Lang
1/17/25
The parent company of KWWL Channel 7 is laying off the local television meteorologists at its 36 stations nationwide in favor of using forecasters from the Atlanta-based Weather Channel, which it also owns.
The move comes after Allen Media Group announced it was scrapping its weekend morning and weekend early evening newscasts at KWWL as well as its stations in Mason City and Rockford, Illinois. The company also recently announced it would be “hubbing” the news in those three markets, meaning news broadcasts for the three stations would emanate from one location.
There is no indication of how the loss of local meteorologists will affect local severe weather coverage on KWWL during tornado warnings. All major television affiliates who serve the Iowa City area currently have local meteorologists interrupt programming for live coverage during tornado warnings until the threat has passed.
The announcements of the KWWL moves come the same week as the Cedar Rapids Gazette announced it would be scaling back to only publishing physical newspapers on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and the Iowa City Press-Citizen announced it would begin delivering its newspapers via mail. Both changes are set to begin on February 17th.