If you didn't know that TV news could be a cruel business, you need to look no further than WSMV in Nashville. 

Sources say that longtime Reporter Dennis Ferrier was ordered off the air and out of the newsroom yesterday. 

Ferrier, who declined comment Today, was told to leave the station the day he got back from his father’s funeral in California, staffers said.

He is the third veteran news personality to leave WSMV in the past eight months.

Nancy Van Camp, weekend weather anchor for 22 years, left last month after station managers didn’t renew her latest contract.

Anchor Jennifer Johnson, who worked on and off at the station for 13 years, left Dec. 31 after the station moved her off the anchor desk and back to reporting.

Station general manager Doreen Wade did not immediately return a call for comment.

Johnson said she is disappointed in the way the station is getting rid of veteran news personalities.

But still, the guy just returns from burying his Dad and he's told to pack up his stuff? That's cold even by TV news standards. 

H/T The Tennessean