Allen Media Group is facing backlash for laying off its meteorologists

Handing out pink slips to dozens of beloved small-market local TV weathermakers would be unwise even in the best of times. But getting it right as unpredictable and dangerous weather disasters rage across the country this month — from wildfires in California to a historic freeze in the South — was particularly tone-deaf.

And yet that’s what Allen Media Group did last week, announcing it would be doing away with trusted local weather anchors in a cost-effective way. The idea was to simply send the forecasts from the Weather Channel hub in Atlanta to the company’s stations across the country. Allen Media Group said it might move some of its local meteorologists to Atlanta, but that your local forecast would now be largely handled by someone hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the community served by the station .

In a press release, the Allen Media Group – which owns 27 television stations across the country, in addition to the Weather Channel and other channels – tried to make it a big win for viewers: “This initiative aims to change the way local weather is reported – ensuring the most accurate, timely and compelling forecasts for communities across the country,” said Allen Media Group. What was not discussed were the local layoffs that would follow. Allen Media Group declined to provide a figure on how many people were affected.

But Allen Media Group clearly wasn’t ready to let viewers see through that explanation. And somehow they forgot how personally attached news viewers are to their local weather makers. These TV personalities are superstars in their local markets, often because they have been the go-to source of information when the weather gets scary. They know exactly where that tornado is hitting, where the wind is blowing and who is in the path of danger because they live there too. Not some meteorologist in Atlanta.

I also don’t think they expected so many parting words from their local stations to go viral. I found myself tearing up at the farewell of Allen Media Group’s Terre Haute, Ind., station WTHI-TV anchors Patrece Dayton and Kevin Orpurt. I’d never heard of them, and I’ve never been to Terre Haute, but I immediately understood why that town loved these two – and wasn’t happy with the decision to visit them.

That was repeated with both weather makers and other anchors across Allen Media Group stations across the country, as stations underwent another brutal round of layoffs. That’s not just an Allen Media Group problem, it’s a journalistic problem, period, as both national and local news outlets are making drastic cuts — just when we need them most.

Of course, Allen Media Group is not the only TV channel group making drastic cuts by centralizing operations; Sinclair, CBS, Gray Media and others have done variations on this in recent years. These cost-cutting measures are a disappointing financial reality given the weak advertising market and audiences turning their attention away from television. Of course it also happens in the newspapers.

But what gets lost in these attempts to centralize coverage is the local expertise and nuance that comes with having a good foundation, knowing the intricacies of your community and having a personal relationship with viewers. Ironically, removing all that will only hasten the demise of local media as we know it. What could be more local than the daily weather forecast? Taking away the selling point that still makes broadcasting valuable – its live, local nature – may save a few coins in the short term, but is a recipe for obsolescence in the long run.

If I recently wrote: the LA is burning here reminded us of the importance of local media at a time when social media has largely become a worthless firehose of lies, conspiracy theories and hate. And things will only get worse under the new regime in Washington, DC – a regime that rewards these lies and covers up the truth.

When it comes to the weather, the effects of climate change will only make our environment more dangerous and unpredictable in the coming years. This is a public safety issue, and broadcast stations are FCC licensed, which requires some accountability to operate in the public interest. Firing your meteorologists and broadcasting reports from Atlanta is the opposite of that.

Byron Allen has proven to be a savvy entrepreneur in building Allen Media Group into a diversified company with assets in broadcast, cable, streaming and film distribution. Lately, he’s also been known for making billion-dollar bids for media companies, so he has the resources. And according to some local media reports, the Allen Media Group may want to reconsider the mass layoffs of weather makers and bring back some of them after advertisers also objected. Requests for comment to Allen Media Group were not returned, so it is unclear how many employees will or will not keep their jobs. But this has been a lesson for all broadcasters: take the ‘local’ out of local television at your peril.