Fitting to their roles as news reporters on public television, the careers of George Tomek, Gerry Bonds, and Ross Dixon quietly came to abrupt endings last week. Honestly, I can't write much about them because, like you (unless you're my dad--Hey Dad!), I didn't watch their newscasts. It is sad, though, that state budgetary cuts put some grizzled veterans of the airwaves out to pasture before they were ready to hang up the blazers on their own accord. So, they will get their one last chance to be rated by our readers.
George Tomek
In response to his dismissal, Tomek told The Oklahoman:
"I consider myself performing a public service. A lot of people in TV news are in it for the glitz and the glimmer, and they are very egocentric. My hallmark has always been credibility and professionalism."
When read this quotation, Dean Blevins predicted that there was a 82% chance this attitude is why he was shown the door.
Of the three, Bonds is the one who put up the biggest fight, griping that their salary was only a small portion of the budget shortfall. Of course, she was also the only one of the three who had her own show on top of being a news anchor...so of the three, her firing saved the most money.
Look at that picture. Ross Dixon has been doing the weather since Gary England was just a pup. I think he had to use a marker to show storm fronts coming into the metro...and I'm not talking about dry erase markers, either. Those things were still being talked about in weather rooms like we talk about hoverboards now.
Dixon's dismissal also means that OETA will no longer report weather which means that old people around the state are going to be caught off guard by tornadoes plowing through their nursing homes because Dixon was not around to keep them advised with tornado magnets being manually moved toward the metro of his map.
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Last week, Bobbie Miller and her baby belly received an approval rating of 90%. Apparently, hot libertarians are a fave around here.
