Beloved TV anchor is abruptly FIRED after 10 years on air
Longtime NBC Chicago sports journalist Mike Berman was suddenly fired this week after a decade of service, it has been revealed.
Berman, 43, was let go Wednesday amid a greater overhaul of the affiliate's sports department, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported.
Longtime Fox 32 sports anchor Lou Canellis is set to start there next week.
He will fill a role held by Berman's former costar Leila Rahimi, who was laid off in 2024.
The move left Berman the only sports person on staff at the station and its sports coverage in limbo.
NBC Sports Chicago, meanwhile, closed on September 30, after the Chicago White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks all moved to the new Chicago Sports Network - or CHSN.
CHSN launched in late 2024 after the teams' contracts with NBC Sports Chicago expired, leaving the latter defunct.
NBC 5, meanwhile, is in the midst of a massive overhaul ahead of what's set to be a big year of sports. 'Sunday Night Basketball' starts in a week, and the Winter Olympics begin next month as well.
Longtime NBC Chicago sports anchor Mike Berman, seen here former costar Michelle Relerford, was fired on Wednesday
Longtime Fox 32 sports journalist Lou Canellis is set to start at the station next week
The station also recently secured the rights to 'Sunday Night Baseball' - set to move to NBC this summer.
Amid this upswing at the national level, NBC is poised to reshape its local sports portfolio with personalities like Canellis.
It remains unclear why Berman was fired. Daily Mail has approached him for comment.
His exit, though, comes at a difficult time for local-level TV.
Stations across the country cutting back costs due to declining ad revenue and the decreasing impact of linear TV amid cord-cutting and the advent of streaming.
ABC-owned stations in Chicago have also made layoffs as well, as has CBS.
Major on-air exits last year included Brad Edwards at CBS 2 and Gaynor Hall at WGN-TV.
Houston, one of the biggest local news markets in the country, was hit hard by layoffs this year, as was Boston.
How do you think mass layoffs in local TV news are affecting the quality of sports coverage in your city?
Comment now
Canellis will fill a role held by Berman's former costar, Leila Rahimi, who herself was laid off in 2024
The changes come at a difficult time for local TV, with stations cutting costs due to declining ad revenue and the decreasing impact of linear TV. Pictured, NBC Chicago's Kevin Jeanes and Regina Waldroup on-set with Berman last year. He spent 10 years as a main anchor
Full-time local TV news employment fell for the first time in more than a decade at the end of last year, a recent survey from the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University found.
And in Toledo, Ohio an NBC affiliate decided to move away from locally produced news altogether by shuttering two of its newsrooms in 2023. The station now delivers NBC programming with no local staff.
Factors like burnout and a lack of talented replacements for those leaving the anchor desk have made the hours and stress not worth it.
Layoffs occurring for years across the industry are sure to continue to test the resilience of local news in the coming years, as ad revenues and ratings continue to decline.
Cost cuts brought on by technological advances and shrinking audiences have also made the job less enticing, the Boston Globe reported in November.
