{"id":419181,"date":"2026-08-28T11:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/419181\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:52:09","slug":"after-layoffs-texas-tv-station-debuts-ai-newscast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/419181\/","title":{"rendered":"After layoffs, Texas TV station debuts AI newscast"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a little more than a week since sweeping layoffs took effect<\/a> at television news stations across the country owned by the E.W. Scripps Company as part of a shift toward AI-powered automation<\/a> and a 24-hour multiplatform livestream broadcast format.<\/p>\n

The \u201crefounding of Scripps<\/a>\u201d impacted more than a dozen people at KRIS 6<\/a> in the Coastal Bend, including Michelle and Bryan Hofmann<\/a>, 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\u2019ve changed the channel.<\/p>\n

Typically, morning newscasts are less formal than their primetime counterparts \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

But none of that could be found in the new format of KRIS 6 Sunrise<\/a> on Thursday, August 27. The Hofmanns\u2019 successor, Stephanie\u00a0Molina, is currently on vacation. Her stand-in, Jada Strayer<\/a>, was on camera for a few brief moments. And morning meteorologist<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Strayer or Jones weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

However, the bulk of the broadcast consisted of stories \u2014 commonly referred to in the industry as \u201cpackages\u201d \u2014 produced by network NBC News, and syndicated segments like Mr. Food Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s technical directors who were responsible, in part, for maintaining consistent audio levels.<\/p>\n

Reactions to the new format have been mixed, but many viewers have said they\u2019re tuning out. In a KRIS 6 Facebook post<\/a> marking the Hofmanns\u2019 final broadcast, several people said they\u2019d be switching to the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cChannel 6 is making a mistake,\u201d one\u00a0commenter wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWish you all weren\u2019t leaving and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll continue to watch\u00a0ch. 6 news,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on Facebook, the Corpus Christi\u00a0Cr\u00f3nica<\/a>, a digital online news and commentary outlet, asked viewers about the new \u201canchor-less\u201d format. While a few people said the staff reductions could improve efficiency many of the comments were not positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaven\u2019t seen it and doubt I will. When their (Michelle and Bryan\u00a0Hofmann) last day aired so did mine!\u201d one commenter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible. It seems less professional, less personable, just less.\u00a0Idk what they were thinking. People are changing to channel 3 news,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a little more than a week since sweeping layoffs took effect at television news stations across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2107,2320,820,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-419181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mysaentertainment","tag-mysasotx","tag-mysastaff","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}