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2026-02-25 Economy
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'Chicago's very own' WGN-TV was hit by a brutal round of cuts this week.
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] 'Chicago's very own' WGN-TV was hit by a brutal round of cuts this week.
The layoffs come as the station's parent company, Nexstar, prepares to take over rival Tegna.
At least nine high-profile anchors and reporters were included in the cuts.
Among the casualties were mainstays like WGN Weekend Morning News Anchor Sean Lewis and Entertainment Reporter Dean Richards, The Chicago Tribune initially reported Monday, citing sources.
Longtime reporter Judy Wang was also let go - as was sports anchor Chris Boden, Evening News's Ray Cortipassi, Political Analyst Paul Lisnek, and reporters Julian Crews and Bronagh Tumulty, The Tribune reported.
Meteorologist Mike Janssen was the ninth to be discharged, The Daily Mail confirmed on Tuesday.
Janssen looked back fondly on his '15 good years at WGN' when reached for a phone call by the Mail.
When asked why so many celebrated staffers were being let go, Janssen said, 'That's over my head.'
'Sometimes we're just minions, right? Unfortunately, Chicago is missing out,' he added.
Janssen emphasized how 'a lot of great people leaving were there even longer' than he was.
'But that doesn't mean I'll be turning off the channel. I'll still be watching,' he said.
Chicagoans who had come to see him as a fixture flooded his Facebook with messages on Tuesday following the Tribute report. Sources told the paper Janssen had not renewed his contract Friday. Efforts to reach him by the publication were unsuccessful.
'Wait did I miss something? Are you not on WGN? You are one of the best there!!!' one fan wrote- to which Janssen confirmed: '9 on-air folks from News, Weather and Sports were cut. I was one of those purged.'
A further six news writers and three technical director positions were lost in a separate round of cuts last month. Four floor director positions were already eliminated in October, sources told the Tribune.
Meanwhile, WGN remains a diamond-the-rough and a ratings powerhouse - amid a greater landscape of languishing local news stations.
Widely seen as the gold standard, WGN still needs to make way for the mountain of debt Nexstar will assume from Tegna, after Nexstar already paid $4.1billion for the network in 2019 as part of an acquisition of Chicago-based Tribune Media.
The move made Nexstar the largest local TV station group in the country - now set to expand with a $6.8 billion merger with Tegna.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) boss Brendan Carr indicated he was ready to move forward with the merger last week.
Nexstar made headlines late last year for its decision to pull 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' from its ABC-affiliated stations over comments the late-night host made in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Nexstar reinstated the show nine days later after fierce backlash from viewers.
In 2021, the company also rebranded the network formerly known as WGN America into NewsNation - a right-leaning cable network that competes with Fox News, MS NOW and CNN.
A Nexstar spokesperson said of the layoffs seen this week: 'Nexstar does not comment on personnel issues, but the company is taking steps necessary to compete effectively in this period of unprecedented change.'
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Posted by Skidmark 2026-02-25 00:00||
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