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KGAN House Cleaning

J

jakeandelwood

Guest
More wholesale changes at KGAN:

Karen Hoskins is on her way out as weekend anchor, possibly as of this weekend. The class acts at that station didn't even talk to her about it -- they posted her job online first. She found out about it from a reporter at a different station.

Tiffany O'Donnell is also supposedly on her way out, having submitted her resignation to management last week. I have heard she will stay on until after May ratings though.

So, for those keeping score, the last year has seen the departures (some forced, some by choice) of Ryan Burchett (WX), Andy Garman and Karen Schulte (Sports), Dave Benton, Tiffany O'Donnell and Karen Hoskins (News Anchors), Tawna Rathe, Krista Almanzan, and Molly Nelson (News Reporters). I'm sure Im leaving some out, but that is unbelieveable.

Except that it is true. Management at that station is horrendous. The News Director is completely inept, the General Manager is a joke who uses and discards his employees, and the ownership is Sinclair. It's time for the once-proud station to pull the plug and give up.

RIP KGAN. You used to be somebody.
 
> More wholesale changes at KGAN:
>
> Karen Hoskins is on her way out as weekend anchor, possibly
> as of this weekend. The class acts at that station didn't
> even talk to her about it -- they posted her job online
> first. She found out about it from a reporter at a
> different station.
>
> Tiffany O'Donnell is also supposedly on her way out, having
> submitted her resignation to management last week. I have
> heard she will stay on until after May ratings though.
>
> So, for those keeping score, the last year has seen the
> departures (some forced, some by choice) of Ryan Burchett
> (WX), Andy Garman and Karen Schulte (Sports), Dave Benton,
> Tiffany O'Donnell and Karen Hoskins (News Anchors), Tawna
> Rathe, Krista Almanzan, and Molly Nelson (News Reporters).
> I'm sure Im leaving some out, but that is unbelieveable.
>
> Except that it is true. Management at that station is
> horrendous. The News Director is completely inept, the
> General Manager is a joke who uses and discards his
> employees, and the ownership is Sinclair. It's time for the
> once-proud station to pull the plug and give up.
>
> RIP KGAN. You used to be somebody.

That is so sad. So many of the names you mentioned are true talent and if Sinclair thinks that replacing them will give them a "fresh start", ummmmm, NO! I used to watch KGAN for A) Tiffany O. B) To support the underdog. Never again. Thanks for putting in words what I've often thought. Seeing all of those wonderful people's names in a list makes it so obvious that management is clueless.
>
 
>
>
> That is so sad. So many of the names you mentioned are true
> talent and if Sinclair thinks that replacing them will give
> them a "fresh start", ummmmm, NO! I used to watch KGAN for
> A) Tiffany O. B) To support the underdog. Never again.
> Thanks for putting in words what I've often thought. Seeing
> all of those wonderful people's names in a list makes it so
> obvious that management is clueless.
> >
>
It's no wonder that people have been (and as I know still are) fighting to keep Sinclair from renewing KGAN's license. Stuff like this just proves their part further that they don't care about anything except the almighty dollar and don't care about their viewers (or lack thereof)
 
If true this is sad. I watched WMT TV and later KGAN 2 because it was a great product. When Tiff came back to CR many were (and probably still are) not thrilled with the Des Moines baggage that also came with her talent. Des Moines news is not the center of the Eastern Iowa audience. No matter how the station tried to make us care about Des Moines the fact is we are eastern state residents--report what is important to our sphere of influence.

The station management has caused extremely likeable and talented people to turn over faster than ever in this market--and without community involvement aside from fund raisers the station might as well be located in Des Moines.
 
> >
> >
> > That is so sad. So many of the names you mentioned are
> true
> > talent and if Sinclair thinks that replacing them will
> give
> > them a "fresh start", ummmmm, NO! I used to watch KGAN
> for
> > A) Tiffany O. B) To support the underdog. Never again.
> > Thanks for putting in words what I've often thought.
> Seeing
> > all of those wonderful people's names in a list makes it
> so
> > obvious that management is clueless.
> > >
> >
> It's no wonder that people have been (and as I know still
> are) fighting to keep Sinclair from renewing KGAN's license.
> Stuff like this just proves their part further that they
> don't care about anything except the almighty dollar and
> don't care about their viewers (or lack thereof)

I agree--very very sad. Lots of talented folks who I'm sure will move onto bigger and better things. I don't live in the market, but whenever I was there I would watch KGAN and was always impressed with the quality of their product despite all the turmoil going on there. I hope Tiffany makes it back to Des Moines, she certainly is great.
>
 
For those of you who don't work for KGAN, be VERY thankful for that! I feel sorry for the current employees who have to work for the KGAN news director and general manager. It won't be long before the GM and ND turn on each other. They are not what you would call high quality, caring people. Not the type of people that you would want your kids to look up to as role models!
 
> For those of you who don't work for KGAN, be VERY thankful
> for that! I feel sorry for the current employees who have
> to work for the KGAN news director and general manager. It
> won't be long before the GM and ND turn on each other. They
> are not what you would call high quality, caring people.
> Not the type of people that you would want your kids to look
> up to as role models!
>

A quick Google search can direct you to the petition that Iowans for Better Local TV filed with the FCC in an attempt to block Sinclair's renewal of the licence. Some interesting reading, with some examples of how employees are treated and how they are understaffed. Whenever I watch, it is apparent that the news staff works very hard to put a good product on the air, but they just don't have the staffing that KCRG and KWWL do, which is reflected in the ratings. I know few people in Cedar Rapids that watch KGAN news as most watch KCRG while KWWL dominates Waterloo-Cedar Falls and is also the top news station in Dubuque.
 
wow, I had no idea $inclair was that out of control as all I knew about $inclair is that they are requesting an outrageous price per subscriber for Mediacom to carry KDSM-HD.

