Jim Rosenfield Latest Victim of Cost-Cutting at Channel 2. Good for Him.
The news department at WCBS-TV in New York ran off the rails a long time ago. Its newscasts usually dwell at or near the basement in most dayparts, which means management panics and tries anything to goose the Nielsens.
Then management gets fired, and they're replaced by a new agenda, shifting priorities and, lately, budget cutting as local TV falls victim to slumping advertising, just like any other medium.
The latest victim, according to The Daily News, is veteran anchor Jim Rosenfield, who's been a steady in the New York market at both Channel 2 and WNBC-TV.
Rosenfield was refreshing among anchors, in that he was a bit of an everyman, who was as comfortable working stories from the field as he was reading a Teleprompter.
Which meant he was a valuable asset to whatever station employed him.
Which means absolutely nothing when your salary gets to a certain level and your ratings, through no fault of your own, go soft.
So, Rosenfield is extricated -- even if not on his own volition -- from a trainwreck of a station. It'll be interesting to see if he can land a gig in the Big Apple again. There are no obvious openings on other stations, most of which are doing their own cutbacks. And as the May sweeps wrap up, there are bound to be more to come.
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