Local ABC affiliate attempts to dispel rumors on retirees

More than a week after six veteran newscasters announced they would be retiring from KSAT-12 in San Antonio in coming weeks, the station’s vice president and general manager penned a letter to the public to quash rumors that a shutdown might be looming.

Announcements came last month that Mark Austin, Mike Osterhage, Ursula Pari, David Sears, Jessie Degollado and Marilyn Moritz will retire from the local ABC-affiliate on July 1.

The six broadcasters held a combined 180 years at KSAT, sparking many to speculate on what such an exodus might mean, all at a time when journalism jobs are ever more tenuous.

Writers for the San Antonio Express-News noted that the news came amid several reports linking the slew of retirements to what appeared to be numerous buyouts impacting KSAT’s parent company, Graham Media Group, which includes sister station KPRC in Houston, that city’s first TV station and the second largest television market behind WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, that’s not network owned.

GM Ashley Parker, whose career with the San Antonio TV station spans 20-plus years of her own, confirmed that the station had extended a retirement incentive offer to its seniormost staffers, but she stressed the voluntary nature of the departures, going so far as to say that “no one was forced out.”

“While bidding farewell to these giants is bittersweet, it only renews my resolve to honor their legacy by upholding the core principles they embodied,” she wrote in her letter, posted to the station’s website.

“At KSAT, our dedication to serving San Antonio burns eternal,” Parker added. “We owe it to those departing to carry that torch with the same passion that defined their tenures. You have my unwavering promise: At KSAT, you can always expect our utmost in service to better the place we all call home.”

In addition to serving San Antonio proper, KSAT 12 also serves as the primary ABC affiliate for this entire region. Its news programming, sports presentations and popular lineup of shows is the ABC channel shown by most area towns’ cable providers, and it is typically featured as one of the base channels offered to satellite TV users in our area.

KSAT is one of a dozen so-called “full power” TV stations broadcasting out of San Antonio, but there are officially 33 TV stations broadcasting 161 digital TV channels in the city.