WSET

WSET/ABC13 is a great place to learn and grow early on in your journalism career. I learned a lot and even made a lot of friends. This station has a really unique environment where most of the reporters, producers and photogs hang out outside of work.

That being said, the work environment is a mixed bag. Management tends to micro manage employees. Directors have little to no respect for producers. People who are good at their job or work hard are taken advantage of. I knew several people--including managers--who left because they were burnt out. I enjoyed my time there, but after 2 years I was ready to move on.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Late 2012 to July 2014. After Bill Foy left, Randy Smith also left. They both were fine people to work for. More than that, really. Sinclair was coming in and I think they wanted out. I was hired as a web producer but with the understanding that I was a meteorologist at heart and was just wanting to get my foot back in the door until it came time for an opening in weather. Some of this was my fault, mind you. But not long after starting work there, I was asked to fill in on weather some already which I loved. The other 90% of the time I was hired to publish and edit news stories, converting them to newspaper type writing and getting the stories published to the web site. I was trained a specific way, they had a very very specific way of what to publish and how to do it. After a year the digital.manager left and a new one was hired. During the 4 months it took to.hire a new digital manager I alone kept the site up and running the way I was trained. But when the new digital content manager was finally hired, she completely changed the way things were done. But without any communication. So I witnessed someone coming in and suddenly experimenting with their own ideas of what our jobs entailed. I would get berated in the past for not publishing a VOSOT as a web story or publishing a packaged story in time. When I asked the new digital manager what was going on, she bit my head odd, yelling "IM MAKING AN EXECUTIVE DECISION!" Fair enough, but with the old ND gone no one really understood that she was throwing out the entire playbook and I was... well confused. I got in trouble when I didn't do things the way they originally trained me but I was also being yelled at for doing things the old correct way. There was no communication of the new ways or ideas we were bringing to the web. But I was the scapegoat. I had made weather a huge part of our website and helped bridge the gap between the newsroom and the weather center. During severe weather events we got record high views and clicks. That didn't stop the anti-weather crew the EP and assistant EP from going to the ND behind my back and complaining that I wasn't doing my job. The old news director told me about it the first time it happened and told me he showed them the record traffic live on our site and all of it weather related. He was so happy with it. But as soon as he left there was an effort to punish any attempt of doing any sort of weather without stepping on the other meteorologists' toes... to the point that any post I made on my own social media had to be pre approved by the chief met which was humiliating. For the record there were several storms and events that ended up warranting the attention I tried to give them but were instead shot down bc my style was too dramatic. (The thing is, the weather is somewhat dramatic at times. ) Was told to publish a graphic titled "Derecho Not Likely" days before a derecho hit, causing one of our production members to come in crying from dodging downed trees and debris from the "no big deal " derecho. Even the amateur weather folks on my page called me out and knew what it was before it hit. The chief had some fear and would have fits of anger when bad weather actually verified and hit the area. The newsroom reminded me of high school. We had the two popular kids... and they were kids, 10 years younger than me, constantly talking bad about every employee who wasn't around to hear them and laughing at each other's quips. No one else could speak up and if you did you knew they were probably talking about you as well when you weren't around. The chief met did try to help me by giving me air time and sending a weather center schedule out to the newsroom weeks ahead of time. This served to let the newsroom know that on weekends I would not be able to work the web days ideas bc I would be coming in to do the nightside shift weather for the 6 and 11. One Saturday I was getting myself ready to come in at 2:30 p.m. for my weather anchoring duties per the schedule sent out and approved weeks earlier like always. I got a VERY hostile phone call from the new interim ND asking where I was and why I wasn't on the web. I remained calm and politely explained I had been scheduled for weather over a month ago. "WELL I DIDNT SEE THE SCHEDULE" his tone never changed and he never apologized for him not checking the schedule. There was another night I was put in the 11 to talk about a minor tropical system near the Carolina coast with minimal impacts. It already seemed odd bc the station obviously took a "play it safe, no hype" approach to weather. But I said okay I'll front the fact that the system is out there and answer any questions in a chat on our site during a 30 second hit in the 11. It was already out of place and I thought, "well maybe they've decided to help me out now." Then something weird happened. When production came back after their dinner break I felt this extreme burning in my eyes. It honestly was unlike anything I had experienced before. 30 minutes before shoe time and my eyes were red and watery and felt like fire. It was as if someone pepper sprayed my keyboard or something. I'm a recovering addict with a large following in the market. I had been into opiates and admitted it sought help and returned to air across the street 7 years prior. My return to the market st WSET was part of a comeback story to me, my family and the viewers. Never once did I smoke anything, it simply wasn't what I did even when I was using 7 years prior. But sure enough after my forced live hit in the newsroom to talk about this weak little storm I was reprimanded for having red watery eyes on air. They wanted me gone. And I didn't want to be there either. Finally I had the courage to quit in July of 2014.

