Apr 1, 2008 8:10 pm US/Pacific
CBS 5 Lays Off 14 Newsroom Employees
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
In a cost-cutting move, KPIX CBS 5 is laying off 14 newsroom employees that include five on-air veterans.
Among those let go were sports anchor and reporter Rick Quan along with well-known veteran news reporters Manny Ramos and Bill Schechner who have five Emmys between them and decades of on-air experience. Two other Emmy-winning news reporters, Tony Russomano and John Lobertini, also lost their jobs.
The four laid-off reporters have, together, 61 years of service at the station. Schechner has been on TV in the Bay Area since 1972.
Ramos, who had worked at the station since 1980, said he was told his layoff was "purely a business decision." KPIX-TV executives also confirmed that the job cuts were not disciplinary.
Some media reports had stated that anchor Barbara Rodgers and reporter Jeffrey Schaub were also affected by the cuts. Those reports were incorrect, station spokeswoman Akilah Monifa said.
Monfia added that the layoffs extended beyond the newsroom to other divisions of both KPIX and KBCW-TV, the CBS-owned CW affiliate in San Francisco.
"It was our decision in these economic times to try to go forward and do the best as we could with our stations," said Monifa.
Other CBS-owned TV stations in Los Angeles and Chicago are also reducing their news staffs.
About a dozen news staffers will depart KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, including two well-known on-air personalities.
Longtime anchors Ann Martin and Harold Greene will leave when their contracts expire in May. Others, including reporters Jennifer Sabih and Jennifer Davis, were laid off effective immediately.
Technical staff at the L.A. stations were also trimmed.
In Chicago, cost-cutting at WBBM-TV has claimed at least 18 jobs including that of well-paid anchor Diann Burns, who earned $2 million a year, lead sportscaster Mark Malone, and Mary Ann Childers, an anchor-turned-health correspondent.
Burns' agent and husband, Marc Watts, said the station did not renew her contract.
Joe Ahern, WBBM president and general manager, said no department was exempt. He said cuts were in the "single-digit" percentage of the WBBM work force of more than 200.
"We have to rethink how we do business," Ahern said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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