News

NBC Sports Philadelphia Making Another Round of Cuts

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 22nd, 2021 · 11:37 AM EST

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NBC Sports Philadelphia has gone through a lot of recent changes, and now more people are leaving the station.

Sources tell Crossing Broad that VP of Content and VP of News Programming Michelle Murray is out after thirteen years. She had been running the show since 2008 and generally had the final say on talent hirings and firings. Macro-level programming choices, however, like the decision to kill off Philly Sports Talk/Daily News Live, have come from the corporate level, as have these sweeping rounds of layoffs dating back a few years now. NBC has been very involved in tweaking things at their regional affiliates, very “hands-on,” according to those with direct knowledge of the situation.

Murray announced her departure Friday morning during an internal station call, but will be sticking around for a few weeks before leaving. Her name came up frequently in a NBC Sports Philadelphia deep dive we wrote a few years ago.

We’re also told that VP of Marketing Cynthia Weiss is out after 23 years with the station. She began with Comcast Sports Net on day one of the operation.

Additionally, Digital Content Creator Brooke Destra took to Twitter to announce that she is out:

Some news …

I thought if I wrote it this way, it wouldn’t sting as much (I was wrong). pic.twitter.com/BUHcl6muQq

— Brooke Destra (@BrookeNBCS) January 22, 2021

Outside of Philadelphia, there were a few cuts at the Chicago station –

Today was my last day at NBC Sports Chicago.

I’m so grateful for my 11 years there, starting as a college intern in 2010. It’s literally the only place I’ve ever worked.

I don’t know what’s next but I couldn’t have asked for better people to work with over the years.

— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) January 21, 2021

Unfortunately, I'm joining a lot of people in the industry who lost their gig during the pandemic.

Being part of the great team at NBC Sports Chicago was incredible. Loved collaborating with so many talented and hard-working people.

My work will return in some form. Stay tuned.

— Scott King (@ScottKingMedia) January 21, 2021

We’ll keep an eye out for more news. Always a bummer when we get the Friday layoffs and firings news dump. Not sure who else is left at NBCSP these days. It feels like they have already cut 75% of the staff.