Local meteorologists could face layoffs amid new initiative with The Weather Channel : NPR

Meteorologists at 27 native TV information stations are going through uncertainty about their jobs after Allen Media Group introduced a brand new native climate initiative with The Climate Channel.

The group, which owns TV stations in 21 markets throughout the nation, stated Saturday it’s rolling out a brand new format for climate protection that may have “further visible storytelling capabilities” throughout its stations in 2025.

The transfer comes as the published trade, notably tv, seeks new methods to interact audiences because it navigates waning viewership amid twine chopping and the rise of streaming platforms.

The plan includes meteorologists at The Climate Channel in Atlanta producing content material for native stations throughout the nation. The staff underneath the brand new initiative will likely be led by Carl Parker, a meteorologist at The Climate Channel, and embody some meteorologists from native TV stations transferring to Atlanta, the media group stated in an announcement.

Extreme climate will stay a precedence, the group stated, and the brand new format will “enhance reporting capabilities, particularly in high-stakes climate conditions.” It’ll additionally guarantee “probably the most correct, well timed, and fascinating forecasts for communities throughout the nation,” in response to the discharge.

The corporate wouldn’t publicly element how the change would have an effect on meteorologists at native TV stations.

Meteorologists at some stations say they anticipate to be impacted by the choice. There are additionally stations going through ongoing layoffs that were announced in early 2024.

“By now most of you might have most likely seen the chatter about Allen media letting native meteorologists go, nicely I’m one which will likely be affected by this,” Amber Kulick, a meteorologist with WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Ala., a station owned by the media group, wrote in a social media post. “For now I’m nonetheless on the station however I’m on the lookout for my subsequent profession alternative.”

Josh Franson, a meteorologist with KWWL-TV in Iowa, stated he’s amongst these going through layoffs at his station.

“Hey guys, If you have not heard the current information concerning the layoffs, I needed to share that our station is a kind of impacted,” Franson wrote in a post on X. “To my viewers and people of you who’ve been on Frannys Report since day one, thanks.”

Zach Stanford, a former state coordinator for disaster info and catastrophe intelligence for the Oklahoma Division of Emergency Administration, stated native meteorologists are the “apparent alternative for life-saving native climate info” and serve important roles in sharing different info similar to wildfire perimeters and evacuations.

“Native meteorologists on TV are a trusted face, not solely as a result of they know their science, but in addition as a result of they seem to be a member of that neighborhood,” Stanford advised NPR. “The neighborhood element must be thought via to guarantee that that important service isn’t misplaced.”

Allen Media Group took possession of The Climate Channel in 2018.