It is no secret to anyone working in a local television station over the past few years that the current business model seems to have one constant theme. How much money can be saved by eliminating positions? Contrary to what you might think, the incredibly shrinking station staff is not a recent phenomenon.

Since the early 1990s, with the advent of desktop computers and various software systems, there has been a gradual reduction in staffing across nearly every department of a station. Things escalated a bit in the early 2000s, with the introduction of automation in production areas. The development of control room automation marked by the debut of “ParkerVision” in Jacksonville, Florida. It, in turn, begat Grass Valley’s Ignite, which was joined by Ross’s Overdrive, Sony ELC, and others. Those systems led to the elimination of two or three bodies from staffing models for each shift, when dedicated TDs, audio mixers, and graphics operators found themselves either out of a job--or learning a new position. Robotic cameras made it unnecessary to have separate humans push and point each studio camera, and a few more minimum wage positions could be cut. Newsrooms dropped associate producers, production assistants, and writers along the way as well, leaving producers doing the job that three or more people used to perform.

Suffice it to say that these days the staffing model for a local television station has less “headcount” (as the financial folks like to call it) than ever before. So much so that in many stations, especially smaller ones, you might wonder when there will be nobody left to cut--and yet still keep the place on the air?

But who would have guessed that the latest round of personnel cuts would target the folks once charged with running the stations?

That’s right, the latest target of the endless budget trimming in local TV is none other than the position of General Manager. Need proof of this? Look no further than last week's moves announced by Graham and Scripps.

First up was the promotion of Autumn Jones at Graham’s WKMG in Orlando, to the hyphenated position of VP-General Manager and News Director. Jones has been the News Director at the CBS affiliate in Market #21 for four months. Before joining WKMG, she was working just down I-4 and I-75 in Fort Myers, as the Station Manager and News Director for Scripps’ WFTX, the Fox affiliate there. But she is no newcomer to Central Florida, having spent 15 years with cross-town rival and long-time market leader, Cox’s WFTV. She was also the Media Relations Director of the Orlando Police Department in a career departure from television.

We certainly congratulate Jones on her promotion. It is always great to see a News Director get bumped up to the GM’s office. Frankly, it used to be rare, if not unheard of, for a news director to be even considered for the role. Which was puzzling, given that the position typically managed the largest staff of people along with the biggest departmental budget.

Speaking of Scripps, that company was also involved in promoting some News Directors to become General Managers. In Norfolk and Tucson, the current News Directors in each Scripps station (Ed Reams and Leeza Glazier, respectively) will become combination General Manager and News Directors. They join other department heads in seven different markets who will continue in their current roles as Director of Sales, and in one case a Director of Engineering, while adding the duties of general manager to their job descriptions. And Scripps says there will be more of these hyphenated GMs to come.

Which leads us to ask the obvious question: When did the GM’s role become reduced enough that it could just be added to the plate of an existing department head? Is having a single leader of a television station necessary any longer?

Not that long ago, General Managers were the people who determined pretty much everything about how a local TV station operated. There is no doubt that the position has changed over the past decade or so, just like every other position in a station. Larger groups have turned stations into the equivalent of fast-food franchise locations, with each station looking, sounding, and operating pretty much the same as its co-owned siblings in other cities. You can go into most any market and identify which station is owned or operated by Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps, or whoever in about ten minutes of watching.

And that’s without waiting for the corporate logo animation at the end of each newscast.

Each key function at a local television station is now overseen by at least one corporate executive in the company’s headquarters, who usually dictates operational policies and makes major decisions. They may have a group of regional executives who oversee sub-groups of stations that are geographically clustered. Scripps also announced that they are following the model pioneered by the now-departed Meredith station group, that of centralizing its creative services functions in a few station locations. It sounds like Scripps learned the lesson that Tegna discovered the hard way, and it will be keeping more “boots on the ground” in each station’s creative services department.

We are reminded of the funny scene in the movie “Coming to America” where the legendary actor John Amos plays the manager of a fast-food restaurant in Queens called “McDowell’s.” In the scene, Eddie Murphy, who has been working in the restaurant, walks in on Amos in his office as he is going through a stolen McDonald’s restaurant manual, which he quickly tries to hide. The gag, of course, is that his “McDowell’s” is a near carbon copy of a McDonald’s, changed just enough to hopefully keep the lawyers at bay. Amos explains this would-be distinction to Murphy’s character by telling him that while McDonald’s has its “Big Mac”, McDowell’s has the “Big Mick.” The main difference between the two is that the Big Mick has no sesame seeds on its bun.

In real life, this scene played out a few years ago when one major TV station group issued a news “playbook” to all of its news directors, seeking to unify many of the procedures and decision-making across all of the group’s newsrooms.

Local TV stations, for better or worse, have been made into so many near-identical outposts of their owners. While there may be some vestiges of their former branding, such as the call letters or newscast name, as they have had for years, all of the supporting elements of the station are likely to be the same as every other station in the same company. There are certainly savings to be had in buying all the graphics, music, and even network affiliations in bulk.

But stations still seemed to need General Managers. As the highest-paid position in each station (unless there was a news anchor who was particularly popular and long tenured), GMs were the people who were responsible for all aspects of a station’s operation and, in turn, the public face of the station at the local chamber of commerce and all other community-type meetings. Given that the revenue aspects of local TV stations are usually totaled in the millions of dollars each year, most GMs came from the ranks of leaders in sales departments.

Now the job is such that apparently one person can handle it while still leading the news, sales, or even the engineering department at the same time.

After all the headcount reductions, it might be reasonable to ask at some point, will there be anybody left working in a local station’s building? Or will it be an empty shell, with all functions being remoted to another city that features a “hub” that operates everything, including the station’s traffic, sales, promos, and even the nightly newscast?

In some locations, there could still be a station building open locally with people working inside. It will feature a small staff operating what used to be two, three, or more separate local stations—now all under one roof. Surely those operations will still need a general manager? To keep track of what is on the air at each station, ensure they remain profitable, and funnel money back to corporate headquarters.

By then, the job will likely be hyphenated into being a General Manager--Director of Sales--News Director—Creative Services Director--Chief Engineer—and front desk receptionist. After all, someone has still got to ask the question, “What can I do for you today?"

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