Entravision will no longer produce newscasts at KLDO in Laredo.
News staff at the Univision affiliate were informed there would be no more newscasts produced at the station and that most of them were out of a job.
According to sources, HR reps notified the news team of the elimination of the local newscasts shortly after they finished working on the 5 pm show last night. The 10 pm newscast for the evening was immediately canceled. The station did not have weekend newscasts.
KLDO staffers were told Entravision was consolidating Texas operations and that the company would be producing a regionalized newscast out of its McAllen station.
Entravision has previously dismantled other local news operations for “hubbed” news out of other locations. In 2015, it did just that, canceling local newscasts at WVEA in Tampa. It also shut down news ops at KLUZ in New Mexico the same year. In both instances, it eliminated most of the staff.
At KLDO, Entravision eliminated multiple positions, including anchors, reporters, producers, and technical ops staff.
Among those who lost their jobs: news director Carlos Díaz, lead anchor Miguel Amante since 2013, longtime reporter Marissa Limón, who was part of the newscasts’ founding team and MMJ/anchor Erika González del Toro.
A source says anchor Alma Ferrara, who joined the station in 1997, will remain on staff in some yet to be announced capacity, as well as one MMJ, a news assistant and a photographer.
Sales, traffic, production and engineering staff won’t be affected by the cuts.
Update: At about 2:30 pm PT, Entravision issued the following one-line statement to Media Moves about the changes in Laredo: “We have consolidated our news operations which will allow us to provide broader news coverage that serves the market.”