This is what I’m thinking:
WIVB-TV (Channel 4) and WNLO-TV (CW 23) reporter Kayla Green is joining the exodus from the Nexstar stations.
She announced on Twitter Wednesday that Friday is her last day and that she has accepted a job with the Hamburg Central School District.
A Cheektowaga native, Green has been at Channel 4 for a little more than a year after arriving from the Nexstar station in Rochester, WROC.
In her tweet, Green said she has been living her dream as a news reporter telling stories for three and a half years in Buffalo and Rochester.
“Telling stories has been the honor of a lifetime,” she added. “However, over the past few months I’ve realized dreams change, and that’s okay. The industry is also changing. This wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it’s what I feel will help me continue to grow professionally and personally.”
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Green is the fourth person who has left TV news recently to work in education, joining WKBW-TV’s Jenna Callari Stockman (Kenmore-Tonawanda School District); her husband, Channel 4’s Paul Stockman (Nichols School); and Channel 4’s Mary Margaret Johnson (Daemen University) at local schools and colleges.
Green’s exit follows the recent departures at Channel 4 of Melanie Orlins, morning reporter Jhas Williams and sports staffers Stockman and Johnson, with Gabrielle Mediak working her final day Thursday before becoming the main morning anchor in a bigger market. In addition, the station hasn’t replaced Call 4 Action reporter Al Vaughters, who retired in June.
There are a variety of reasons for the departures, including leaving for better work/life balance, better jobs in bigger markets and better pay.
The pay issue for a job that demands young reporters be flexible to work a variety of schedules seems to be increasingly in play.
Green hasn’t been here long enough to be a household name. But it says something about the state of local TV news if a Western New York native leaves her dream job to work for a school system.
The only reporters who don’t have a regular anchor role remaining on WIVB’s website after Friday will be Marlee Tuskes, Tara Lynch, Hope Winter, Sarah Minkewicz, newly-hired Chelsea Lovell and veteran Luke Moretti on a station that carries more hours of news than any of the three local broadcast affiliates.
Williams' role as morning traffic anchor and reporter has been filled by Lovell, who began last week. Lovell comes from the Nexstar station shuttle in Elmira, WETM, where she has been the last two years.
WETM has long been a farm team of sorts for the Buffalo stations. WIVB’s recent hires from the Elmira station include 4 and 7 p.m. weekday co-anchor Jordan Norkus and Lynch.
WKBW (Channel 7) has named Taylor Epps its weekend anchor. Epps, a Syracuse University graduate who has been at the station for more than three years, has been unofficially in the role for some time in addition to working on the station's morning newscast.
The station also has a new morning reporter, Jaurdyn Johnson, a University of Montana graduate who arrived from a sister E.W. Scripps Co. station in Helena, Mont.
The Buffalo Bills' 42-15 preseason victory over the Denver Broncos Saturday afternoon had a 22.3 rating on WIVB, which was an improvement on the 18.8 rating for the opening victory over the Indianapolis Colts. One key factor may have been that quarterback Josh Allen played against Denver even though it was for only one touchdown drive. The viewership for the game remained steady even after Allen left the game.
The game was the highest-rated TV program of the summer.
The NFL Network was supposed to blackout the game, but it aired on cable at least in the City of Buffalo and had an additional 0.8 rating.
In a recent telephone interview, NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth wasn’t buying the theory that the Bills need to sign free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., as promoted by star linebacker Von Miller.
“I mean, you can't hurt getting him, he's going to be a second half of the season kind of guy,” said Collinsworth. “But I tell you, I think a lot of the receivers that are on the team right now. I really think Gabriel Davis is going to have a chance to be really special this year. It is due in large parts to the fact that Stefon Diggs is on the other side and is going to draw a lot of attention … I'll be surprised if Isaiah McKenzie doesn't have a much bigger role. He’s so athletic, and he's so quick in some of those jet sweeps and various ways they get him the ball, and Jamison Crowder's a good player. And Dawson (Knox).
“Do I think that (Beckham) would help them coming down the stretch? Of course, he would. He's one of the great receivers we've ever seen. Do I think it is totally necessary to get Odell to win a Super Bowl. No.”
