KFOR

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

First the good. You're paired with a photog everyday. They're some of the best in the business and they do excellent work. The other reporters are excellent, they work hard and this is oftentimes their second or third market. The two main weekday evening anchors are excellent and they're kind. There are just a few on the talent side who are gossipy. If you are a hard news reporter, this is the station for you. If you're not on the mornings, it's all hard news all the time. Politics and crime, baby. For some, that's great. For others, it gets tiresome. Now the not so good. You have to learn how to work with the producers, who reign supreme here. They often have unrealistic expectations of reporters and are sometimes inconsistent on what they consider newsworthy. I never worked on the weekends, but they make the weekend reporter (there's only one main reporter for the weekends) do two stories per day, and they have to be hard news. TWO! That's almost impossible when there's nothing going on and no one is available to talk to you. And God forbid they do a feature story, they get reprimanded. The weekend reporter in my experience gets burned out very quickly and leaves at the first possible chance. And then gets badmouthed for "not being resilient" or whatever. I remember when one reporter left and a lot of people were badmouthing them for leaving. Like how dare they do something in their best interest! The producers will occasionally let their political biases slip when deciding what's a story and what's not. They are also a slightly gossipy group. But if you know what each individual producer likes and what their style is and how to "sell" your story to them you should be fine. Now the bad. The news director -- watch out for that one. A former coworker called her an ultimate gaslighter and I would say that's very accurate. Some of the things that she has said to some of the reporters/producers is horrid and heartless, and it does no good to repeat. But to others she is fairly pleasant. She is also ultimately the stooge of the company. Sorry I can't give you a raise, it's the company. Sorry I can't do this or that, it's the company. Don't blame me! Some of that is understandable, but after a while you get the impression that she's playing dumb.That's another thing. This station is so deathly afraid of any blowback from Nexstar corporate that they will do anything, throw anyone under the bus, anything, to make sure they're in good standing with the big boys at HQ. Some of the issues at this station are caused by Nexstar being run by idiots. Some of it is because of station-specific problems. I've heard it's just as toxic on the sales side. The final thing I will say is in about a year timeframe, 12 people left on the news side. More than half of those were reporters. They all had their reasons, some of them left just for a better opportunity. The point is, it's a revolving door. Read between the lines. A good handful of people there are still trying to get out. They just can't buy out their contract. They also have the "re-sign with us or get out" mentality. Not very compassionate. Strictly business. Sorry -- it's not us, it's corporate!

It's ok if you're trying to add another top 50 market to your resume. Get your year in and get out. Nothing more. You'll learn a lot, get plenty of quality live reps and get good hard news for your demo reel. But will your mental health suffer because of it?