TAMPA -- The shrinking media industry is taking another local hit with the dismissal of Mace Michaels, who has been a meteorologist with WFLA, Channel 8 since 2000.
Michaels does the weekend weather reports at 6 and 11 p.m. and works on weather-related stories during the week. He can stay with Channel 8 through Aug. 4, and he expects to keep busy well into the hurricane season, which begins next month.
Michaels said today he had hoped to continue his career with the station but that the economic climate seems more volatile than Florida's weather.
"I'm disappointed, but this would be painful for anyone being faced with a job cut you aren't expecting," he said. "The hardest part is not knowing what's ahead."
The 37-year-old weatherman was nine months into a three-year contract when word came from above that his job would be eliminated because of budget restraints. That trims the Channel 8 weather staff from five people to four.
"This is just about money; it's not about Mace," said the station's news director, Don North.
Michaels is part of a wave of layoffs by Media General, the Virginia-based parent company of Channel 8 and its partner newspaper, The Tampa Tribune. Buyout packages are being offered to half of more than 1,300 employees.
Michaels said his contract does not contain a noncompete clause, so he can seek employment anywhere, including the Tampa Bay area.
"The way the industry is, there's a need [for meteorologists]," he said. "But there's a lot of competition."
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