KIMT owner's plan to layoff local weather team seems to have melted away
Jan. 29—ROCHESTER — Just as the temperatures have warmed up, the leaked plan of KIMT-TV's owner to lay off meteorologists and consolidate all national weather forecasting in Atlanta seems to have mostly melted away.
This stormy situation started on Jan. 17, when the news broke that Los Angeles-based Allen Media Group was planning to consolidate the local weather forecasting from its 27 local stations, including KIMT, and shift the duties to the Weather Channel. AMG paid $300 million to acquire the Weather Channel in 2018.
KIMT-TV News 3, which is a CBS affiliate based in Mason City, Iowa, has operated a Rochester news bureau and broadcast studio at 1751 U.S. Highway 52 North since 2017.
Viewers across the country loudly criticized the plan as meteorologists at some of the AMG stations offered up prematurely tearful goodbyes on air. While there were no local goodbyes, many in the area voiced concern about the future of the KIMT's StormTeam 3 meteorologists.
KIMT has four people on its weather team, led by Chief Meteorologist Aaron White. The other members are Sara Knox, Travis Clark-Smith and Hunter Donahoe, who has been at the station for just six months.
The tidal wave of negative feedback about the plan reportedly caused AMG to reverse course. While there are still no details or official statements from AMG, that seems to be generally accurate.
KIMT News Director Dan Clouse answered some questions about the situation this week.
"I can confirm that everything here at KIMT remains without change when it comes to our weather team staffing," said Clouse. "All four of our meteorologists are still working here. None of them have been laid off. And there is no immediate plan in place to let any of them go at any particular time."
Rumors of possible layoffs were rampant in the wake of AMG's plan being leaked. Some stations claimed that meteorologists were notified of the dates of their last days.
AMG is reportedly working on an announcement about what changes, if any, will now happen.
"Allen Media is considering ways to incorporate more Weather Channel content at its local stations. But specifics of how that might work are still being determined. It will likely work differently at each Allen Media station across the country," said KIMT's Clouse.
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