KOMU cuts overnight shift
KOMU cut the shift to fund other positions at the station.
Oct. 10, 2008
Because of the need to reallocate resources, the KOMU/Channel 8 newsroom will eliminate its overnight shift starting Sunday. The move will affect five staffers and is not expected to have any effect on the station's programming or performance.
KOMU will eliminate its overnight shift starting Sunday to cut costs, News Director Stacey Woelfel said.
"There just wasn't enough for them to do," Woelfel said, regarding the five online staffers who worked the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift.
The change is not because of financial straits, but rather effective allocation of resources, Woelfel said. The station has added a full-time producer, live truck operator and reporter this year.
"We're actually spending more now compared to last year," he said.
The station's five KOMU.com overnight staffers received the news in an e-mail on Wednesday. Students said the cut was unanticipated but understandable, as there was minimal work in the graveyard shift.
"After around 1 o'clock in the morning, I would be the only one there," sophomore Megan Granger said. "There wasn't that much to do. I got to know the custodian really well."
Junior Kasey Lynn Breda agreed.
"The person in the shift before me usually had enough time to get almost everything done," she said.
Overnight staffers are responsible for making sure all videos, transcripts and other elements are posted online, Granger said. They also watch wire reports and listen to the police scanner for any breaking news.
"Usually there isn't anything that can't wait until 5 o'clock in the morning," she said.
Granger said she still plans to stay involved with KOMU by covering high school football for KOMU's Friday Night Fever program. She said Woelfel said the overnight online staffers would receive priority consideration if KOMU has any job openings.
"I'm upset that I won't have the experience of working that shift, but I understand why they did it," Granger said. "I'm not bent out of shape."
Sophomore Stephanie Thiel said she was upset by the job cut because unlike most of the other work she does for the station, the online job was paid.
"It works out to around $120 more a month, which to me is a lot," she said. "I can't imagine it making that much of a dent on the station budget."
Breda, who worked the Friday to Saturday overnight shift, had a different take.
"I'm actually kind of glad it's eliminated, because now I can do things on Friday nights," she said.
Breda covers football games for Friday Night Fever from 4:30 to 11 p.m. With the online shift afterward this means her Friday night work at the station often comes in a 12-hour run.
She said she didn't "put two and two together" when she signed up for both jobs and she will be glad for the easier Friday nights.
Woelfel said he does not believe the cut will visibly affect the station's performance. He pointed to recent changes such as the expansion of their morning show from 90 minutes to two and a half hours this August.
"I don't think anyone will look at us and say, 'They must have cut something,'" he said.
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