Station's Ratings
News Dirctors
Reporter Job details
Yearly salary$123
ContractYes
Paired with a photogNever
Station market rank#3
Adam Henning
Adam is a fair news director who wants the best for his newsroom. The problem lies within the assistant news director, Stephen Gallien. When I was hired, Stephen had recently been demoted to Assistant News Director. From fellow co-workers, his attitude towards co-workers and work in general made a 360 degree turn. Bullying, belittling, making people cry. That's Stephen to a tea.
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
Look above
MMJ (OMB) Job details
Yearly salary$37,000
Contract2 years
Paired with a photogRarely
Station market rank#3
Stephen Gallien
Stephen is one of the kindest, most passionate news directors you will ever meet. I do wish he would have given me more direct one-on-one feedback at times, but outside that, I was very happy working for him.
My main gripe was the equipment being a bit outdated, but that is not WAAY's fault, but Allen Media. Allen also does not believe in photogs at all, so be prepared to work as a one-man-band as a reporter.
Reporter Job details
Yearly salary$29,000
Contract3 years
Paired with a photogRarely
Station market rank#3
Stephen Gallien
Horrible, Toxic, Anxiety Inducing
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
To put it as brief as possible, unless you want to sign up for 3 years of what feels like hell on earth then don’t go here. The overall attitude is with the new management things have improved. This is complete BS. Both the ND and GM chose favorites, and if you aren’t one of them you get treated like garbage. Examples of this may look like being the only reporter on your shift who doesn’t get assigned, not being able to cover lead stories and even getting screamed at by management. Also to note, there have been HR investigations into the current management after multiple people broke their contract all within the span of a couple weeks. All of which shared the same sentiments about the toxicity or even how management purposely contributed to an hostile work environment so they would quit. The people who work there also operate on a high.school mentality, where is you aren’t one of the favorites you don’t get treated with respect. This looks like being ignored and even sometimes humiliated with passive aggressive emails being sent out about your work. I can honestly say my mental health was at its lowest while working here and I immediately felt a huge weight was lifted once I left. Don’t get me wrong, Huntsville is a great city and news market with amazing stories to tell. Please do yourself a favor and do not ruin your outlook on the business by working here.
N/A
MMJ (OMB) Job details
Yearly salary$0
Contract2 years
Paired with a photogNever
Station market rankLast
Stephen Gallien
Stephen is a very nice man. However he doesn't have a backbone. The general manager, Mike Wright, is overbearing and will disregard Stephen's better judgement because of his personal opinion. Stephen is a great man and great leader but if Mike steps in then all journalistic integrity is gone because Mike is the main person in charge.
Sexual Harassment
Unwanted and unwarranted comments on physical appearance is a given here. Black reporters will be told awful things about themselves and try to make them look like white reporters(might be why they have one black female reporter/anchor currently) they are harsh on the reporters but they don't seem to say anything about the anchors when they need the critics on their appearances. Speaking of anchors, there's one anchor who's been around for awhile who is the main reason several people quit. She's not a good anchor anyway so it's crazy she has a say in anything. Overall just crazy judgement and critiques for a station who has no viewers. If your agent tells you to work here, FIRE THEM!!!! This place is awful. But I'll add, all the reporters mean well. They work so hard but management is awful and peoples skills worsen here
Do. Not. Work. Here.
Fire your agent if they suggest you work here
Anchor Job details
Yearly salary$12,345
Contract3 years
Paired with a photogOnly When Necessary
Station market rank#3
Stephen Gallien
Experienced, kind, fair and passionate. The newsroom is on the rise and quickly coming back from a long, hard road of past management running things into the ground. New energy, actual storytelling and something to be very proud of! If you read through the past reviews, keep in mind the entire upper Management team has changed. It’s a great culture and only getting better!
MMJ (OMB) Job details
Yearly salary$39,000
Contract2 years
Paired with a photogRarely
Station market rank#3
Stephen Gallien
Stephen was just hired about 8 months and has proven to be a strong leader and fair manager. He knows good talent and how to foster it. He does have high standards and wants us to "win". I would not have stayed at this station unless it was for Stephen.
There are still flaws in the newsroom but things have improved. If you are a hard worker and want to get better at your craft, you will have the opportunity to do that here. There are a lot of talented people who want to be better and right now the station is very much in a 'transitional' phase. I think in a few years, it will really start to climb back up in ratings. Side note - the building is disgusting but we have been told we actually will be getting a new building. However, that could take years.
