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ME Television announces layoffs
The Statesman’s Patrick George is reporting that ME Television laid off a large number of its employees today, according to its president and CEO.
From the post:
“The network had to restructure to minimum staff,” said Connie Wodlinger, ME TV’s president and CEO. “A skeleton staff will keep the station on-air.” Watlinger had to put her interview with the Statesman on hold before she could say how many were let go. The network had been making staff cuts in recent weeks, she said.
Kevin Connor, vice president of music programming for ME-TV, was on vacation in Rocky Mountain National Park when he got the news.
“We are going to be down to the most skeleton of skeleton crews,” Connor said. “With a very, very small stafff we can continue to play videos and all the great live performances that as long as we can do that we’re not done. I’m still working to keep the station running.”
Connor, a minor investor in ME-TV, declined to say if he was getting paid for his coming efforts. “As far as all the money stuff, I have to defer to Connie on that” he said. “My personal finances are personal. But (continuing to work at ME-TV) something that I can do. With the help of one or two of my colleagues, we can and try to work our way out of this.”
“I’ll tell you this,” he continued. “I’m really proud of the work we’ve done. I’m really proud of the shows that we’ve shot. We’ve done I-don’t-know-how-many hours of great performances. We’ve done damn good work and it’s too bad that the money may be preventing us to continue that work.”
Connor said the channel would continue to be on the air. “People are going to turn on the TV, turn on ME-TV and it’s still going to be on for as long as we can. Call me an optimist and an idiot, but I think we can find somebody to help set this ship right. There’s nothing wrong with the pie, the stuff we’re cooking quality stuff, we just have to keep the doors open.”
His voice became emotional when talking about his time with ME-TV (Then again, he was also at 9,000 ft. and walking down a mountain.)
“We’ve been working on this for a long time,” Connor said. “It’s been a struggle. When you look back at the body of work, the interviews, the live performances, you know our crew did a great job. We made good TV we may get chance to do it again.”
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By Bishop Fred A.Jones,Sr.
August 22, 2008 9:38 PM | Link to this
This news saddens me because so many benefit from the different genre’s of music this station provides… Should there be a fund raising concert effort to help out, The Jones Family Singers will be there to support.
By norm
August 23, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
I’d like to know how much of my Time Warner Cable bill goes to ME.