July 5th, 2016
333 Dexter felt the wrath of the demolition crews on that day 10 years ago. Massive buyouts had taken place just months earlier when broadcast giants like Dennis Bounds, Jeff Renner and Linda Byron, among others, chose to leave rather than stay with troubled Tegna, eventually replaced by a gaggle of short timers and a parade of news bosses
Now, KING rents space across the street from TMobile in SODO.
Legacy lost. Apple has built in that space
I happily worked in the building for 11 years at NWCN and, in my opinion, without rancor, KING has never been the same since the former GM engineered the move. Ratings, credibility, sources, skills and institutional memory have been lost to some degree along the way.
I share your opinion about KING never being the same since the move to SODO. The station definitley began to change during the first couple years of Tegna/Gannett ownership while they were still on Dexter. But once the move was made, things really began to slip, fueled heavilly by the buyouts. NWCN changed as well. Being regulated to a desk the middle of KING's SODO newsroom felt like such a downgrade compared to the studio on Dexter.
ReplyDeleteI was kept out of all the planning because the fix was in and my boss at KING claimed he was representing cable. Lie. When I was told we would share a studio with New Day, it was clear the end was near. That single desk you mention was a tombstone.
DeleteDid you ever share the studio with new day?
DeleteWell, I was gone by then, but it was just a ruse. When the mice happened I was informed our shows were edited on a timeline, not live, because we were not hooked up technically to a show switcher in the new building. A sham.
DeleteSo when KING and NWCN made the move to SODO, NWCN stopped having live newscasts? By this point, NWCN had been removed from my cable provider at the time, so I didn't get to see much of NWCN's final few years.
DeleteAt least initially. From what I was told the shows were pieced together in editing and played back as a newscast.
DeleteThats quite interesting. I know NWCN wasn't live all the time in its later years, but I didn't realize that there was a period when it wasn't live at all.
DeleteWould agree Wayne. I have ever since all of them left tried to avoid watching KING as much as possible for news coverage. There's not many links left to their past still there. The ones I can think of off hand are Joyce, Drew Mikkelsen, Eric Wilkinson, Silvi/Egan, Natalie Swaby and Rich. And of course Frame as the ND.
ReplyDelete