September 8, 2025 • 10 mins
With several local stations being bought by larger companies, some media newsrooms and production staffs are being downsized.
Terry Meiners on the rapid changes that are overtaking the media universe all across America.
Terry Meiners on the rapid changes that are overtaking the media universe all across America.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bub bup bit by bit bu up like that. I
just stay as long as you want. Well, well, there's
always shifting sands in the media. It's it's interesting, you know,
nationally and locally. It's a challenge because there's been so
much change that's happened in the last decade, especially the
last five years or so. You know, there's different digital
(00:21):
platforms that have splintered what we do, and you know,
we're here every day pumping out a quality product. It's,
you know, a specialized type of service, no matter what
source it's coming from. It's tailored to people's personalities and
whether or not people are feel aligned with people that
(00:44):
they hear or see on television or read online. There's
so many different ways people can reach out to you.
Now there's so many other voices too, with all the
podcasts that come from various places, and if people have
two hundred followers on a podcast, good for them. It's
hard to keep up with who's in and who's out,
and what's new and what's relevant and what's been verified.
(01:07):
Sometimes that's tough because there's so many other people now
in the media universe. One note, Howard Stern did come
back to work today he was teasing for a while
that he wouldn't come back, and he didn't show up
last Tuesday. I guess today after Labor Day, but did
come back today. Actually played a prank on people, put
Andy Cohen on there for a while to make people
(01:29):
think that Andy Cohen was taking over for him, and
then he pops on. He ah, we're just punking you,
that's all. So he said he's happy at Serious XM.
He's going to stay there. Now, what does that really mean.
He's made a huge amount of money from Serious XM,
mostly stocks, so it's paper money, A lot of it's
paper money. But he's still made a heck of a fortune.
(01:49):
And good for Howard because he's been a trailblazer in
certain ways. But it doesn't mean that his new contract
is bountiful. It just means that he still wants to work. Essentially.
I feel that way too. I mean, I love what
I do every day, and when I keep telling them here,
they've told me over and over again, you just hang
(02:10):
here as long as you want. We're good. And I say,
as long as my brain works, I'm still in Gus
is in there. I've told you that, haven't I As
long as my brain is still working. That's right. I
go and I go. You good? You having a fun? Yeah?
You did? I said, well keep doing it. Christy the
other day stopped me. One of our bosses. She said,
can you give us ten more years? I said, nope, no,
(02:32):
I can't. I can't. I just can't see myself doing
it for ten more years. But I'm good. My current
contract runs to the end of the year twenty twenty nine,
and this company's been great to me, so I'm happy
and I enjoy doing what I'm doing. I got a
lot of friends in the media too, and some of
(02:53):
them are being disrupted, and it's like, it's hurtful. It's
painful to see this. But there is a lot of
shifting sands. The tectonic plates of media have been shifting
in the last so many years. You've heard about Gray
Television that owns Wave, purchasing the Block Communications company that
(03:13):
owns WDRB. So the word is duopoly. But you're now
allowed to have more than one primary signal in a marketplace.
You couldn't do that before. Wave is NBC, WDRB is Fox,
and you wouldn't have been able to do that. But
a judge ruled on in a case in another market.
(03:34):
And so this is kind of like in the middle
of the nineties when the Telecommunications Act went through, we
were WHAS and WAMZ radio and then suddenly we took
on six more stations because we could the law changed.
So that's what's happening in a lot of places. What
they told us in the nineties was yes, I worked there,
I worked here too. Was that, well, we're saving signals.
(03:57):
Otherwise they'd go out of business. It's just a distressed marketplace,
and we don't want signals to go dark. We want information.
So we're going to let companies own more than two
in a marketplace. So now that's happening in TV. They're
just kind of catching up in the same way. But
what that does mean is when we took on the
six other radio stations, you start merging jobs, crushing jobs.
(04:19):
Well I do this, yeah, well, now you do this,
this and this if you want to work here. It's
pretty much an edict that you would get. But it
works that way in businesses beyond media. You know, when
companies merge, they just they say, well, we have so
much room for payroll, and so if I know you
were just doing this job before. But if you want
(04:40):
to stay employed, you're going to do this work and
this one and that way. You know, there's a riff
a reduction force, so they merge situation. That's what's going
on essentially in media right now. A couple of notes.
