It’s been a little more than a week since sweeping layoffs took effect at television news stations across the country owned by the E.W. Scripps Company as part of a shift toward AI-powered automation and a 24-hour multiplatform livestream broadcast format.
The “refounding of Scripps” impacted more than a dozen people at KRIS 6 in the Coastal Bend, including Michelle and Bryan Hofmann, the married couple who hosted KRIS 6 Sunrise. MySA tuned in to the revamped morning show to see what the broadcast looks like now that the Hofmanns are gone and to see why many Corpus Christi locals have said they’ve changed the channel.
Typically, morning newscasts are less formal than their primetime counterparts — focusing on local events, culture and lifestyle news mixed with weather and traffic segments that help viewers get out the door and on to their morning commutes. Woven through it all is lighthearted banter between anchors.
But none of that could be found in the new format of KRIS 6 Sunrise on Thursday, August 27. The Hofmanns’ successor, Stephanie Molina, is currently on vacation. Her stand-in, Jada Strayer, was on camera for a few brief moments. And morning meteorologist Steven Jones delivered his weather and traffic reports, but there was no banter between the two and no transition from one segment to the next.
When Strayer or Jones weren’t on camera, the broadcast shifted to re-airing news from neighborhood reporters like Drew Bishop, Matthew Roberts and Jordan Benavides every half-hour. Both Bishop and Molina have been reporting for a little more than a year while the others began within the last six months. Roberts, in particular, transitioned from producer to reporter one day after the layoffs.
However, the bulk of the broadcast consisted of stories — commonly referred to in the industry as “packages” — produced by network NBC News, and syndicated segments like Mr. Food Test Kitchen.
Without anchors to introduce different segments, the transitions between them were abrupt, while sharply fluctuating audio levels made the effect more jarring. Among those laid off were the station’s technical directors who were responsible, in part, for maintaining consistent audio levels.
Reactions to the new format have been mixed, but many viewers have said they’re tuning out. In a KRIS 6 Facebook post marking the Hofmanns’ final broadcast, several people said they’d be switching to the competition.
“Channel 6 is making a mistake,” one commenter wrote.
“Wish you all weren’t leaving and I don’t know if I’ll continue to watch ch. 6 news,” another said.
Elsewhere on Facebook, the Corpus Christi Crónica, a digital online news and commentary outlet, asked viewers about the new “anchor-less” format. While a few people said the staff reductions could improve efficiency many of the comments were not positive.
“Haven’t seen it and doubt I will. When their (Michelle and Bryan Hofmann) last day aired so did mine!” one commenter said.
“It’s horrible. It seems less professional, less personable, just less. Idk what they were thinking. People are changing to channel 3 news,” another said.