I sought out HR several times to make sure the bullying in the newsroom and the unfair treatment from being scolded for not doing things the old way but also being in trouble for listening to my new boss was recorded. There was also a reporter/producer who berated me after my show, on a day I was assigned to do weather who frequently was cold passive aggressive and that night more aggressive-aggressive, yelling at me for having an "agenda" in front of everyone. I went to HR about her too. I knew with my past I could easily be seen as a problem due to prejudice. The HR head slammed her pen and paper down as I asked her for help saying WHAT NOW??? THAT'S NOT HOSTILE, huffing and puffing just making things even worse. It was a great place to start worming for in late 2012 but turned very toxic once the good leaders left and Sinclair came in. My latest run in came from a viewer/followers of my social media after I had left who was asking the station on their Facebook page why their forecast didn't match mine. She sent me their response "he's not even a degreed meteorologist, goodbye". Only I was and am. I wrote the station on Facebook correcting their libelous mistake with the screenshot attached. Pretty bad when your own former employer doesn't even know your credentials. I knew who had responded, it was yet another bully who got the web part of my job after I quit. I let it go. But not after letting her know that I was considering pressing charges for libel. A false statement meant to discredit me out of relatiation from our run-ins at work. Lots of folks there I still love and I'm thankful for the opportunity to return to TV after my past but the TV biz had changed since 2006. Even in 2014 I knew something wasn't right and I needed to GET OUT FAST.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

With the leadership being poor, it just trickled down to the work environment. Because it’s a small market, anchors were also managers, and therefore had a terrible attitude towards a majority of MMJs. They set ridiculously high expectations and workloads and would put MMJs in sketchy situations alone while out in the field. You can’t walk around the newsroom without walking on egg shells and the pitch meetings forced MMJs to be in competition with eachother instead of collaborating together.

If you have other options, go elsewhere. This station is deceiving due to its #69 market number, but it’s only that high because it’s partnered with the highly populated city of Roanoke. You’re better off at a lower market that ACTUALLY gives you room to grow, that has equipment that works, a positive work environment, and a set that’s not from 1970.

Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Both Scott Nichols and the GM George Kayes are misogynistic, sexist conservative pushers. They created an overall culture of toxicity and unhealthy competition between their own employees. They don’t care about their employees, but rather the story, as long as it fits into their ideologies, and making a buck. They both think they are incredibly intelligent but can barely work a keyboard. They both use their titles as a defense in arguments and regularly dismiss ideas that don’t fit into the latest Sinclair initiative “buckets”. My health has declined

Just avoid it. There are other stations in the market that are much easier to work with.

Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

This station is the reason I, and so many others, got out of the news business. It was an overall toxic environment. When I tried to report it to the appropriate persons, nothing was ever done to correct or solve the issue. The leadership lies and their only concern is getting the story. The morale is low and the assignments are oftentimes unrealistic. My advice is to avoid this station at all costs. It is not worth it.

Sexual Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

I am not going to get into details here. But it was a daily onslaught of harassment, targeted bullying, retaliation for reporting such illegal behavior...and one of the WORST places I have ever worked. And I've worked for more than a few. Sinclair management seemed to sign off on the illegal harassment against several of we women. Despite repeated effort to report the behavior of management. There is no doubt that the hostile work environment that I fostered by management to include lower levels of EPs and anchors is illegal.

By far and away one of the worst places I've ever...ever...worked. I have PTSD from the horrors I suffered there. George Kayes is a Trump toting misogynist and is only interested in hiring managers who will follow his lead there. WSET is not interested in the least in truthful, compelling news reporting. The EPs are terrible!! Like laughably bad writers and "fact checkers" who run a gossipy, bully-fest of a "newsroom" and retaliate against anyone who stands up to them. Most of them have never worked anywhere else. Even if you think you HAVE to get a job in TV-do NOT go here. You won't learn anything except how to dodge bullets flying at you on the daily. I was warned against taking a job here...I should have listened.