Media Musings: Channel 4 no longer sits on the throne
The forcing out of Channel 4’s general manager, Frank DeTillio, after a seven-year run in the top spot, reflects a far deeper set of problems than has been reported, because it overlooks the fact the station has been in decline since the day Mike Kettenring left.
This decline isn’t recent. It’s been going on for years as the station, Nashville’s first TV station and the gold standard for quality for decades, slid unevenly to the point Channel 5 could finally take the ratings away from it.
Kevin O’Brien, the new president of Meredith’s TV operations, has dropped five of the 11 general managers because the division lost $10 million in one quarter’s profits. This is usual corporate practice and it proves only that he has bought into the national belief that a quick firing at the top will shake up the troops and force the division to regain its profits, or else.
It’s not that easy, sorry to say. TV revenues have been down across the nation, period. And to blame DeTillio, not the most beloved GM in the city, is the apparent quick solution. You business guys know the game – blame the current GM and tell your corporate bosses these changes will win the day. Tell the staff the station is losing money, and grab the next flight home. But the problems are daunting and it won’t be easy for any new GM, veteran or rising star, to go back to the glory days.
Here’s why: Channel 4 is not a great place to be anymore. With love, patience, and by example, Kettenring was the glue. He was one of the most highly respected CEOs in the city and a leader in every aspect of the city’s life from United Way to the local board of the EMMYs, on which I served with him.
Kettenring served terrible masters. George Gillett wrung every dollar he could squeeze from the station to pay the banks and then finally sold it for a great profit. Then it was bought by an Alaskan Indian tribe – Cook Inlet Television Partners – and again, Kettenring found the profits. Then the station was sold to Meredith, the hugely profitable magazine company for a song, a mere $159 million.
Kettenring was such a powerful leader in the newsroom that the station would win such national acclaim it was ranked one of the five best local TV stations in the nation. Under his vision and driving a staff to levels even they didn’t know they could deliver, Channel 4 News won two top national honors going away. Channel 4 News was a must watch, as Kettenring’s reporters and editors hammered out an unbelievable number of special reports, ranging from religion news to questionable corporate profits.
He took that passion and love of the station and its people into his GM office and when he was forced to downsize staff to meet profit goals he spent long days doing exit interviews and trying to place those he had to release. He reduced his pay to share with some to keep them aboard.
Kettenring was “released” by Meredith but it was really time. Today, he’s a Jesuit priest.
The culture of the station changed, replaced by corporate talk and DeTillio, who really couldn’t win anyway against the Kettenring legacy. Channel 4 has a news definition that is very current but it is so easy to cover. Wrecks, murders, trials, traffic jams, superficial medical news, and yes, more and more high-tech weather reports, are the staples, as they are at all of Nashville’s stations. It is correct, however, to say Channel 4 sports isn’t a match anymore for the competition.
Will the station meet its profit goals? Oh, probably. But will it be worth the time to watch it given the shadow it has become of its glory days? My bet: No. As Joan Baez once sang so well, “Yesterday’s news is old news, and the sky’s all gray.”
(Ed Kimbrell is a professor in MTSU’s School of Journalism.)