Local Meteorologists Fired In Ill-Advised Cost Cutting Move, Public Outcry Ends Up Saving Those Jobs, Offers Lessons For Trump Admin

Allen Media Group, owed by billionaire Byron Allen,
pictured here, tried to get rid of dozens of 
meteorologists at their local television stations and
replace them with a consolidated group
of Weather Channel meteorologists in Atlanta.
This did not go over well and was rescinded,
but it's a reminder of how corporate consolidation
hurts locals, including their important weather info,

Local television meteorologists very often quickly get a big fan base, for very good reasons. 

They tend to be personable, and also quickly learn the lay of the land, meaning they're on top of local conditions that make storms worse or less severe depending on which neighborhood they hit.  These meteorologists really become the public's eyes and ears on the ground when the weather crap hits the fan.

Which leads us to the Allen Media Group's really stupid, now rescinded move to fire meteorologists at local stations it owns.  Their weather forecasts would come from Weather Channel meteorologists in Atlanta, who might be excellent at their jobs, but have little idea of the nuances that really make local weather forecasters indispensable. 

This whole kerfuffle gives us lessons on the evils of corporate consolidation, which ensures big money for the CEO but messes with the quality that the public should expect.  

The hijinks of these private corporations also gives us a warning regarding the fate of the National Weather Service. The NWS is  a critical resource in which their meteorologists in regional offices,  like their local TV counterparts, know the areas they cover like the back of their hands, making their storm warnings all the more accurate and effective.

I bring this up because there are fears that the Trump administration could actually disband the National Weather Service and rely on corporate meteorological corporations without that local expertise, and the sense of duty you'd expect from local experts. 

More on that in a moment. 

ALLEN MEDIA AND THE RESCINDED PURGE

Local meteorologists tend to be underpaid, but their dedication to their craft is legend. 

They come to us every day with useful information, and sometimes, with timely, life-saving alerts and warnings. They'll tell you the precise neighborhood the tornado is heading towards, which streets are about to go under water in a flash flood, and why the roads in, say, Waterbury are about to get snow covered and slippery while the roads up in Burlington will stay just fine. 

As one person LeeWatson_357 posted on X:  "Laying off Weather People in tornado prone areas is very dangerous. People based in Atlanta don't know the local areas in markets like Tupelo, Mississippi."

All this made the supposed  cost-cutting move by Allen Media Group, owned by billionaire Byron Allen, this month really stupid.. They axed local meteorologists for television stations and would just send forecasts from its Weather Channel headquarter in Atlanta to its stations across the county. 

As Variety reports:

"Handing out pink slips to dozens of beloved small-market local TV news weathercasters would be ill-advised even in the best of times. But to do it right as unpredictable and dangerous weather disasters tear across the country this month - from wildfires in California to a historic freeze in the south - was particularly tone deaf."

Apparently, local viewers understand this. A huge public outcry led Allen Media Group to rescind the firings. At least for now.

It looks like all the affected television stations were given the same statement from Allen Media Group to read: "After receiving significant feedback across various markets, Allen Media has decided to pause and reconsider the strategy of providing local water from the Weather Channel in Atlanta and (local television station) will continue to provide market-leading coverage from your Storm Tracker Meteorologists."

As tvtechnology.com reports, local stations affected by the layoff cancelations were grateful to their audiences. "Your calls, emails texts... every word spoken in support of our team was heard, and without your outpouring of messages that rang so loud, this change may not have been possible," said Craig Ford, the news anchor for ABC affiliate WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi. 

LESSONS LEARNED

This bad move by Allen Media was averted, but these consolidation efforts are happening throughout the media. It's not just meteorologists: 

Variety reports:

"Sinclair, CBS, Gray Media and others have done variations of the same in recent years. These cost-cutting moves are a disappointing financial reality given a soft advertising marketplace and audiences turning their attention away from TV.  It's also happening in newspapers of course. But what's lost in these moves to centralize coverage is the local expertise and nuance that goes from having your boots on the ground, knowing the intricacies of your community and having a personal relationship with viewers. 

Ironically, removing all of that will only hasten the demise of local media as we know it. What is more local that the daily weather forecast? Stripping away the very selling point that still makes broadcast valuable - it's live, local nature - may help save a few coins in the short run, but it's a recipe for obsolescence in the long term."

I witnessed that here in Vermont when I worked at the Burlington Free Press. It was founded in 1827 and became a daily in 1848.  It had a storied past of ground breaking Vermont journalism. When I joined the paper in the late 1980s, it was still the to-go source for news and information. 

The paper's corporate overlord kept doing its cost cutting, laying off workers in waves (I was finally led go in 2013). Now the Burlington Free Press is pretty irrelevant, online only, and no longer a source of local news brought to you by journalists who really knew the community. 

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

During his campaign, Donald Trump professed to know little about Project 2025 and he said he had even less involvement in it.

Project 2025 is a detailed plan developed in recent years by the conservative Heritage Foundation explaining how they wanted to radically change the federal government. This plan would only happen, the conservatives thought, if Trump was elected. 

And here we are. 

As I wrote last August, one of the ideas in Project 2025 would privatize the National Weather Service. Some private corporation would issue forecasts from somewhere, probably with less expertise, never mind any expertise on local conditions.  Perhaps the forecasts and life saving weather warnings would be behind a paywall, making only people with means to be able to hear, say, a tornado warning.

So far, nothing like this has been proposed, but the Trump administration is still very young. It could definitely still happen.

Which brings us back to public outcry. 

Loud opposition to Trump's steamroller of dubious decisions won't overturn all of them.  But public opposition is already slowing down and in some cases at least temporarily stopping some bad idea. As seen in the Allen Media Group blunder, the public can change things it doesn't like. 

Especially when it involves crucial resources and safety that are held near and dear to hearts of the public.