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The changes continue at KTVX-Ch. 4. News director Larry Perret and assistant news director Leesa Dillon were both let go on Thursday.
That sort of thing doesn't often happen one week into a four-week ratings sweep, but the new owners — Nexstar Broadcasting — and new vice president and general manager Richard Doutre Jones are gearing up for a major revamp of the station.
It's a major rebuilding project because Channel 4 continues to struggle in the ratings. Its fourth-place late newscast is averaging a 3.0 rating after the first week of the February sweeps — 77 percent less than market leading KUTV-Channel 2 (13.3). And, while there has been some improvement in the numbers for some of the newscasts, it wasn't enough to keep Perret and Dillon on the jobs they assumed in May 2011.
Nexstar took possession of the station in December and laid off about 20 employees, most of whom worked worked behind the scenes. (The exception was longtime reporter Chris Vanocur.)
Jones was hired to manage the station in January, and he expects to announce the hiring of a new news director shortly.