The recession and the decline in "traditional"
media viewership hit painfully close to home here at WCCO this past week when
several of our colleagues lost their jobs. Chief meteorologist Paul Douglas, weekend
anchor John Reger and several behind the scenes WCCO employees were let
go.
Their departures were part of a restructuring at our station
to respond to declining advertising revenues -- a local reflection of what is
happening at television stations, and newspapers, all over the country on the
heels of the explosive growth of the Internet.
Knowing that no business -- even ours -- is immune to
economic realities doesn't make it any easier when it involves people you have
worked with every day for so many years. They have been key pieces of the
"fabric" of this television station.
The loss of Paul, John and our other colleagues comes just a
few weeks after we said a final goodbye to another longtime member of the 'CCO
family, Bill Carlson. As you can imagine, these are some sad times for those of
us who have worked with for a long time with these great guys.
I have been through several rounds of layoffs before in my
31 years at WCCO. These experiences are always tough, even when you are part of
the group who still have jobs.
As we have always done in the past, we will continue to keep
our commitment to do our best every day to deliver the news. But we will dearly
miss our colleagues as they move on to other endeavors and wish them the best.
