It was a full house Monday at the Rotary Club of Jacksonville meeting at the Omni.
The members came to hear Sherry Burns, vice president and general manager of Ch. 4, explain the recent loss of the CBS affiliation and the road ahead for the now-independent station.
“We feel like we are swimming up stream,” said Burns. “It has been a whirlwind three months since we first announced we were separating from CBS, our partner of 53 years. One week ago, we did it. We pulled the plug. Actually, they pulled the plug. We stayed right there and their plug went out the front door. We began life as an independent station and started carving out a path in the wilderness and we are excited about it.”
She said there will be a few new shows starting this fall and things will get better as time goes by.
“At this point in my life, this was a shot in the arm I needed,” said Burns. “Everyone there has been re-invigorated and re-energized by the change. It is a new place to work. We feel very strong about the future. We are looking outside the country and to some very unorthodox sources to expand our programming.”