Los Angeles television news fixtures Harold Greene and Ann Martin will leave the anchor desks at KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 when their contracts expire in May, and about a dozen fellow staffers behind and in front of the camera have received pink slips at the sister CBS-affiliate stations.
The layoffs were effective Monday and coincided with widespread layoffs at CBS affiliates nationwide, including San Francisco and New York.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, April 03, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 32 words Type of Material: Correction
News anchors: An article in Wednesday's California section about layoffs at KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 misspelled the first name of former Channel 2 news anchor Tritia Toyota as Tricia.
The local cuts include technical staff as well as several members of the on-air news team, including reporters Jennifer Davis and Jennifer Sabih, according to a station executive who requested anonymity.
Union technicians at the stations also were offered voluntary buyouts, although it was unknown how many had accepted the offers.
Mike Nelson, vice president of communications for CBS Television Stations, said he could not comment on the departures because of the confidentiality of personnel decisions.
The station source, however, said Greene's and Martin's contracts were not going to be renewed and they opted to retire, effective June 1.
The two anchors have been mainstays of TV news in Los Angeles for three decades and -- along with KNBC-TV Channel 4's Paul Moyer and Colleen Williams -- are among the longest-serving local anchors. They were part of a generation of well-known, highly compensated news personalities that included John Beard, Kelly Lange and Tricia Toyota -- all of whom are now off the air as news anchors.
Greene and Martin first reported the news together in the 1980s and '90s at KABC-TV Channel 7. KCBS, which was stuck in third place in the TV news ratings, hired Martin and then Greene in hopes of reversing the station's fortunes.
When Greene was lured to KCBS in 2001, the station's then-general manager, John Severino, said: "Our research showed that Harold is one of the most highly respected news people. He had a strong news image at a strong news station, and now he will bring that over here. He will have a strong halo effect."
Martin co-anchors KCAL's news at 4 p.m. and KCBS' news at 6 p.m. She joined KCBS as an anchor in 1994 after having anchored newscasts at KABC for 13 years. While at KABC, she was the host of "AM Los Angeles" and "Eye-On-L.A.," among other programs, and was a guest host on the ABC network's "Good Morning America."
Greene is Martin's co-anchor on the 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.
