Many subtractions but how many additions at Fox4, NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11?

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Have the on-camera additions kept up with all the subtractions from D-FW’s four major television news providers?

Good question, and here’s the answer. Yes and no.

As regular readers know, Fox4, NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 have lost a lot of full-time anchors, reporters and meteorologists since the start of 2014. The latest total is 51, with former CBS11 entertainment/traffic reporter Teresa Frosini added to the list after being inadvertently overlooked.

CBS11 easily leads with a total of 18, most of them since Mike Garber became news director in July 2014. To date, the station has hired just 10 full-time personnel, leaving a disparity of eight.

In contrast, TEGNA8 has increased its on-camera personnel by one, hiring 13 while losing 12 since January of 2014. This is tempered by the fact that TEGNA8 also lost 12 off-camera news room staffers to a corporate buyout. Their last days were on Friday, April 22nd.

NBC5 also had 12 exits during that period. The station has brought in just as many replacement parts, but early morning reporter Ellen Bryan both came and left, joining Washington, D.C.’s WUSA-TV in late March of this year after a two-year stay with NBC5. So the station is still down one full-timer, should it choose to look at it that way.

Fox4 has had the least attrition, with nine departures. The station also hired the same number of replacements, but reporters Joangel Concepcion and Zahid Arab also were among those to both come and go since January 2014. So that’s a net of seven hires and nine exits to date.

Clearly, CBS11 is the slacker here, with more vacancies than the Bates Motel. Rival stations all have done a solid job of replenishing their on-camera stock, with some newcomers still in transit after their recently announced hirings. CBS11’s major need at the moment is a new chief meteorologist after the well-established Larry Mowry blew out of town this spring in favor of Chicago’s WLS-TV.

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