Detroit's Channel 4 sees "exodus" of on-air talent
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A string of high-profile departures from Channel 4 (WDIV) that began last year has continued into 2025, rattling the local TV news market for viewers and journalists alike.
Why it matters: The city's NBC affiliate is losing familiar faces with strong reputations at a time when trust in the media is at a historic low.
Between the lines: Detroit takes its TV news seriously. The city has a long history of beloved newscasters who became household names, such as Carmen Harlan, Bill Bonds, Diana Lewis and Mort Crim, whose career was immortalized on "Detroiters."
The latest: Veteran reporter Shawn Ley left the station without explanation a few weeks ago.
The big picture: Local TV newsrooms are shrinking across the country due to financial headwinds and viewers' evolving tastes and habits.
Zoom in: More than 20 people at Channel 4 — from reporters and anchors to behind-the-scenes staffers — have left the station since the beginning of 2024, the Free Press reported.
Catch up quick: A round of buyouts last summer changed the station's roster dramatically.
- Longtime sports anchor Bernie Smilovitz and reporters Rod Meloni, Paula Tutman, Mara MacDonald and Tim Pamplin (aka Nightcam) were among those affected.
- The departures contributed to popular anchor Devin Scillian's decision in October to retire.
- Last month, award-winning anchor and reporter Christy McDonald announced she would be leaving on her "own terms."
Meanwhile, the station has added former Sacramento anchor Ty Steele and reporter Erika Erickson in recent months.
- Scillian co-signed Steele's hiring, and Erickson is a Wayne State graduate who worked at Fox 2 for eight years.
What they're saying: Some former employees have expressed gratitude while others have remained silent.
- "I'm part of the mass exodus," Pamplin told Deadline Detroit. "I love it and I hate it. As humans we hate change, right? But when the corporate overlords put a bunch of money in front of you, and then say, 'Hey, you want this?' It was just a really, really good offer."
- Bob Ellis, WDIV's vice president and general manager, said employees who took the early retirement incentive last summer weren't pushed out.
- "We had a unique opportunity to reward a group of long-serving individuals who have been instrumental in building our station's success over the years," he wrote then to viewers.
The bottom line: "Time marches on. Bill Bonds was the guy in this town for how long? He moved on and left," Meloni, who covered Detroit's bankruptcy and many other stories for WDIV across decades, tells Axios Detroit.
- "The industry's changing and it's just a different world."