KWWL-TV will lay off its 4 meteorologists

WATERLOO — KWWL-TV viewers will no longer see familiar faces reporting the weather after the television station’s media group eliminated its weather department.

Allen Media Group, which owns KWWL-TV, is cutting meteorologists' jobs across the United States, including Channel 7’s four weather forecasters. Soon, Eastern Iowa viewers of the NBC affiliate will receive their forecasts from meteorologists at The Weather Channel, based in Atlanta.

The change was announced on KWWL’s Facebook page, with the ability for users to comment on the site turned off.

Mark Schnackenberg confirmed to The Courier that his position was eliminated, but would not comment further.

Just days before learning of the layoffs, “Schnack” celebrated his 30th year at Channel 7. Brandon Libby has been with the station five years, while Danny Cassidy has worked there three years. Joshua Franson was hired less than a year ago. He posted on X that the station will lay him off.

“On this day in weather history … I guess it is … it was 30 years ago I started at KWWL. Wow, that seems like forever ago,” Schnackenberg wrote Jan. 16 on his public Facebook page. “I have seen just about every type of weather event there is and to the extreme. Hope to hang around for a few more years. Thanks for watching.”

The date of the change has not been announced, according to KWWL General Manager Aaron Scoby. He said the meteorologists will receive a two-week notice in advance.

Scoby said there will be “potential offers made to selected current local meteorologists” to work in Georgia for The Weather Channel and still cover their home broadcast area. He could not provide further comment and provided a link to Allen Media’s news release.

The release states Allen Media Broadcasting, Allen Media’s broadcast television division, is “rolling out a groundbreaking format for local weather coverage.”

The release said a weather team would use “cutting-edge forecasting tools, proprietary immersive mixed reality, and award-winning visual storytelling” led by Carl Parker, a meteorologist who has worked at The Weather Channel for 20 years.

The release states the change would provide “quicker, more efficient updates while enhancing the viewer experience.”

Scoby said severe weather cut-ins will still happen for all the local stations, but he is “not going to get into all the logistics right now.”

A 2019 study from the Pew Research Center found 70 percent of Americans think local weather forecasts are “important for daily life.”

In Iowa, severe and unpredictable weather events are common. They include events such as the EF-5 tornado that hit Parkersburg in 2008, severe flooding also in 2008 that inundated Cedar Rapids and an unusually strong derecho in 2020 in Eastern Iowa.