Ben Hoover

 

It’s been quite a week in our usually peaceful little city. One of the three major television stations, WIS-10, mysteriously fired a very well liked and much admired anchor, Ben Hoover.

On Thursday July 3, Hoover came out with a statement on Facbook telling the viewers he had been abruptly told July 4 would be his last broadcast and his contract with the station has not been renewed.

He did it in a very classy way with no animosity toward the station. He did say in his statement that he didn’t “see this coming.”

Then he wasn’t allowed to go on the air for what would have been his last broadcast.

The citizens of Columbia lit up social media!

From Facebook to Twitter to emails to phone calls, the people of the Midlands have publicly come out with an overwhelming amount of support of Hoover and his family and have been very vocal about WIS and its treatment of its employees.

Even former anchor Hanna Horn addressed the issue after she said she was deluged with phone calls and emails asking what was going on at Bull and Gervais. She sent out a message that called Hoover her friend, and said he’s been an asset to the station. She also added that “To the TV biz, better start taking care of your people…Computers and fibers and signals don’t deliver the news—it takes caring, skilled human hands, hearts and minds…”

As the week progressed, people even staged a protest, and there’s been an outcry for station manager, Donita Todd’s resignation or termination. Phone calls were made and letters and emails were sent to WIS and to Raycom, the parent company.

Finally, the station came out with an antiseptic message that seemed to cast aspersions on Hoover’s reputation by saying “…we simply cannot engage in a public conversation regarding details of Ben’s departure from WIS-TV. It is a private, personal matter.”

After the station’s stereotyped milk toast of a statement, Hoover himself threw the next punch. Again with class and style. But that statement insinuated he was at fault with its “private and personal” comments and could affect future job searches. Hoover is nobody’s fool.

His statement read “Here’s what I want you to know. Right now, I don’t have a new job, and I need to make sure future employers and my community know why I was led to believe that my place at WIS was secure. Please allow me to explain what I meant when I said that I was caught off guard. News management had recently slated me to do a follow up to ‘Hope in Hard Times’ this coming November, after my current contract would have expired. They also planned to have a coanchor with me in the field at Oliver Gospel Mission. The week before I learned my contract would not be renewed I taped station promotions that historically have run for several months. We were far along in the search for a new house. My children were enrolled in school for the fall. That’s why I walked in with a folder with long-term contract options for management to consider. But, I never had the opportunity to open that folder. There were no negotiations. It was made clear that management did not wish to renew early on in that discussion and that I had ‘done nothing wrong.’”

So the question remains, WHY?

The viewers want to know, and there’s been a huge backlash with loyal fans now switching stations. WIS is definitely NOT on at our house during the news hours, nor will it ever be again.

And it’s not about one person. I think Mr. Hoover was a great broadcaster. I loved his homeless piece that he speaks of in his statement. I loved it that he walked to work in the snow last winter. I really liked his style.

But here’s the thing. Ben Hoover has a family. Kids in school. There’s probably a clause in his contract that he can’t work at another local station for at least a year. What’s he supposed to do?

And the same station that repeatedly tells us that “we’re all family,” and they run that Xmas toy drive and countless fundraisers are the same people that would fire a guy for nothing? And THEN insult the viewers with that insipid statement that cast aspersions on the actual person we were defending?

Well….you know what WIS…I don’t like your family. And I don’t want you in mine.

This is the south and in the south, we take care of our own. You’ve overstepped your bounds, and what you did was not only a brainless business move, but it was totally unfair. We are told from birth that life isn’t fair, but it doesn’t have to be mean and heartless too.

And that’s MY perspective. I won’t be listening to yours anymore.

I’m just saying,

This is totally the opinion of the columnist and not of the Columbia Star.