It has been an emotional time for meteorologists at nearly two dozen Allen Media Group television stations across the country.
Deep cuts at the company have forced all local meteorologists to be eliminated or reassigned and replaced by a feed beamed to individual stations from The Weather Channel.
In all, at least 50 meteorologists in roughly two dozen local television stations from Massachusetts to Hawaii are affected, CNN reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Among them are meteorologists Patrece Dayton and Kevin Orpurt at Terra Haute, Indiana’s WKHI-TV, who gave an emotional farewell to viewers last week.
“Kevin and I have come into your homes for decades — nearly 37 years for me,” said Dayton. “And more than 40 for me,” added Orpurt, the TV station’s chief meteorologist.
“For those of you who don’t know, both of our positions are being eliminated here at WTHI-TV,” Dayton continued. “The television business in general is changing nationwide and budget cuts are happening everywhere.” ‘
“We had both hoped to go out on our own terms to celebrate,” Orput added, “but that’s not the case.”
He continued, “As you can see on the evening news each night, we are a close family here at News 10. We laugh, sometimes we argue like an old married couple and we’ve cried together. We’ve gone through so much.”
Choking back tears, Dayton added, “For the final time, goodnight and sleep well.”
You can watch the video in full below.
Amber Kulick, a meteorologist at WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama, also was affected by the cuts.
‘By now most of you have probably seen the chatter about Allen Media letting local meteorologists go, well I am one that will be affected by this,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘For now I am still at the station but I am looking for my next career opportunity,’ she added.
In a press release, Allen Media said the Atlanta-based operation will offer local stations new technologies, upgraded forecasting tools, additional graphic capabilities, and the ability to cover weather stories 24/7.
Allen Media began a series of layoffs beginning in May 2024. At the time, the company said it was undergoing layoffs as part of strategic changes “to better position the company for growth.”
Privately operated Allen Media Group owns 36 ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets; digital network TheGrio; and a motion picture division that includes a distribution arm.
