Ten months ago, news broke that five Action News anchors would be out of their jobs when their contracts ended.
It hit the media like a bombshell and spread like wildfire.
Media reported the anchors were fired in a major newsroom shake-up. One report headlined it a “wholesale slaughter,” another labeled it “The Bloodletting.”
The friendly faces fronting the newscasts of WAWS TV-30, a Fox affiliate, and WTEV TV-47, the CBS affiliate, were leaving.
Departing would be 18-year veteran Paige Kelton, husband-and-wife team Mike and Tera Barz, Mark Spain and Lynnsey Gardner Baker.
Actions News General Manager Jim Zerwekh wants to put that in perspective, set the record straight — and push the story forward.
First, he said, the anchors weren’t laid off, as was incorrectly reported by some. Instead, their contracts weren’t renewed. Kelton ultimately stayed on in a new role.
Second, the anchor changes were just part of many other moves designed to rebrand the station.
And third, it all seems to be working.
Zerwekh, vice president of Cox Media Group, shared a February sweeps report that showed CBS 47 and FOX 30 Action News were watched by 32 percent of Jacksonville’s news viewers, based on news-viewing households from 4:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Monday-Sunday.
The Nielsen Media Research sweep-to-date report includes all newscasts within that timeframe.
First Coast News, comprising WJXX TV-25 and WTLV TV-12, captured 18 percent in that report.
Both trailed the independent WJXT TV-4 at 49 percent.
In a separate independent look at other February Nielsen numbers, Action News remained No. 3, but made gains at the 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts and held steady year-to-year at 11 p.m.
That means Action News, which had been battling as the No. 3 news station, was making strides in a market that stretches across 15 counties north to Brunswick and Waycross, Ga., west to Lake City and south to Palatka and Palm Coast.
The anchor changes, Zerwekh said, were just one part of the decisions made based on research.
“We do our homework here, so we base our decisions on well-thought-out plans that are researched and we felt we needed to make a lot of change,” he said.
Big change.
“We get it,” said News Director Bob Longo. “Big changes. Capital B. Capital I. Capital G.”
Cox wants to be No. 1
Changes at Action News germinated when Atlanta-based Cox Media Group bought WAWS from Newport Television in December 2012.
WAWS TV-30 also operated WTEV TV-47, owned by Bayshore Television LLC, through a shared services arrangement, and continues to run that CBS affiliate.
“There’s no secret that the Cox television stations are No. 1 in their markets. And we’re a newbie to the Cox family,” Zerwekh said.
As a result of market research, the stations launch the changes. The newsroom and studio in the EastPark business center in Southside were renovated.
Two new anchors started in September and the call letters were changed to WFOX TV-30 and WJAX TV-47. Early morning news was added Saturday and Sunday.
There were other internal changes as well.
“We didn’t just paint the house to make it new. We really got into it and it was a real refurbishing,” said Longo, who joined the station in January 2014.
So far, Zerwekh and Longo say, the strategy has moved the needle — a bounce two months after the new anchor team debuted and now their Nielsen analysis.
“We have moved in the No. 2 position in the market surpassing First Coast News,” Zerwekh said.
Along the way, Phil Amato, who abruptly left First Coast News in July as a morning anchor, joined Action News in October in the same role.
Former First Coast News sports director Dan Hicken had signed on with Action News in June 2013 as a sports anchor.
The stations also added equipment and news trucks.
“We’ve been given an abundance of riches to work with. I’ve been given millions of dollars’ worth of capital,” Zerwekh said, adding the majority has been invested in the news operation.
He said the station has added 20 positions, with most of those in the newsroom. The entire operation is about 160 people with just less than 100 in news and support.
“You can sense my annoyance about the word ‘layoff,’” he said.
‘We don’t garden’
Both Longo and Zerwekh said Action News now focuses on live, local and fast-paced news, including traffic and weather updates.
Longo said the Jacksonville market, although served well by journalism, was being underserved. So Action News rebranded itself.
“We think that we do more local news than other stations. We know it. We do the math. We are very aggressive in that regard,” he said.
Longo said viewers can see the difference at WFOX and WJAX Action News.
“They’re giving me more news in the same amount of time. They’re live at more places. They’re digging and giving investigative reporting. They are delivering unique and interesting stories that no one else is doing,’” he said.
Also, he said the newscasts are designed to not waste time.
“So we don’t do ‘Chatty Cathy’ interviews. We don’t cook food. There’s a place for that. It’s not on our station,” Longo said.
“We don’t garden,” Zerwekh added. “And we don’t do segments on how to groom your dog.”
Asked why the anchors whose contracts weren’t renewed were not considered for the new format, Longo said he didn’t want to “get into that.”
“We knew it wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was going to be very public when it happened and we handled it as best as we could by treating everyone as fairly as possible by giving everyone involved as much lead time so they could make plans in their lives and their jobs and for their families and for themselves,” he said.
“And then we had to do what was right for us.”
New faces and more freedom
Now on the air for six months, anchors John Bachman and Tenikka Hughes say they came well versed in the Cox way of news reporting.
“It’s about original storytelling. It’s about hard news, investigative, digging for those stories that no one else has, angles that no other station will have,” said Hughes, 34, who moved to Jacksonville with her husband.
Hughes said people sometimes ask what happened with the former anchors.
She said there was a brief overlap with some of them, who were “wonderful and gracious” and she shares that with those who question her.
She also hears that viewers like the changes.
“People have told me they like the pace. Some told me they think it’s fresh. It feels new,” Hughes said.
She said they also tell her she and Bachman have good chemistry.
Bachman, 40, said viewers like the “hyper-local” newscast that also explores the bigger issues.
He said he hasn’t been asked often about the former anchors. Now and then, he is asked about Kelton and he said people are glad to know she remains on the team.
Zerwekh said the new anchors also are being introduced to the community through public events, serving as masters of ceremony and in other roles.
Kelton, 45, said the change from anchor to special projects manager gave her more freedom.
She still appears on air regularly and hosts Action News Sunday, which is separate from the new Sunday morning newscasts.
“For me, personally, change is not easy at all. It can be painful. It is hard to leave something you know and love. For me, it has been liberating,” she said.
Kelton said the move to manage investigative stories allows her to use her experience as an anchor and also to work with reporters.
She said the station continues to focus on stories that impact viewers’ lives. “And I actually think we do it better now than we ever have before,” she said.
“I come to work every day happy. That’s something.”
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