The Courier Journal published an article this morning at five
oho nine am. That's always an interesting posting time. Will
what's this? And they're just letting you know that they're
(05:02):
moving from their Broadway headquarters, the famous Courier Journal, the
iconic building at six then Broadway. The fully vague, they're
fully vacating. They say the staffs is relocating September fifteenth,
next Monday, to four to oh one West Main Street
(05:24):
in one Riverfront Plaza building. Well, the Courier used to
require a lot of people and it just doesn't Now
it's a different animal. It's the way it goes. You know.
Some of the people who write for them, well, last
week several of them were pushed into packages of Hey,
do you want to retire, do you want to take
early retirement, you want to do this or that or whatever.
(05:46):
I'm not going to name names because I don't I
don't want to give people's personal business unless they make
it public. But some people that I know were offered
packages and it was tough on some of the younger
people that are working there. They're like, oh my god,
my North Star person has been told hit the door.
(06:06):
They're not told to hit the door. They're saying, here's
the option, and the options are pretty limited. So that
happened at The Courier Journal again last week. We've seen
them get downsize multiple times over the years. But again
the shifting sands of media change. The deal with Wave
and WDRB is still shaping that. That hasn't been legally
(06:27):
approved yet, so we'll see what's going on, but there
have been some changes, and you know, that's a challenge
for some of the folks in our business. Whas is
owned by Tegna, which is in the process of being
purchased by Next Star, and there's no reason to believe
that these deals won't go through, that Gray won't buy
(06:49):
Block Communications, and that next Star won't get Tegna, and
Gray actually went on and bought another set of stations
not long after they've made the Block Communications announcement, so
they're continuing to swallow up stations as these few companies
get bigger and bigger again. I do not share information
(07:11):
about people's private situation, and I did see that Scott
Reynolds posted on Facebook a little while ago. I'm just
going to read that because he's made it public. I
happen to be friends with Scott Reynolds at WDRB. He's
a great guy. I've known him for many, many years.
He's an excellent news anchor and reporter and just an
(07:33):
all around good human being. But he wrote this on
Facebook about a half an hour ago. Unfortunately, I'm no
longer on the air at WDRB. I will miss being
there for all the loyal viewers and for my wonderful coworkers.
I wish all of them nothing but the best. I'm
looking forward to the next opportunity in my career and
(07:54):
excited to see what doors will open. If you have
knowledge of something that would be a good fit for me,
please send me a direct message. I'm blessed with my faith,
family and so many friends. I'm grateful for the six
years I had there at WDRB and nearly thirty in
Louisville because he was on wave for a long time.
(08:15):
So those are the words of Scott Reynolds. He's letting
you know publicly he's no longer on WDRB. A lot
of people are chiming in. They get fired up. Well,
they were fired up when he was essentially pushed out
of waves so many years ago. That was a very
public thing. When people are used to seeing someone on
their TV at a regular time and then they're not
there anymore, not by their own choice, it usually stirs
(08:38):
up a hornet's nest. So I would expect there'll be
some reaction from it from the public. But I'm just
letting you know again. They're shifting dynamics in the media
universe right now, and it's going to continue changing in
the coming months because of these stations getting swallowed up
by larger companies. Know what happens. They see the payroll
(09:02):
and they go, we got to make some changes here
because bupa ba ba bap. That's how that goes. And
so some of the people that you've loved reading or
seeing or hearing could be pushed aside. We're given the
option to take a massive whack in pay or go
(09:24):
find another job. So I'm just giving you a little
advanced notice on that that the changes have not stopped.
They're going to accelerate in the coming months, just because
again of just the merger nature of having to crush
(09:44):
a whole lot of people into one space where there
used to be multiple spaces. So fingers crossed for everybody
love my media family here in town. There's so many good,
high quality people in this media market. I hate to
see any of them go. There's so many talented people,
good souls that you've come to trust over the years.
(10:05):
My buddy Shaye McCallister left WHASTV. I don't know what
she saw coming ahead, but her contract came to an end.
She's been my crusade for children partner for years. She
has launched her own business and she's doing her own reporting.
It's interesting and it looks like it's getting good response.
