost-cutting plan.
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Image Source : nypost.com