Pros
Employees at the local stations are fantastic to work with.
Cons
Oh, where should I start. Keep in mind, this is a multi billion dollar company. This is not the place if you are expecting stock options, bonuses, raises that match cost of living increases, work life balance and having enough employees to actually do the job correctly. Engineering and Production, you will never move up in the company. Let me repeat that, YOU WILL NEVER MOVE UP IN THE COMPANY! If they tell you that you can move up, they are lying. Shocker, a news organization lying to you. The employee evaluations are on a 1-5 scale. Uncle Perry told all station managers that nobody should ever get a 5 and a 4 is highly discouraged. So, what is the point of an employee evaluation when there is zero incentive to even try to do a good job. It isn’t like you are getting a raise above 1% or 1.5% every year. You’re not getting a bonus. You’re not getting stock options. Not one person actually takes the employee evaluations seriously and that includes station management. Nexstar requires most positions to have a bachelor’s degree. If you are an Engineering Assistant, Director, Producer, Photographer, Reporter, Production Editor or Digital Producer, forget about getting an offer above minimum wage unless you are in a top market, which generally don’t hire anybody with little experience. Take advantage of the Student Loan Forgiveness because you won’t be able to afford paying it back. Nexstar’s Founders Day of Caring. While the stations heavily push all employees to volunteer in the community, Uncle Perry pats himself on the back by making it mandatory all employees volunteer at a single place once a year. So, generally, your station will make everybody go to a location to volunteer together. A couple of times we have done this, it has been back breaking work because these organizations see us coming and really take advantage of the crew. For example, one time we had to move a homeless shelter to a new location. Doesn’t sound like much, but trust me, we were at it all day and still didn’t get it all moved. But Uncle Perry got to pat himself on the back even though he wasn’t there. Not everybody is able to do that kind of work and it should be taken into consideration, but Uncle Perry doesn’t care, he gets to have his own news stations do a story on him. Generally, the local management doesn’t micro-management. That actually fall on corporate numb skulls like Dione Rigsby and Mark Turner. They are so out of touch with what happens at a station, if you tell them you need a piece of equipment with 24 channels, they will mandate you order one with 16 channels instead. If your job can be automated and trust me when I say this, they are actively searching for a way to automate your job and when they succeed, you’re fired. If you are a reporter, try not to go ballistic when your story is on NewsNation without giving you credit. Be prepared, you will also see your own station promoting NewsNation. Expect to be understaffed even when all the positions are filled. Nexstar’s motto is “damn the ratings, get more out of less.” There is a reason why television viewership is at all time lows. If a jet airliner crashes into the mountain, don’t expect it to be covered because there is a good chance they don’t have a Photographer or Reporter scheduled to work. If it doesn’t happen in your parking lot, there won’t be a story on it. Bottom line, Uncle Perry will never invest in the employees. Notice with all these comments, Nexstar doesn’t have anybody from senior management commenting on what they are trying to do different. If you do accept a job here, embrace the suck.