So again, new things are developing and reshaping the media
(10:29):
universe right before your eyes. So be nice to the
folks at local media because everybody's kind of walking on
eggshells right now around here locally. Fingers crossed for all
of us in our media family. Back in a fe
on News Radio eight forty whas
Bub bup bit by bit bu up like that. I
just stay as long as you want. Well, well, there's
always shifting sands in the media. It's it's interesting, you know,
nationally and locally. It's a challenge because there's been so
much change that's happened in the last decade, especially the
last five years or so. You know, there's different digital
(00:21):
platforms that have splintered what we do, and you know,
we're here every day pumping out a quality product. It's,
you know, a specialized type of service, no matter what
source it's coming from. It's tailored to people's personalities and
whether or not people are feel aligned with people that
(00:44):
they hear or see on television or read online. There's
so many different ways people can reach out to you.
Now there's so many other voices too, with all the
podcasts that come from various places, and if people have
two hundred followers on a podcast, good for them. It's
hard to keep up with who's in and who's out,
and what's new and what's relevant and what's been verified.
(01:07):
Sometimes that's tough because there's so many other people now
in the media universe. One note, Howard Stern did come
back to work today he was teasing for a while
that he wouldn't come back, and he didn't show up
last Tuesday. I guess today after Labor Day, but did
come back today. Actually played a prank on people, put
Andy Cohen on there for a while to make people
(01:29):
think that Andy Cohen was taking over for him, and
then he pops on. He ah, we're just punking you,
that's all. So he said he's happy at Serious XM.
He's going to stay there. Now, what does that really mean.
He's made a huge amount of money from Serious XM,
mostly stocks, so it's paper money, A lot of it's
paper money. But he's still made a heck of a fortune.
(01:49):
And good for Howard because he's been a trailblazer in
certain ways. But it doesn't mean that his new contract
is bountiful. It just means that he still wants to work. Essentially.
I feel that way too. I mean, I love what
I do every day, and when I keep telling them here,
they've told me over and over again, you just hang
(02:10):
here as long as you want. We're good. And I say,
as long as my brain works, I'm still in Gus
is in there. I've told you that, haven't I As
long as my brain is still working. That's right. I
go and I go. You good? You having a fun? Yeah?
You did? I said, well keep doing it. Christy the
other day stopped me. One of our bosses. She said,
can you give us ten more years? I said, nope, no,
(02:32):
I can't. I can't. I just can't see myself doing
it for ten more years. But I'm good. My current
contract runs to the end of the year twenty twenty nine,
and this company's been great to me, so I'm happy
and I enjoy doing what I'm doing. I got a
lot of friends in the media too, and some of
(02:53):
them are being disrupted, and it's like, it's hurtful. It's
painful to see this. But there is a lot of
shifting sands. The tectonic plates of media have been shifting
in the last so many years. You've heard about Gray
Television that owns Wave, purchasing the Block Communications company that
(03:13):
owns WDRB. So the word is duopoly. But you're now
allowed to have more than one primary signal in a marketplace.
You couldn't do that before. Wave is NBC, WDRB is Fox,
and you wouldn't have been able to do that. But
a judge ruled on in a case in another market.
(03:34):
And so this is kind of like in the middle
of the nineties when the Telecommunications Act went through, we
were WHAS and WAMZ radio and then suddenly we took
on six more stations because we could the law changed.
So that's what's happening in a lot of places. What
they told us in the nineties was yes, I worked there,
I worked here too. Was that, well, we're saving signals.
(03:57):
Otherwise they'd go out of business. It's just a distressed marketplace,
and we don't want signals to go dark. We want information.
So we're going to let companies own more than two
in a marketplace. So now that's happening in TV. They're
just kind of catching up in the same way. But
what that does mean is when we took on the
six other radio stations, you start merging jobs, crushing jobs.
(04:19):
Well I do this, yeah, well, now you do this,
this and this if you want to work here. It's
pretty much an edict that you would get. But it
works that way in businesses beyond media. You know, when
companies merge, they just they say, well, we have so
much room for payroll, and so if I know you
were just doing this job before. But if you want
(04:40):
to stay employed, you're going to do this work and
this one and that way. You know, there's a riff
a reduction force, so they merge situation. That's what's going
on essentially in media right now. A couple of notes.
