WJHL

The news industry is not known for its work/life balance and News Channel 11 is no exception. If you're not a legacy member of the station who was present before the Nexstar buyout, you will not receive anything close to a living wage. $15/hr was the minimum hourly pay company-wide, and the majority of positions in the newsroom were paid at this rate. Middle management sits around 45-50k.

Meaningful raises do not happen here, even with a contract resign. Unless you are an absolute standout and crucial for station operation, you will be taking a pay cut relative to inflation every year.

In terms of personnel, other reviews echo that this station absolutely has its issues. You will not enjoy working for Jay Quaintance, and he will likely not enjoy you working for him. The ideal employee must balance the journalist's drive to dig deeper with an entrenched station tendency to protect local employers, politicians and, most importantly, advertisers. New journalists will not be encouraged to take risks, you must take the initiative yourself and fight for every inch of accountability.

Talent features a large proportion of out-of-area transplants that are simply at the station to put in the 2 mid-market years and move on. 11 is not a place where anyone intends to stay, just place they tend to get stuck in.

That said, outside of bad actors you will find a team of truly passionate people that get each show to air through sheer force of will. You'll build strong relationships (positive and negative) that aren't emulated in more stable work environments.

I can't say whether I would recommend this station or not, but I can say that the chaos and ham-strung team make for excellent opportunities to build experience that you wouldn't find elsewhere. The two-year resignation cycle is part of News Channel 11's business model, so make sure you learn everything that you can in that time and get out before it's too late.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Jay perpetuates a negative environment. Quick to lose his temper on honest mistakes and little to no praise ever.

Jay thinks because you’ve signed a contract you’re a slave. Doesn’t hesitate to make you do a job you never signed up for and put you on ungodly hours against your will.

The station is too cheap to invest in working equipment or cars. Like at this point it’s a major safety concern. There was a reporter who had a car explode into flames one day and no e-mail was sent out to the newsroom acknowledging the incident or promising to actually MAINTAIN the cars. TN doesn’t have car inspections.

Not a lot of concern for safety when out on stories either.

Don’t get me wrong the market itself is interesting and big and you can learn a lot. There are some great people here! There are also some toxic ones. It may not be a mistake to come here if you’re a newbie, but just know these are the risks.

Sexual Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Time and time again Jay Quaintance shows that he thinks he is better than all women in the newsroom. He talks down and thinks that serious offenses are petty drama, telling staff to “handle it among themselves” when they approach him with serious concerns. If you are a woman working for Jay, expect to never be taken seriously & to consistently be ignored. As for racial discrimination, he makes that extremely obvious by his employee choice to cover certain race-centered topics.

This is the most toxic workplace I have ever been involved with. I waited months to post this review after I left because it took so much mental power to escape the toxic mindset that came from working for a man like Jay.
However, he’s not the only one to blame. General Manager Paula Jackson has been well aware of these issues with Jay for YEARS (see previous reviews), however she allows this behavior to continue, causing multiple journalists, including myself, to leave the station and leave the news industry permanently.

If you have any love for news and the news industry, do NOT work for WJHL, Jay Quaintance or Paula Jackson, they will completely crush your love for the industry.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Josh Smith is a BULLY. He will threaten you and has the cache there to follow through. Jay is worthless and they lost all their good employees after his reign started.

I almost left the industry after working at this station. I feel so badly for any fresh faces coming here and getting THIS as their first taste of a newsroom. Please avoid at all costs.

This station has some great people working there, starting with the anchors. But, management was the issue. Reporters are often sent alone to remote locations over an hour away with no cell phone service at ANY hour of the day/night. I worried about my own safety more than once while working here. Little empathy from management. Communication within the newsroom is not always great. Shift and scheduling priority is random(sometimes given to newer staff instead of those who have worked at the station longer). High turnover at this station. Most on air talent will leave right when their contract is up.