If you see the News 9 morning team wearing black this week, I think we know the reason why!
Thanks to a tip via the Ogle Mole Network, we’ve learned “Oklahoma’s Own” News 9 is “restructuring” its morning programming as part of a plan to cut costs and address slagging ratings.
The changes include:
– Laying off morning meteorologist/traffic reporter Hannah Scholes just three weeks after she announced her second pregnancy live on the air. They’re also not filling a couple of vacant producer positions.
– Moving American badass Storme Jones from the morning couch to the afternoon anchor desk. The new morning anchor team will consist of Robin Marsh, Lacey Lowry, and something called a Colby Thelen.
– Canceling its early morning “News 9 First @ 4:00am” newscast, which effectively pushes the start of the morning show to 4:30am.
We know about these changes because an Ogle Mole sent us a screenshot of the following emails News 9 sent to staff.
Check them out:
First of all, we’d like to offer our condolences to Hannah Scholl. I know firsthand how much it sucks to be laid off from a job and the stress and uncertainty it brings to your life, so I can only imagine how terrible it is when the layoff occurs months after you had your first baby and just announced you're pregnant with an Irish twin!
Seriously, wouldn’t that be brutal?
Imagine getting laid off, coming home to a crying baby, having to figure out how you’re going to pay your medical bills, and then not being able to get shit-faced drunk at the end of the night to help cope with it! Who knew “Oklahoman’s Own” could be such heartless bastards?
Although I think News 9’s decision to layoff a pregnant woman less than a month after celebrating her pregnancy live on air is a dumb call – and may get them a letter from that lawyer representing all the people who are suing the state for discrimination – I have to say I agree with the decision to move the forward-thinking teammate to afternoon anchor desk.
I'm not a big connoisseur of morning news, but it never seemed up Storme's alley. He's like the Indiana Jones of local news anchors, and is far better off dodging tear gas canisters and rescuing people from tornado damage than fake laughing at a Robin Marsh joke or pretending to care about the sunrise photos old people email to Lacey Swope.
Hell, the only adventurous thing they could find for him to do on the News 9 morning show was ride a hot air balloon. How boring is that?!
Yes, being moved from the morning couch to the new anchor gig is considered a bit of demotion in the TV news world, but I think that will work out well for Storme. Not only will he have a better work schedule, but he'll hopefully get back to living dangerously like the American badass he is.
I guess the other thing to discuss here is that News 9 is canceling its 30-minute 4:00am broadcast. I heard this is due to low ratings, which would make sense, because outside of some old farmer with dementia waiting for Gene Wheatley to give the Farm Report, who watches the 4am news?
If you’re awake and the 4:00am news is on, it means you either need to go to bed, find a new job, or stop smoking meth.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
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