There ya go, Gretchen Carr.
Posted on 04/10/2008 9:27:28 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
Like the Hollywood sign and the Cinerama Dome, KCBS-TV Channel 2 news anchors Ann Martin and Harold Greene were fixtures of Hollywood, hard to miss on huge billboards plastered on the station's former headquarters as they smiled down on travelers zooming along Sunset Boulevard.
Mainstays on the local news for more than three decades at two stations -- the pair had also been partners at KABC-TV Channel 7's "Eyewitness News" -- Martin and Greene were reflective of the celebrity status bestowed upon anchors, the most visible and highest-paid members of Los Angeles news operations. Even their moves to rival KCBS -- Martin in 1994, Greene in 2001 -- created their own buzz, particularly for Martin, whose salary was reported to be between $1.2 million and $2 million a year.
But last week the longtime newscasters themselves became an L.A. story once again. The couple was let go by KCBS, part of a swarm of budget cuts at CBS affiliates nationwide. Their unexpected ouster crystallized a growing suspicion within the local news market -- that in a world of 24/7 cable news and intensifying competition from the Internet, local big-name anchors may no longer be necessary or even relevant.
The most obvious sign that the pull of a marquee anchor has diminished is audience size, particularly for evening news shows. Familiar, friendly faces have been unable to stem, in many cases, double-digit declines in local news viewership in recent years -- much of it attributed to Internet competition and an ever-shrinking lead-in from network programming.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Good I never really care for Ann martin I think she is pinhead always asking question during high speed chase coverage
As a side note...Any of you Angelenos remember Gretchen Carr at KCBS?? I do remember hearing her not getting her contract renewed but that woman was some serious eye candy.
The LA Times should archive this article, they can rewrite it in 10 years and use it for their obit in the last paper they print.......
No wonder you remember her, lol. The name is familiar but I can't picture her face. Can you find a photo?
This shows you how often I watch the news, as in ‘not often.’ However, I did like Ann Martin, had no idea she was the highest paid. Oh well, end of an era I guess.
I don’t know much about the LA TV market, but I know CBS is making similar cuts in all of their O&O’s.
Out here in Minneapolis, a very popular weatherman of 20-years was let go in a cost-cutting move, among others (they are also trying to offer buyouts to union photogs and techs).
I’m sure the network revenues were down thanks to the writers strike (ad revenues had to be down for reruns)...lower numbers in general for local news, it’s lots of things.
And it will more than likely continue in other media outlets.
There ya go, Gretchen Carr.
Maybe this is connected to the rumored merger of CBS with CNN.
The smart ones will vanilla-ize their presenters and focus on content that can be broadcast on TV, radio and the Internet. Three shots for the price of one, with a revenue stream for each.
Hopefully the day will come when you hear a siren in the background and you go to a local site to get the news of what's happening. I see guys living in their Mother's basement with a police scanner, weather service and traffic cams giving instant news.
Big Media will provide State, National and International news..again through a guy in his Mother's basement aggregating wire service reports....Oh, that's Drudge!
If you don’t have a big show of your own like O’Reilly, the days of the Mega salarys are numbered.
LAME DUCK
I won't be sorry to see Milknose go. (Thank you, April Winchell.) Did Ann Martin get paid more than Paul Moyer!? no. can't be.
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