In a recent news meeting at Tegna’s WUSA, the station had KING (Seattle) News Director Julie Wolfe on a Zoom call to explain how “she” made her station number 1 in the market.

Wolfe was on the call explaining how hard work and everyone pulling together can make the struggling Tegna station rocket to the top of the ratings.

The WUSA staff was told how Wolfe turned around KING in a short period and they should be able to do the same in DC.

Now, there is a lot to unpack here, and I won’t get to it all, but let’s do some unpacking.

First, KING’s ratings have improved, but this is due more to what is happening at the competition.

Just a few years ago, Fox Television took over KCPQ and rebranded the station. Seattle viewers skew to the liberal side and many quickly stopped watching KCPQ when Fox took control.

KIRO was owned by Cox, which was one of the best media companies in television. But, Cox was acquired by the hedge fund Apollo, which has turned the Cox stations into a shell of its former self. Apollo taking over was a big hit to KIRO, and the cheapness and cost-cutting have cost them.

Next is KOMO, which is owned by Sinclair, and as you know, Sinclair has basically thrown in the towel on TV news.

So, while KING has seen viewers tune in, this has more to do with the other stations shooting themselves in the foot and not Wolfe’s news leadership.

Second, if Julie Wolfe is all that and a bag of donuts, why doesn’t WUSA just hire her? DC is a bigger market than Seattle, and they could likely pay her more.

Lastly, when you have to make a Zoom call with a news director 3000 miles away to try and help lead your newsroom in DC, what does that say about the news management at WUSA?

Clearly, the higher-ups don’t think they can do the job, so they are tapping in to the ND in Seattle.

If I was in news management at WUSA, I would call that Zoom call a big slap in the face.