A Generation of Local TV Anchors Is Signing Off

Almost all of the country's television stations with network affiliations have a face, or a pair of faces, that represent their news operations better than any logo or commercial can. Many years after signing off, the larger-than-life characters are still fixtures of newscast lore. But across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising downturn, many stations have cut costs drastically in the last year, and veteran anchors, with their expensive contracts, seem to be shouldering a disproportionate share of the cutbacks. When station managers are forced to make cuts, hefty anchor salaries are a tempting target. When the anchors depart, they take decades of experience and insight with them. "Basically, you replace someone who knows City Hall with someone who can't find it," said John Beard, who lost his job at KTTV last December after 26 years as a news anchor in Los Angeles. While some anchors in top markets can still command million-dollar salaries the positions are becoming more vulnerable to the market forces that are roiling local TV, analysts say.