Ax Swings at Sinclair Station

Yesterday, in an EXCLUSIVE Patron-Only story, FTVLive reported that cuts were about to happen at Sinclair’s WKEF/WRGT in Dayton.

In the Patron story, FTVLive wrote in part:

A source tells us that Sinclair is looking to take a page out of the Scripps handbook and looking to go to anchorless newscasts.

Reporters will lead the newscasts, and the shows will likely rely on Sinclair's' "The National Desk" to fill in the time for the news.

We hear that one of the markets where Sinclair wants to give this a go is Dayton, with WKEF/WRGT.

A source tells FTVLive that Sinclair may be looking to chop 10-15 jobs to implement their new plan.

About 12 hours after FTVLive posted that story, a source tells FTVLive that 14 people were cut from the news department at WKEF/WRGT.

Our source says that those cuts include the entire digital team. A number of Photographers and a couple of Producers were also cut.

The source tells FTVLive, “The evening anchor and chief met are moved to the morning show.” The plan is to do anchorless newscasts in the evening.

“Really sad, this station was making great strides about 8 years ago. But corporate has destroyed it by making it a test market. Unwatchable for several years because of Sinclair's constant tinkering,” said one insider, adding, “ It breaks my heart to see so many journalists suddenly out of a job.”