After dismissing most of the WRTV newsroom staff, Circle City Broadcasting President and CEO DuJuan McCoy is doubling down on his promise that his purchase of the station will ultimately add more local news to Indianapolis.
McCoy appeared on the Leaders and Legends podcast — which is part of the All INdiana Podcast Network under Circle City ownership — to address the WRTV acquisition and subsequent mass layoffs. On it, he contested allegations that the purchase would result in a local news monopoly and said the layoffs would maximize synergy between WRTV and WISH-TV.
‘When businesses merge, they have the right to synergize’: DuJuan McCoy addresses WRTV layoffs
McCoy told Leaders and Legends that staff reductions are a common part of mergers and acquisitions. McCoy noted that many of the WRTV staffers had jobs that were already filled by employees at WISH-TV, Circle City’s CW affiliate.
WISH personnel have already appeared on the WRTV airwaves. Reporters from the station have helmed WRTV’s broadcast since the layoffs, and a new WRTV morning show will feature two current WISH reporters
“When businesses merge, they have a right to synergize and not duplicate bodies,” McCoy said. “I don’t need two directors of sales. I don’t need as many producers as they had. I don’t need engineers because I’m running it in the same facility as WISH-TV.”
Circle City Broadcasting human resources told employees one-by-one whether they would be let go or receive an offer to stay on staff while the newsroom was airing its evening broadcasts March 31, former WRTV executive producer Lydia Williams told IndyStar. McCoy was not present at the station, Williams said.
McCoy maintained that the staff cuts don’t equate to a reduction in local news content. In response to an IndyStar opinion piece on the layoffs, he pointed to his history as a station owner — which has included purchases in Texas, Louisiana and Evansville — and his track record of adding news programming to the stations he buys.
“I am never cutting journalism. I have never cut journalism, ever, in the history of DuJuan McCoy’s TV,” McCoy said. “We will do more local stories. We will do more local content. We will have more bodies on the street generating articles and content for our local community.”
The 60-plus employees laid off from WRTV may work at Circle City Broadcasting in the future, McCoy said. He confirmed that each of them was guaranteed an interview for any open positions the company may have — which currently includes more than 20 listed on WISH’s website.
Day-one layoffs don’t necessarily indicate that an employee’s time with the company is over, McCoy said, but he maintained that it’s his right as a new owner to staff the newsroom how he sees fit, regardless of any employee’s history or tenure.
“Just because you were employed at a company I purchased does not guarantee you immediate employment with me,” McCoy said. “It is my responsibility and my prerogative to run the business that I’m buying the way that I want to run the business.”
McCoy says he purchased WRTV because of DISH lawsuit.
McCoy’s interest in purchasing WRTV sparked during Circle City’s legal proceedings against DISH Network, he said. McCoy alleged that the company racially discriminated against him, a Black man, by declining to pay Circle City retransmission fees to air WISH and MyNetworkTV affiliate MyINDY-TV 23.
Retransmission fees are paid by TV providers like AT&T and Dish to broadcasters like Circle City to re-air programs and channels through the providers’ services. DISH told McCoy that, historically, they’ve only paid retransmission fees for affiliates of the “Big Four” networks: ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
“During my lawsuit, they pretty much said, ‘Well, if you had a Big Four affiliate, we’d pay,'” McCoy said on the podcast. “Once I found out that was the requirement for them to pay me, I sought a Big Four affiliate.”
The lawsuit was dismissed in 2023.
The E.W. Scripps Co., WRTV’s former owner, told McCoy they were interested in selling the station last September, McCoy said. Circle City announced the $83 million deal the following month, and it closed March 31 after the Federal Communications Commission waived longstanding guardrails against local monopolies to greenlight the purchase.
In the waiver, the FCC agreed with McCoy that the WRTV purchase would “advance the public interest.” McCoy said his WRTV purchase does not constitute a local monopoly.
“I’m adding bodies despite what these anti-consolidation folks are pitching and trying to say that all consolidation is the same. All consolidation is not the same,” McCoy said. “No, I’m not for any anti-trust mergers. I’m not into monopolies. I don’t get into that.”
Rather, McCoy said the WRTV/WISH merger is necessary for both stations to survive in an ever-competitive media market with new technology. Despite considerable backlash from the layoffs, McCoy said the acquisition will benefit the community in the long run.
“That’s why you double up where you can double up,” McCoy said. “I’m not trying to react to social media on a short-term basis. I have a plan.”
How many WRTV employees were laid off? Bulk of newsroom gone after Circle City acquisition
It’s unclear exactly how many of the around 60 WRTV employees lost their jobs March 31, though reports and comments from former staffers indicate that most of the newsroom did not receive offers to stay on under the new Circle City ownership. At least 11 announced they were laid off on social media, according to IndyStar reporting.
In separate Facebook posts, meteorologist Kyle Mounce wrote that the staff had been “shown the door,” and meteorologist Todd Klaassen wrote that “essentially the entire staff has been let go.”
Longtime WRTV investigative reporter Kara Kenney announced she accepted Circle City’s offer to stay with the station April 3. Circle City Broadcasting is advertising more than 20 open positions for reporters, producers, photographer and other news personnel on its website.
Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@indystar.com. Follow her on X @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘My prerogative.’ DuJuan McCoy addresses WRTV layoffs
Reporting by Heather Bushman, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
