What happened to Jim Forbes at WTRF

If they let him go, I will never watch your news again. You should be thankful for what few viewers you do have.

ive been wondering the same thing.
although he did look unshaven and slightly intoxicated the last time I saw him on there.

Maybe he was just having a rough day. He is also a preacher. Probably just another corporate cut so they can hire someone out of college who will take the job for $25,000. But the lost revenue they will see due to this will be a whole more. I took an advertising class in college and remember that a station with a well liked anchor that draw viewers to their newscast and increase ratings could bring in several million dollars a year in advertising revenue.

Soooooo. Is he gone?

Jim Forbes was fired. He has been warned repeatedly for his drinking. He was basically told to curb the booze or be dismissed. He chose the latter.

If Jim Forbes was fired, I was curious as to why the upper brass instructed him to stand up and read from a clipboard. I have never seen anything so unprofessional in news broadcasting. It is a shame, that the Best of the Best are always taken out, for money purposes, and new blood. I enjoyed him at WTOV 9, for many years....

He will show up on a bigger and better station someday. He worked for one of the worst companies in the broadcasting industry. They must be close to bankruptcy since they are cutting half their staff in Charleston/Huntington. You can't make a profit when only 3000 people watch your 6 pm news and the other station average 300,000 viewers.

I don't know what's going on... on channel 7, half the time your watching a show an it goes off the air. I don't bother watching anymore, if there is something I want to watch on CBS I go up the channel and watch KDKA, or just watch in on computer. As far as Jim I think he is a super person. I know go to KDKA that way @ least we'll be able to watch you. Where ever you go GOOD LUCK, you were much better then channel 7 anyway.

Wish our cable system would bring back ABC-CBS and FOX stations from Pittsburgh to the lower channels to our cable system. I end up watching my favorite shows on the networks websites the next day due to such a horrible pic from these local stations. The video is about 5 seconds behind audio and distracting to watch.

Jim has had drinking problem for many years.

he came and went at wtov9 , what 2 or 3 times? I also heard he had a prescription pill problem. He may be a homosexual, I heard he use to visit with a male friend many times after work. remember when he ran the youth home for kids in steubenville ? He had a big fund raiser for it, and it closed. Where did the $ go? Like Most preachers, he is not what he seems to be! Yet dummies worship these idiots that just ask for $ He's been in rehab before also, this was years ago.

Come on people. WTRF is a joke and Forbes was a retard with a bad 70's hair cut. Glad he's gone but Fluharty is a retard too. I watch 9 and Pittsburgh.

Voice of Reason wrote:

Come on people. WTRF is a joke and Forbes was a retard with a bad 70's hair cut. Glad he's gone but Fluharty is a retard too. I watch 9 and Pittsburgh.

Agree.

I hope all you mudslinging fools become identified and sued for slander.

What proof do you have of your allegations? None.

What energy did you spend to find the truth? None.

Three minutes in Google landed this:

http://www.wvbroadcasting.net/viewtopic.php...

Anchor Walks after being told of Pay Cut

Sources tell FTVLive that last Friday, West Virginia Media Holdings CEO Bray Cary and WTRF GM Roger Lyons called in long-time anchorman Jim Forbes and told him - effective immediately - they were cutting his 6-figure salary to $40k. If he didn't like it - he could leave.

He left and his bio has been yanked from the station's website.

He spent 10 years as the anchor of the station's newscast - and prior another long stint at competing station WTOV. The trouble is? He still has 6 months left on his contract. AFTRA is now involved and taking WTRF to arbitration.

A few days earlier, they did the same thing to longtime Huntingdon anchor Sandra Cole at WOWK.

Y'all go ahead and keep spreading lies, though.

I, for one, prefer the truth.

Been there wrote:

I hope all you mudslinging fools become identified and sued for slander.

What proof do you have of your allegations? None.

What energy did you spend to find the truth? None.

Three minutes in Google landed this:

http://www.wvbroadcasting.net/viewtopic.php...

[QUOTE]Anchor Walks after being told of Pay Cut

Sources tell FTVLive that last Friday, West Virginia Media Holdings CEO Bray Cary and WTRF GM Roger Lyons called in long-time anchorman Jim Forbes and told him - effective immediately - they were cutting his 6-figure salary to $40k. If he didn't like it - he could leave.

He left and his bio has been yanked from the station's website.

He spent 10 years as the anchor of the station's newscast - and prior another long stint at competing station WTOV. The trouble is? He still has 6 months left on his contract. AFTRA is now involved and taking WTRF to arbitration.

A few days earlier, they did the same thing to longtime Huntingdon anchor Sandra Cole at WOWK. "

Y'all go ahead and keep spreading lies, though.

I, for one, prefer the truth.

I didn't lie. I just don't care for Nate Fluharty. That's just an opinion.

Truth wrote:

<quoted text>
I didn't lie. I just don't care for Nate Fluharty. That's just an opinion.

My apologies. I was referring to the drinking/rumor mongers above, not necessarily yourself. I'm sorry for not differentiating that.

It's OK. No problem!

what ever happened to Jim. He will be missed and I wish him the best. May God be with him and his family.

Been there wrote:

I hope all you mudslinging fools become identified and sued for slander.
What proof do you have of your allegations? None.
What energy did you spend to find the truth? None.
Three minutes in Google landed this:
http://www.wvbroadcasting.net/viewtopic.php...
<quoted text>
Y'all go ahead and keep spreading lies, though.
I, for one, prefer the truth.

I have to ask, just because you found something on the internet, why does that make it true? I'm related to Jim, and although I'm not confirming or contradicting your statement, just because you found info like that doesn't necessarily mean it's substantiated.

He was basically let go by the company because West Virginia Media cannot afford to keep as many high paid employees. I'm saying high paid for West Virginia Media, not other media outlets. The same thing happened to Sandra Cole at WOWK and recently with Martin Staunton at WVNS. West Virginia Media runs 4 TV stations (WTRF, WBOY, WOWK, WVNS), a newspaper and a sports website. Three of the four TV stations have recently had their lead anchors released and they all have the same thing in common; they were all highly paid employees. West Virginia Media is consolidating WOWK from Huntington/Charleston to a smaller building in just Charleston. Employees have been axed down there left and right. You can also tell it's a money issue because they keep letting go of people but they are not hiring to have those people replaced. They're just making do with who they have. The WVNS anchor that was axed (he has diabetes and allegedly they used that and the fact that he is a smoker to get rid of him because he recently missed several days of work because of his illness) went public with why he was fired. This happened very recently and a backlash hit Facebook with supporters pulling for the anchor and demanding an answer and demanding no one view the station. Their support page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/groups/wesupportmarti...

You can believe what you may, you have the right to do so, but I can tell you that I know what I know because I am in the belly of this beast.