Report: KWWL won’t fire meteorologists after all

WATERLOO — Amid an outcry from viewers and advertisers, Allen Media Broadcasting, the parent company of KWWL-TV in Waterloo, has reportedly reversed course on a plan to fire its local meteorologists.

Allen Media Regional Vice President Dan Batchelor confirmed to the West Kentucky Star in Paducah, Kentucky, that the move to release all local meteorologists in favor of coverage from the studios of The Weather Channel in Atlanta has been scrapped.

Batchelor said in a text message that "AMB has decided, based on viewer and advertiser reaction, to scrap the project on a company-wide basis. The decision is universally supported by the company leadership in all AMB TV markets."

Batchelor oversees both WSIL-TV Harrisburg, Illinois, and WEVV-TV in Evansville, Indiana. In a similar report Wednesday in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, WTVA-TV in Tupelo, Mississippi, announced Allen Media Group had reversed the decision in that market.

The newspaper reported a grassroots effort garnered thousands of signatures for a petition, and advertisers threatened to pull out.

A Courier article about the Eastern Iowa changes published earlier this week generated hundreds of reader comments, some urging viewers to sign a petition protesting the plan to cut local weather forecasters.

Aaron Scoby, KWWL vice president and general manager, initially confirmed the plan to lay off the station's weather team. But contacted via email Thursday, Scoby stated: “No one has been let go, no (one) has been given 2 weeks’ notice. . It is business as usual. ”

KWWL chief meteorologist Mark Schnackenberg had confirmed to The Courier his position would be eliminated in the planned change. He could not be reached for comment Thursday, but had posted “THANK YOU!” on his Facebook page as viewers expressed their glee that the decision had been reversed.

Just days before learning of the planned layoffs, Schnackenberg celebrated his 30th year at Channel 7. Brandon Libby has been there five years while Danny Cassidy has worked there three years. Joshua Franson was hired less than a year ago. Franson had posted on X that the station would lay him off.

According to CNN, layoffs that were planned at roughly two dozen local television stations stretching from Massachusetts to Hawaii would impact at least 50 meteorologists.

Allen Media Group had said in a news release last week it would partner with The Weather Channel to provide weather content across all of its local television markets.

“Allen Media Group is leveraging the full resources and expertise of The Weather Channel to make our local weather news the very best,” Tom O’Brien, president of Weather Group/The Weather Channel said in the earlier news release. “We are one hundred percent committed to delivering next-level weather news to our local television stations 24/7.”