Raycom Swings the Axe

FTVLive FIRST told you yesterday that a number of people at WOIO in Cleveland have been either laid off or offered buyouts at the Raycom station.

Longtime Cleveland Anchor Romona Robinson will be leaving the station. Sources say that her co-Anchor Mark Nolan may not be far behind.

Back in March, FTVLive FIRST told you that the station was cutting way back on the hours of Chief Investigative Reporter Carl Monday. Now we hear that Monday and the station could be doing a complete split.

Sources say other staffers were also told that they are no longer needed.

“They won’t put out a memo, because they are too scared it will end up on FTVLive,” said one staffer about management.

Mainly, we are learning about the layoffs through word of mouth.

Insiders say that the station is still hiring people, but many hires are coming in with little or no experience and Raycom is “paying them next to nothing.”

We hear that Cleveland isn’t the only Raycom market where cuts are expected to go down, other markets are also targeted.

Sources tell FTVLive, Raycom continues to thin the herd before Gray takes over the Raycom stations.

It seems Gray wants lean shops and does not want to be the bad guy when it comes to swinging the blade.

Stay tuned…