Nexstar Defends Change at Stations in Arkansas

In an article on Arkansas Business.com Nexstar Senior Vice President Brian Jones defends all the changes made at the KARK and KNWA since the company took them over a couple of years ago.

The article mentions just about every move Nexstar has made at the stations. Jones responds this way: “Unfortunately in this business, when a station is in a time of turmoil and making a lot of changes to better itself, competitors and the public see it as a negative thing,” he said. “Yes, we’ve been making a lot of changes, but for all of the right reasons. We have to apply what we feel is going to give us the best chance at succeeding. That’s all we’ve done.”

Here's just a few of the changes made at stations KNWA and KARK:

> Nexstar changed the northwest affiliate’s name to KNWA and moved all of its newsroom operations to Fayetteville from Fort Smith, while also trimming that station’s staff by eight employees.

> The first major move at KARK, which also coincided with KNWA, involved axing not only the two stations’ subscriptions with the Associated Press, but also with the Nielsen Media Research Inc. ratings books.

> Perry Chester, the general manager who was brought to Little Rock in August 2003 from a company-owned CBS affiliate in Champaign, Ill., was fired on June 7. Three weeks later, KARK News Director Rick Iler announced to the newsroom staff that he was resigning his position to move to a CBS affiliate in Phoenix that is not owned by Nexstar.

> Two weeks ago, Nexstar fired the station’s sales manager, Craig Castrellon, who could not be reached for comment. Jones said last week that position is “very close” to being filled. (Mike Vaughn has been promoted to fill this vacancy.)

> A new general manager, Rick Rogala, was announced at the beginning of this month, while a news director is expected to be named this week.

There is so much more in the full article. You'll find it HERE.