About that Bankruptcy

On Friday, Young Broadcasting, Inc. - the company that owns WATE, WKRN in Nashville, and a number of other TV stations around the country - filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.

Since the announcement, a number of friends have called or visited with me about the repercussions - both to me personally, and to our operations at WATE.

The conversations have mostly started in hushed, pat on the back, it'll be fine tones.

"Is everything OK?" they ask in a whisper, as if someone had just died in the family.

The answer is, at least for now, yes.

We are under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection to reorganize our company's sizeable debt. We're told by management that operations will not be impacted.

Over the past year or so, we've - through layoffs and attrition - gotten about as lean as possible in anticipation of Friday's action.

We are all hopeful that that means no layoffs in the immediate future. Of course, given today's economy anything is possible, but for now we'll take management's word that no one is losing a job.

Also, despite rumors to the contrary, WATE is making a profit and doing as well as can be expected in today's down economy.

That goes for our news operations as well.

We remain a competitive alternative to the other stations in the market, and committed to delivering accurate, relevant news to East Tennesseans.

So, before you begin writing our epitaphs, be aware that WATE is not going away.