NBC 24/51 Lays Off Six in Fort Smith Newsroom
by March 15, 2004 12:00 am 107 views
In February, Nexstar Broadcasting Group of Irving, Texas, laid off six of the 40 employees at NBC 24/51’s newsroom in Fort Smith. The layoffs included reporter Hana Van Engen, the operations manager, a cameraman and production employees.
Nexstar has a contract to purchase the television station from JDG Television, a division of Griffin Holdings Co. of Muskogee, Okla., pending FCC approval, which was expected by the end of March.
While Nexstar appears to be scaling back the size of its Fort Smith operation, none of the station’s employees was laid off in the main newsroom in Fayetteville.
We were unable to reach Blake Russell for a comment. Russell took over on Jan. 26 as vice president and general manager of NBC 24/51, KPOM/KFAA-TV. He replaced David Needham, who left the station to be vice president of operations for ERC Properties of Fort Smith, a real estate company.
Based in Irving, Texas, Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 42 television stations in 26 markets.