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Jim Hale hoping to anchor in top marketBy CARL REMENSKYBy the time the fallout from his firing clears, former WJW-TV (now WJKW) news anchorman Jim Hale hopes to be long gone.Hale, a resident of Bay Village, was fired last September, one of the victims of a news department housedeaning initiated by TV-8 general manager William Flynn and news director Virgil Dominie.Hale and his co-anchor, Jeff Maynor, were relieved of their duties as the cornerstones of the City Camera newscasts. Maynor was retained as a reporter, Hale was not.The station claimed that the pair faired poorly in the ratings, but Hale arpes that the station management has never produced those figures. I honestly don’t know the real reason I was let go...I assume they (the new management) just wanted to bring in their own people,” Hale said.HALE AND MAYNOR were replaced by“Newscenter 8,” anchored by Judd Hambricfc. His ratings have been poorer than theirs, Hale claims.Since the firing, Hale (through the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) has lost an arbitration ruling, filed a $425,000 libel suit against station management and sought a television anchorman’s job in other cities.In the meantime, he has been working part-time at W2LE-FM Radio (104.9) in Lorain. Halefrequently anchors afternoon news shows,produces commercials and conducts broadcasts from remote locations.By the time fall arrives, Hale’s voice may no longer ride the local airwaves. He is confident of landing a television job in one of the country’s top 30 television markets.“Hopefully, I’ll be in a new job by the time the fall season starts...this is a good time to look for a job in television,” Hale said. He added that he has had interviews and made tapes with several stations around the country.HALE WOULD CONSIDER working as a reporter elsewhere, but stressed he is primarily interested in anchoring a news show. “Once you’re an anchor, you get spoiled by the pay and attention,” admitted' Hale, who earned about $45,000 annually at TV-8.Although he is still a dyed-in-the-wool televi-son newsman, Hale harbors some bitter opinions spawned by his firing.“The trend in television news now is form over substance,” Hale remarked. “It’s gimmicky.-.you get a few pretty faces and some nice music, then worry about the news,”TV-8’s newscasts now have taken such a direction, he suggested.Since his firing, Hale has been able to watch all of the local television news shows for the first time, and likes to switch channels to see how each station handles the same story.His favorite?“Well, I don’t really have a favorite,” he said wryly, “but you can say that (Channel) Eight is definitely not my favorite.”JIM HALE
Newspaper Details
The Chronicle Telegram
Elyria, Ohio, US
Sat, Jul 01, 1978
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Nathan O.
OH, USA 28 Mar 2022
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