Why did KDKA-TV let go Susan Koeppen and Rick Dayton in ViacomCBS layoffs?
Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions online every Friday in Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Here’s a selection of recent queries.
Q: I’d love to know the formula that decided that Susan Koeppen should go in the ViacomCBS layoffs that reached down to KDKATV. She was pretty much the only reason I watched KDKA, although they do have a great staff of anchors there.
— GLENN VIA FACEBOOK
Rob: Fire local news anchors at your peril, as a new set of station executives seem to learn every few years. Local TV news viewers can be extremely loyal, and many do not like change, particularly when they feel as if one of their favorites has been wronged. (See also: KDKA parting ways with Patti Burns in 1997.)
So the news last week that KDKA’s Koeppen and morning anchor Rick Dayton departed the station as part of layoffs mandated by ViacomCBS corporate in New York unsurprisingly prompted a slew of questions.
I put these questions to KDKA general manager Chris Cotugno and news director Kathy Hostetter. They declined to respond to specific questions about the layoffs. But we can make some educated guesses on possible reasons why Koeppen and Dayton were picked to be let go.
Stations do research on what viewers think of various anchors, so it could be related to that. It may have been about anchors with higher salaries. Koeppen came to KDKA after a stint with the CBS network on “The Early Show,” so she may have been more expensive than an anchor who came up through the local news ranks.
Or maybe it had less to do with those fired and was more about who they could not fire.
Because of Dave Crawley’s age discrimination lawsuit against CBS, laying off an older anchor would be bad optics. The need to maintain some diversity in the anchor ranks may also have been a factor. At that point there are not a lot of choices left. Ultimately it was likely a combination of factors and not any one reason in particular. We’ll probably never know for certain.
Q: I was surprised at the firing
of Susan Koeppen at KDKA-TV. I would have thought that KDKA would have asked for the retirement of Stacy Smith, who makes many mistakes and stammers quite a bit. It just does not seem like a logical choice for Susan to go and Stacy to stay. KDKA should hire Kym Gable as a fulltime anchor. She is professional and likable.
— ELAINE, MT. LEBANON Rob: See the answer to the first question for possible reasons Smith survived.
Q: Are there going to be more layoffs coming? Do you know if there is a wait time before they can be hired somewhere else? — JODY VIA FACEBOOK
Rob: CBS has not indicated more layoffs are forthcoming, but the economy could force more layoffs down the road. My sense is they ripped off the bandage all at once — for now.
As for the anchors who were laid off, odds are they do have noncompete clauses in their contracts that prevent them from going across town to a rival station immediately. When Jeff Verszyla was fired in December 2018, his noncompete didn’t expire until January 2020, a full year later.
Q: Will Heather Abraham move up to evenings?
— ROBERT VIA FACEBOOK
Rob: Will anyone replace these departed news anchors?
The CBS-owned and operated station in Dallas has experimented with a single anchor on some newscasts for the past few years. Per longtime Dallas TV critic Ed Bark, Doug Dunbar has anchored the late news solo for two years there. Ratings were initially strong, Bark said, but they have more recently declined.
Given the highly competitive nature of the Pittsburgh TV news market, it’s unclear if a solo anchor approach will work locally, but maybe CBS will try it as a money-savings measure.
Q: I wonder who is going to host “Hometown High Q” now. Rick Dayton was doing a good job.
— JODY VIA FACEBOOK
Rob: Ken Rice anchored it previously, but I suspect this gig could go to Heather Abraham, David Highfield, Paul Martino or even a reporter or meteorologist. I also suspect this one is low on the list of station management priorities at the moment.