Wgn Layoffs: wgn layoffs cut nine on-air personnel at WGN-TV
wgn layoffs removed nine on-air personnel Monday, including long-tenured reporters, anchors and a meteorologist, in a move that has upended shifts and is tied to the station owner’s pending merger plans. The departures include entertainment critic Dean Richards and sports anchor Chris Boden and come as the company carrying the station weighs a $6. 2 billion acquisition of Tegna.
Nine on-air staff let go, described also as eight newsroom journalists plus a meteorologist
The station cut nine on-air personnel Monday: entertainment critic and reporter Dean Richards; sports anchor Chris Boden; news anchors Ray Cortopassi, Sean Lewis and Judy Wang; reporters Julian Crews and Bronagh Tumulty; meteorologist Mike Janssen; and political analyst Paul Lisnek. Other accounts characterize the layoffs as eight newsroom journalists and a contract meteorologist, the latter being Mike Janssen whose contract was not renewed, effectively ending his role.
Mid-shift departure and immediate anchor schedule changes
Ray Cortopassi was laid off in the middle of his shift, leaving Micah Materre to work solo on the anchor desk Monday night. The cuts prompted a reshuffle: Patrick Elwood will anchor solo at noon; Lourdes Duarte will anchor solo at 4 p. m.; Ben Bradley will join Duarte at 5 p. m.; Micah Materre will join Bradley at 6 p. m.; and Materre will anchor solo from 9 to 10: 30. The popular morning-news crew is expected to remain intact.
Long tenures and local ties among those let go
Several of the departing journalists had decades-long ties to the station. Dean Richards is described as a 34-year entertainment reporter; he joined the station in 1991 as a staff announcer and became a regular contributor in 1998. Julian Crews has covered the city and state since 1996. Sean Lewis and Paul Lisnek both began at the station in 2008. Chris Boden has covered sports for more than 30 years at a half-dozen Chicago TV and radio stations. Judy Wang began at the defunct CLTV in 1995 before joining the station in 2009. Bronagh Tumulty and Ray Cortopassi were also among those shown the door.
Corporate context: merger plans, debt and stated company comment
The cuts come as the parent company is pursuing a merger with Tegna that it announced in August for $6. 2 billion. That acquisition would create a broadcast group covering about 80% of U. S. TV households and would require the Federal Communications Commission to lift its 39% ownership cap. The layoffs were described as an apparent effort to cut costs in anticipation of excessive debt the owner will incur from money borrowed to buy Tegna. The company is already carrying debt from a $4. 1 billion purchase of Tribune Media in 2019. A company spokesperson said, “Nexstar does not comment on personnel issues, but the company is taking steps necessary to compete effectively in this period of unprecedented change. ”
Industry reaction, politics and ratings context
Veteran Chicago broadcast journalist Carol Marin, now a professor at DePaul University, called the cuts “a massacre, ” saying money and the merger are driving the moves and that the layoffs are not about talent. Timothy Franklin, a former Chicago Tribune editor now chair of the local news department at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, described the action as cost-cutting that reflects secular declines in local television viewership and said the depth of the cuts is tied to the pending merger and could presage post-combination reorganization. Franklin noted the layoffs occurred less than a week after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the administration of President Donald Trump was supportive of the proposed merger; President Trump wrote “GET THAT DEAL DONE!” on his social media platform Truth Social in reference to the merger. The station remains profitable despite changes in viewing habits, and ratings data cited for the station note strong morning performance, dominance over Fox 32 at 9 p. m. and competitiveness at 10 p. m., with its morning-news show being emulated by other stations. Behind-the-scenes cuts had already affected copywriters, and one veteran TV reporter said they had never seen this many cuts at once from a Chicago station.
