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 GREENSBORO — We know their faces, Kent Bates and Greg Kerr.

They were two high-profile anchors at WFMY. Bates helped anchor news; Kerr steered sports. Together, almost every night, they told at least 267,000 local households about their local world.

But not anymore. They both have gotten the boot.

On May 26, three days before his last newscast, Kerr sat beside Bates during the 11 p.m. newscast and talked about one of his “Kerrific moments,’’ a favorite spot about sports. “Coming up on my road to removal,’’ he said, “another one of my Kerrific moments.’’

The next day, Kerr was told to box up his things. So was Bates. It was Bates’ day off, and he had expected to come back for his last two days and say goodbye to his viewers.

He couldn’t. Station officials told Bates it was a “good breaking point.’’

It’s because of money. WFMY can’t afford them anymore.

The men say they’re not bitter. But go through the boxes of belongings scattered around their houses and ask for stories.

Kerr at the Super Bowl. Kerr at the Final Four. Kerr in Philadelphia at an Eagles pep rally, asking Philly fans on a chilly afternoon about his Panthers’ jersey beneath his overcoat: “What do you think of this?’’

Bates in the path of hurricanes. Bates in the mountains of Idaho. Bates no more than three blocks from ground zero after Sept. 11, functioning on a few hours of sleep and seeing a man on a bike, covered in gray dust, holding a picture of someone he had lost.

Real stories. Real news. Real things about who we are.

According to Bates and Kerr, TV is not about that anymore. Bates calls it “infotainment.’’ Kerr calls it “a shell of its former self.’’ And neither say they will return to the profession they loved.

They’ll start new careers — maybe corporate communications, maybe PR, maybe here in Greensboro, a place of many good memories. And they’ll begin at the crossroads of their life: middle age.

They’ll start over in the toughest recession in their lifetimes — without a severance package from WFMY, with only the money they have saved, invested and received through their wives’ part-time jobs after hearing their contracts wouldn’t be renewed a few months back.

They’re encouraged. Or they say they are. Bates, a Mormon and a 43-year-old married father of three, has a sign hanging above his fireplace, with these words painted on a piece of wood: In Everything Give Thanks.

 Kerr, an avid cyclist and a 49-year-old married father of two, has biked 600 miles in the past month, which has helped with his job stress.

But both have had their emotional moments.

For Kerr, it came when he walked into the Employment Security Commission, applied for unemployment benefits and got the looks. He called it “just humbling.’’

For Bates, it came when he walked into a trophy shop. He needed an engraved plaque for the Eagle Scout project planned by his 13-year-old son Peter. That’s when he heard from the guy behind the counter. “So, what you going to do?’’ he asked.

“I don’t know yet,’’ Bates responded. “I’m still looking.’’

“What happened over there?’’ he asked.

“They decided to make a move,’’ Bates said.

As in many parts of the country, it’s come down to this: Two veteran broadcasters will leave a profession they excelled at in the birthplace of Edward R. Murrow, the father of broadcast news.

All because of TV’s changing landscape.

“We’re chasing the dollar,’’

said Bates, who started his TV career in 1992 and started at WFMY in 2003. “There was a time when you weren’t concerned about the bottom line. Now, the first question asked is, 'Can we pay someone overtime to have them cover spot news?’

“From the business side, you have to pay these people, but from the information side, it’s disappointing. Think about all the things that have happened in the past 50 years — Watergate, Iran-Contra. You were finding and sharing information you felt people needed to know.

“Now, when the first question is about money, you have to think, 'Are we fulfilling our journalistic mission?’ ’’

You see it everywhere in every corner of corporate journalism. WFMY is just the latest example.

Two weeks ago, it was the removal of Bates and Kerr. Last week, it was the retirement of Sandra Hughes, Bates’ co-anchor. She is WFMY’s 37-year veteran and the first African American in central North Carolina to host her own talk show.

Hughes says it’s time.

Do the numbers. WFMY is owned by Gannett, the country’s largest newspaper chain. It owns 85 newspapers, 900 nondaily publications and 32 TV stations. Newspapers are getting walloped, and Gannett is drowning in debt: $4.3 billion in debt.

Meanwhile, WFMY isn’t sitting pretty.

Its newscasts are losing viewers; its sales this year are down by 12 percent; and its employees are dealing with pay cuts, lost positions, positions left vacant and taking unpaid days off.

So, a station with a storied 60-year history — a station that once attracted 50 percent of the Triad’s entire market way before the Internet — is coming in third place in key demographics against its two competitors, WXII and WGHP.

Spend some time with Bates and Kerr, sift through their boxes of belongings and hear the stories about their mementos, their awards, their pictures on the job.

Then, ask them about

WFMY’s future. They don’t know.

“It’s not my problem anymore,’’ says Kerr, a 26-year TV veteran who came to WFMY eight years ago. “There are a lot of people left at that station that I have a lot of admiration for, and I want the best for them. And I hope they don’t go through what I went through — a time of looking over your shoulder and wondering when the next shoe is going to drop.

“Many are better than that.’’

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com