The Courier Journal published an article this morning at five
oho nine am. That's always an interesting posting time. Will
what's this? And they're just letting you know that they're
(05:02):
moving from their Broadway headquarters, the famous Courier Journal, the
iconic building at six then Broadway. The fully vague, they're
fully vacating. They say the staffs is relocating September fifteenth,
next Monday, to four to oh one West Main Street
(05:24):
in one Riverfront Plaza building. Well, the Courier used to
require a lot of people and it just doesn't Now
it's a different animal. It's the way it goes. You know.
Some of the people who write for them, well, last
week several of them were pushed into packages of Hey,
do you want to retire, do you want to take
early retirement, you want to do this or that or whatever.
(05:46):
I'm not going to name names because I don't I
don't want to give people's personal business unless they make
it public. But some people that I know were offered
packages and it was tough on some of the younger
people that are working there. They're like, oh my god,
my North Star person has been told hit the door.
(06:06):
They're not told to hit the door. They're saying, here's
the option, and the options are pretty limited. So that
happened at The Courier Journal again last week. We've seen
them get downsize multiple times over the years. But again
the shifting sands of media change. The deal with Wave
and WDRB is still shaping that. That hasn't been legally
(06:27):
approved yet, so we'll see what's going on, but there
have been some changes, and you know, that's a challenge
for some of the folks in our business. Whas is
owned by Tegna, which is in the process of being
purchased by Next Star, and there's no reason to believe
that these deals won't go through, that Gray won't buy
(06:49):
Block Communications, and that next Star won't get Tegna, and
Gray actually went on and bought another set of stations
not long after they've made the Block Communications announcement, so
they're continuing to swallow up stations as these few companies
get bigger and bigger again. I do not share information
(07:11):
about people's private situation, and I did see that Scott
Reynolds posted on Facebook a little while ago. I'm just
going to read that because he's made it public. I
happen to be friends with Scott Reynolds at WDRB. He's
a great guy. I've known him for many, many years.
He's an excellent news anchor and reporter and just an
(07:33):
all around good human being. But he wrote this on
Facebook about a half an hour ago. Unfortunately, I'm no
longer on the air at WDRB. I will miss being
there for all the loyal viewers and for my wonderful coworkers.
I wish all of them nothing but the best. I'm
looking forward to the next opportunity in my career and
(07:54):
excited to see what doors will open. If you have
knowledge of something that would be a good fit for me,
please send me a direct message. I'm blessed with my faith,
family and so many friends. I'm grateful for the six
years I had there at WDRB and nearly thirty in
Louisville because he was on wave for a long time.
(08:15):
So those are the words of Scott Reynolds. He's letting
you know publicly he's no longer on WDRB. A lot
of people are chiming in. They get fired up. Well,
they were fired up when he was essentially pushed out
of waves so many years ago. That was a very
public thing. When people are used to seeing someone on
their TV at a regular time and then they're not
there anymore, not by their own choice, it usually stirs
(08:38):
up a hornet's nest. So I would expect there'll be
some reaction from it from the public. But I'm just
letting you know again. They're shifting dynamics in the media
universe right now, and it's going to continue changing in
the coming months because of these stations getting swallowed up
by larger companies. Know what happens. They see the payroll
(09:02):
and they go, we got to make some changes here
because bupa ba ba bap. That's how that goes. And
so some of the people that you've loved reading or
seeing or hearing could be pushed aside. We're given the
option to take a massive whack in pay or go
(09:24):
find another job. So I'm just giving you a little
advanced notice on that that the changes have not stopped.
They're going to accelerate in the coming months, just because
again of just the merger nature of having to crush
(09:44):
a whole lot of people into one space where there
used to be multiple spaces. So fingers crossed for everybody
love my media family here in town. There's so many good,
high quality people in this media market. I hate to
see any of them go. There's so many talented people,
good souls that you've come to trust over the years.
(10:05):
My buddy Shaye McCallister left WHASTV. I don't know what
she saw coming ahead, but her contract came to an end.
She's been my crusade for children partner for years. She
has launched her own business and she's doing her own reporting.
It's interesting and it looks like it's getting good response.
So again, new things are developing and reshaping the media
(10:29):
universe right before your eyes. So be nice to the
folks at local media because everybody's kind of walking on
eggshells right now around here locally. Fingers crossed for all
of us in our media family. Back in a fe
on News Radio eight forty whas
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