> > For those of you who don't work for KGAN, be VERY thankful
>
> > for that! I feel sorry for the current employees who have
>
> > to work for the KGAN news director and general manager.
> It
> > won't be long before the GM and ND turn on each other.
> They
> > are not what you would call high quality, caring people.
> > Not the type of people that you would want your kids to
> look
> > up to as role models!
> >
>
> A quick Google search can direct you to the petition that
> Iowans for Better Local TV filed with the FCC in an attempt
> to block Sinclair's renewal of the licence. Some
> interesting reading, with some examples of how employees are
> treated and how they are understaffed. Whenever I watch, it
> is apparent that the news staff works very hard to put a
> good product on the air, but they just don't have the
> staffing that KCRG and KWWL do, which is reflected in the
> ratings. I know few people in Cedar Rapids that watch KGAN
> news as most watch KCRG while KWWL dominates Waterloo-Cedar
> Falls and is also the top news station in Dubuque.
>
 
Rumor has it that KDSM is looking at producing it's entire newscast in Des Moines. Any chance that Tiffany, Karen, and some of the others will make the move to Des Moines to anchor at KDSM?
 
> Rumor has it that KDSM is looking at producing it's entire
> newscast in Des Moines. Any chance that Tiffany, Karen, and
> some of the others will make the move to Des Moines to
> anchor at KDSM?
>
As long as KDSM is owned by Sinclair, I seriously doubt it.
 
Re: KDSM/KGAN

KDSM is building their own set, expanding their newsroom, and plan on doing an hour long newscast at 9PM, and plan on starting their own morning show next fall. They plan on this and cutting ties with KGAN. Managment is fed up with KGAN'S managment and all of their stupid decisions regarding firing and demoting on air talent. Should be interesting to see how KGAN stands on their own without KDSM to hold their hand in regards to Sinclair. KGAN has screwed themselves as far as help goes with their CBS sister station KCCI in Des Moines because of the KDSM situation.
 
Re: KDSM/KGAN

> KDSM is building their own set, expanding their newsroom,
> and plan on doing an hour long newscast at 9PM, and plan on
> starting their own morning show next fall. They plan on
> this and cutting ties with KGAN. Managment is fed up with
> KGAN'S managment and all of their stupid decisions regarding
> firing and demoting on air talent. Should be interesting to
> see how KGAN stands on their own without KDSM to hold their
> hand in regards to Sinclair. KGAN has screwed themselves as
> far as help goes with their CBS sister station KCCI in Des
> Moines because of the KDSM situation.
>

KDSM doing all of that? I'll have to see it to believe it. We are talking about Sinclair, who just announced they are shutting down newsrooms in Milwaukee, Tampa and Raleigh. The same company that owns what must be the only ABC station without a news department, KDNL St. Louis. ABC probably wants to leave that s6tation so bad, but they have very limited options there.
 
Re: KDSM/KGAN

KDSM does fairly well in the ratings out in DSM, better than than the ABC affiliate there. The GM for KDSM is fed up with the KGAN ND and GM and their stupid decisions--like firing Dave Benton and Karen Hoskins, and watching Tiffany O'Donnell depart as well. The KDSM GM has no say at all with this, and wants his station to be solo, can'y blame him at all. I guess the GM and ND at KGAN wouldn't return his calls and ignored him all together wwhen this Hoskins/O'Donnell situation went down. Rod Peterson the ND, and Joe Denk the GM at KGAN are total BASTARDS!! To those who read this, be VERY thankful that you don't work for or with these two MONSTERS!! They are pure EVIL!!
 
Re: KDSM/KGAN

> KDSM does fairly well in the ratings out in DSM, better than
> than the ABC affiliate there. The GM for KDSM is fed up
> with the KGAN ND and GM and their stupid decisions--like
> firing Dave Benton and Karen Hoskins, and watching Tiffany
> O'Donnell depart as well. The KDSM GM has no say at all
> with this, and wants his station to be solo, can'y blame him
> at all. I guess the GM and ND at KGAN wouldn't return his
> calls and ignored him all together wwhen this
> Hoskins/O'Donnell situation went down. Rod Peterson the ND,
> and Joe Denk the GM at KGAN are total BASTARDS!! To those
> who read this, be VERY thankful that you don't work for or
> with these two MONSTERS!! They are pure EVIL!!
>

If this comes to pass, that is good for KDSM and its viewers. There is no reason that Des Moines cannot have an hour newscast at 9 as Fox stations in similar sized markets like Omaha and Little Rock already do the same thing.
 
Re: KDSM/KGAN

Given Sinclair's track record, I'm surprised to hear expansion plans for KDSM. It makes perfect sense if someone else owned the station. For some reason Sinclair seems to leave KDSM alone. They could have easily gone the route of NewsCentral on KDSM, but never have. Anyone know why they seem to leave KDSM alone to do it's own thing?
 
Let's get her to replace Stacey Horst.


I hope Tiffany makes it back
> to Des Moines, she certainly is great.
> >
>
 
What is the latest with Tiffany O at KGAN? As of Friday night, June 2, she was still doing 6 & 10 PM plus the Fox gig--well past the May sweeps.
 
You reap what you sow

I grew up with WMT/KGAN tuned in a lot of the time -- we rarely if ever watched any other local newscast. While I don't live in Cedar Rapids any more, I return fairly frequently, spend a fair amount of time there, and pay attention to local media when I do. My family never watches KGAN newcasts anymore. Ever. It's simply an inferior product. Nice job, Channel 2!!!
 
Tiffany is done on June 15th. In other developments, Kevin Corizzo has resigned to take a job outside of television. Is there anyone left who has spent more than a year with the station?
 
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