Blown Out in Tulsa
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KOTV (Tulsa) News Director Ed Trauschke was sacked yesterday and the Assistant News Director also got the blade.
NO real reason as to why the station whacked news management other than, "the decision was made to make a change."
When you fire both the ND and the AND, we think there is much more to this, then making "a change."
FTVLive obtained the internal memo sent to the staff, informing them their boss was bounced:
From: Todd Spessard
Date: January 10, 2017 at 1:44:09 PM CST
To: * Griffin Communications - All Staff
Subject: KOTV Newsroom Staffing Changes
Good afternoon,
I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that Ed Trauschke is no longer with KOTV. After much observation and consideration, the decision was made to make a change.
Change is never easy. And in this case, success in many areas made this an even tougher decision. However, at the end of the day, we believe the KOTV newsroom needs a rededication to the core values that make Griffin Communications such a unique company. Internal leadership, vision, communication, team-building, accountability, and consistency—are some (but not all) of the necessary tenets for a great working environment and sustained success.
I’d like to take a moment and thank Ed for almost four years of service; he came during a time of much transition and has helped position KOTV to its strongest market-share of ratings of all time. He has overseen needed product and philosophical evolution—both of which will continue.
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Also, Dean Wetherbee is no longer with the company. As we make a transition, it makes sense to also seek new leadership in key management positions. This will allow for new vision and styles in some of the roles affecting content during the news cycle. As with Ed, it’s important to recognize the success that Dean has helped KOTV achieve.
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So, where do we go from here? We will immediately begin a search for KOTV’s next News director; a process which will likely take 3-6 months. In the meantime, I have asked Jeff Bardach to be acting News Director. For those of you who might not know Jeff, he was the AM Executive Producer at KOTV in 2010-11 before coming to KWTV, where he is currently the Content Manager. I am grateful and appreciative that he is willing and excited to temporarily relocate to Tulsa and help during the search.
To avoid the usual time during a search like this when a station is typically in limbo, I’ve asked Jeff to make all decisions, changes, etc. he sees as necessary—including, but not limited to, filling the open Content Manager and Nightside EP positons. Jeff will begin at KOTV Monday, January 16th. However, he may be here some later this week and will likely reach out to some of you before then. Please also feel welcome (and encouraged) to reach out to Jeff.
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Finally, there will be a staff meeting later today in the KOTV studio—at 6:30pm; It’s mostly for the newsroom, but everyone is welcome to attend. I’ll be happy to talk about what’s next, answer questions, etc. For the AM content team, you are also welcome, of course, but I’ll also be around tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to meet with all of you and help answer questions, etc.
Todd Spessard
Vice President of Content
Griffin Communications
