KCRG

This newsroom was a good place to grow and learn. It had its weaknesses and the low pay was frustrating but you make the best of an experience.

I usually had a photog to work with and never did solo live shots. The chief photog Marlon was a blast and taught me a lot about shooting.

The management team was disorganized at times but knew how to win. The ND Adam is a good guy but needed to be focused more. Eric and Aaron could be harsh but also protected us from a lot and went out of their way to help us. I didn’t work with Brandi much but I personally never had an issue with her and thought she knew the market well.

They were quick to handle a creepy situation with a disgruntled male coworker, so I appreciated them looking out for my safety

The GM comes across as distant but looked out for us. The HR manager was really helpful navigating some unexpected family issues and time off, I’ll always be thankful for her kindness at the time.

It’s a number one station for a reason. People who put effort into what they do can be successful, if you didn’t your experience may be different.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Aaron Hepker, the nightside executive producer, is easily the most awful person I've ever worked with. He constantly talks smack about the competition but talks even more s*** about other people at the station. He never shuts up and when he's not insulting others (including many insults I felt should have gotten him fired if they were heard by the wrong person), he's bragging about other jobs he's had in the past (which besides KCRG includes the #2 station in Des Moines and the last place station in Sacramento, and neither of those positions for very long before he came back to KCRG). And he's b****y and lazy. He pawned off training that I should have had to others, had no patience or interest in mentoring or collaborating or simply following up on where I was in the training process. And I got zero help from him the entire time I worked there. I can't think of one time that he offered to help me with anything. He also had this super disrespectful habit of rewriting things I'd written but made no effort to talk to me about why he did so or have any kind of dialogue so I could see why he'd made those changes and help me work to improve in the future. He was perfectly happy to let you guess why he'd do what he did and had no interest in helping you get any better. There was this awkward vibe that he was uncomfortable having to talk to me about work plans or strategy, but I can't think of a single I did to make it that way. And even if I did, who cares? I worked there and he was supposedly in management. It was his job regardless. And he never stopped talking and never did much else. I think the anchors and management were the only people in that newsroom that didn't ask me point blank "Well what is Hepker doing?" or "So what does he actually do?" But the answer was always "nothing" or IDK. The only other skills I'd credit him with having besides blabbing and inflating his own ego would be back-stabbing and gas-lighting. It sucked working with him and I feel bad for everyone who ever had to deal with him in the past and those who deal with him presently.

The anchors, reporters, photographers, and production workers were all pretty nice and professional for the most part.

But management in that newsroom sucks.

The assignment editor almost got fired for posting that stupid, debunked "Plandemic" documentary on Facebook, got in a spat with an anchor at a different station over it and it all go posted to FTV Live. The guy works in news, but apparently doesn't believe in what they do or have any idea how to decipher accurate from BS.

The news director is a twitchy spazz who plays the part well enough but is horrible at planning and executing strategy. He's quick to freak out and mistakes speed for quality.

They don't communicate with each other, so there were many occasions where one manager (or other newsroom employees) was clueless as to what the other had decided the newsroom was doing on any given day for any given story or newscast.

They fired a sports anchor who was there for close to ten years because they told him he did too many sports highlights (seriously) instead of some vaguely communicated strategy to focus more on sports features and profiles.

The HR woman is horrible. If you go to her with an issue or a complaint that places any blame or responsibility on the station or management, she'll do everything she can to gaslight you into thinking your issue is not a big deal or that it is your fault (not theirs). She will not advocate for you and will do everything to protect management or staff with longer tenure, regardless of who is in the wrong.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the newsroom: the egos.

They are a #1 station with a large audience and web following. And they've been #1 for decades. But for what? The reporters and photogs and production folks do a fine job, but nothing outstanding. Certainly nothing you couldn't see with either of the competition in the market.

Those competitors both won 2021 Edward R. Murrow regional awards for continuing coverage of the 2020 Derecho storm and a documentary on the 2020 Iowa Caucus. And KCRG only picked up one 2021 Upper Midwest Emmys for their ridiculous coverage of the funeral of a state trooper killed in the line of duty. The other two stations in the market were nominated for way more and KGAN 4 or 5 Emmys.

And best yet, KCRG's coverage of the 2020 Derecho lost out to a former Cedar Rapids reporter and resident that came back to cover the Derecho for WOI in Des Moines.

Again, quite a bit of ego despite such little recent accomplishments other than having the same anchors for a couple of decades (which isn't a skill, it's because they're the only ones getting paid grownup money).

KCRG isn't the worst station you could ever work for. But you're walking into a toxic situation with oversized egos and little patience or stomach for grunt work. And they're going to take advantage of newbies fresh out of college or those trying to work their way up to a bigger market.

They're going to try leveraging their status and position in the market against your dreams of moving-on-up to make you do all the hard work and take blame when things don't go exactly to their poorly thought-out plans.

But that plan isn't to help you grow and execute teamwork.

That plan is to put the squeeze on those with desperate asperations so they'll either shape up without them having to do anything or so they can fire you and bring in someone else that they can pressure into doing the job to their liking while management continues to do the bare minimum.

But here's what they don't tell you: unless you're an anchor or on the weather team, you're going to make similar money at either of the other stations in the market (maybe a little less, maybe the exact same, maybe even more).

No station is perfect, but the money will be about the same no matter which station you end up at in the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City/Dubuque market of eastern Iowa.

The only difference is you won't have to deal with the annoying egos, you'll probably have significantly more creative freedoms that will pay off down the line, and the # 2 and #3 stations are likely to be managed better. There's no reason to believe you wouldn't be able to cover the same stories or the same type of stories at KGAN or KWWL.

My best advice: unless KCRG is your only opinion or you're 100% sure you'll be able to achieve your long term goals with them, see if KGAN or KWWL are hiring. You'd be just as likely (if not more likely) to be able to achieve what you're looking to do in the news biz with way less hassle and for the same money.