IBEW Local 191 Members Laid of By Industry Giant Clear Channel as it Switches from Local Control

KVOS, Historic Station, Now Programmed from Tulsa, OK
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KVOS-TV lays off 6 station employees

Switch in programming source led to elimination of jobs

JON GAMBRELL
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
KVOS-TV, Bellingham's only television station, laid off six of its employees because its programming now is largely received and managed from out of state. The television station, broadcasting throughout Whatcom County and into southwest British Columbia, now receives its programming from a server in Tulsa, Okla.

Dave Reid, general manager of KVOS, said six employees were laid off on Aug. 15 because employees in Tulsa would handle the programming.

"Those programs are fed to us via satellite," Reid said. "Now, many of our programs are picked up in Tulsa as opposed to Bellingham." Reid said viewers wouldn't notice any change to the station, though broadcast quality may slightly improve for some. The television station, owned by broadcast giant Clear Channel Communications, currently has 50 employees, Reid said.

Brad Owens of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 191, the union representing some KVOS employees, said the layoffs were solely a result of new technology."

"There was no wrongdoing on anyone's part," Owens said. "It was sad they were the victims of new technology."

KVOS has a long history in Bellingham. Aberdeen businessman Rogan Jones ran KVOS while it was a radio station in the late 1920s. During this time, news organizations like The Associated Press, United Press and International News Press refused to sell stories to radio stations. Jones responded by having his staff rewrite newspaper articles to be read on the air.

The AP sued KVOS for "pirating" the wire service's reports and the lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1936, the court ruled against the AP, and radio stations across the country slowly gained access to the same news information available to newspapers.

In 1953, Jones launched KVOS-TV 12. The station's first broadcast was the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. The television station later became property of The Ackerley Group, which owned 16 television stations and four radio stations across the nation. In 2002, Clear Channel purchased the group for $775 million.
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