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Two anchormen to leave WFMY by end of month

Friday, May 15, 2009

(Updated 6:02 am)

By Donald W. Patterson
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Two familiar faces will soon sign off at WFMY News 2.

Evening co-anchor Kent Bates and sports anchor/director Greg Kerr will leave the station at the end of the month, general manager Deborah Hooper said Thursday.

Hooper would not give a reason for their departures.

“We will be making an announcement very soon about the direction we will be making in news and sports,” Hooper said. “That is all I can share at this point.”

Efforts to reach Bates were unsuccessful; Kerr declined comment.
However, in an e-mail to the Winston-Salem Journal, Bates said the local CBS affiliate did not renew his contract.

Bates, who has spent nearly two decades in TV news, joined WFMY in January 2003, serving as evening co-anchor with Sandra Hughes.

Before coming to Greensboro, he had worked as news anchor at KARK in Little Rock, Ark., from 1998 to 2003 and as anchor/reporter at WGHP in High Point from 1994 to 1998.

Kerr, a Dallas native, joined News 2 in August 2001, after working in Oklahoma City as a sports anchor/reporter from 1999 to 2001.

An industry observer said the departures of veteran anchors have become more frequent as the recession has cut into stations’ advertising revenues.

He said anchors and their higher salaries can be tempting targets when station managers have to make budget cuts.

“I have been around TV for 30 years and I have never seen as many experienced anchors lose their jobs as I have in the last six months,” said Al Tompkins, who teaches broadcasting at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. “The most precarious position is to be an anchor with an expiring contract.”

Tompkins said stations can refuse to renew an anchor’s contract for numerous reasons, including poor performance and low ratings.

“(But) quite often, layoffs and noncontract renewals have nothing to do with the value of the person as a journalist,” he said. “Right now, it is a very coldly calculated economic decision.”

Tompkins said many anchors also are being asked to take pay cuts.
Last month, a nationwide survey by the Radio-Television News Directors Association said jobs in local television news dropped in 2008 by 4.3 percent and salaries fell by 4.4 percent. The declines are expected to continue this year.

Hooper would not comment on the status of the station’s other anchors or reporters.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-3027 or don.patterson@news-record.com

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rightwingnemesis

May 15, 2009 - 8:58 am EDT

Kent Bates hit his stride with his reporting about a dead dear strapped to a gurney in a stolen ambulance being driven by a drunk guy! It was like Ron Burgandy reading from the teleprompter. My wife and I died laughing but Kent kept a straight face the entire time. As for Greg Kerr, he interviewed several years ago over at Wake Forest, wanting to join the athletic department in some capacity---Kerr was actually smarter than the fellow who is Associate AD...somebody Faircloth, so he didn't stand a chance of being hired.
I wish both these anchors well. WFMY was once a proud, decent station, but is headed toward putting cardboard cutouts in chairs and paying "off screen" voices to give the news. My suspicion is that Time Warner's newschannel is giving local folks lower market share...but their news is really bad!
Idea: Hire Virginia Foxx to read the news! Now there's some stage presence!

lkirkman5

June 2, 2009 - 10:09 am EDT

WFMY news is the most laughable of all the Triad stations! I have watched Channel 2 all of my life and unlike other stations it just keeps getting worse. None of the staff is compedent, they are all very un-professional and make several mistakes with every broadcast!
Management needs to watch Channel 12 to get a professional look at news, weather & sports.
I watch Channel 2 only because it should have mostly Greensboro news---because it's in Greensboro. But that is not the case. I don't think any of your news staff knows we are in Greensboro.
I have started watching Channel 12 because they are professional-----not so getty and acting ridiculous.
Also, I have always not liked Sandra Hughes. Now that she is retiring and your losing 2 anchormen (1 of which was great-Kent Bates) it is a good time for management to reevaluate your personnel and change!! We want Greensboro community news!

lbrown912

June 2, 2009 - 1:23 pm EDT

I grew up watching Channel 2. I've lived in several large markets, Dallas, Miami and after returning to the triad and tuning into WFMY again, it really seems small town. Kent, Greg and Eric are very professional. It is really time for Sandra Hughes to retire. She is just not professional and brings down the newscast. Can't believe they let Kent and Greg go. Who is making these decisions? Have they ever been to a larger Market and watched the news? Obviously not! Let the people go that need to go. Lee Brock is irritating to watch (she swallows the whole time - it's disgusting.) Greg was a pro. Bad move. WFMY must be owned by the same people that own the News-Record. Use to be a good paper but is absolutely awful and has been for at least 12 years. Not surprised to see they are struggling, too.

CatDancer

June 4, 2009 - 7:50 pm EDT

WFMY2 lost me when Lee Kinard retired. I was a Good Morning Show "junkie," and they could never find a suitable replacement. Rosemary Plybon has stumbled over her words for years. She twists her mouth around - worse when she first started, but she still does it. I think her daddy is a somebody in GSO. Plus, she has the looks. Bates and Kerr were, in my opinion, two of the best talents they had. I would like to have seen Bates without Hughes though. Hughes is untouchable because of the unmentionable. It wouldn't surprise me if she influenced Mickens stepping over Bates. I was just barely watching any more anyway, and with this latest talent shift I'm done. I prefer FOX8 for evening news, and WXII12 for morning new. If WXII ever messes with Caviness or Van Scoy though, I'll never watch that channel again. I couldn't believe they dumped Dave Goren for that joker they have doing sports now who I don't watch - I get my sports off the Internet now. I do believe FOX8 treats their people the best. I like their 10 PM format, but I'm probably going to tune in to Leno in the fall so will be stuck with WXII again at 12 - or FOX8 on the Internet. Shame on Deborah Hooper and WFMY2. Oh, and News 14 Carolina is pretty darned good - not the strongest talent, but its consistent and watchable.