Mike Dimmick On WEEK Departure: ‘It’s Been a Slow Slide From the Journalism I Knew’

By Merrill Knox 

After 28 years with Granite-owned WEEK, the NBC affiliate in Peoria, evening anchor Mike Dimmick has announced his departure, citing the station’s handling of recent contract disputes, as well as a general decline in standards, as the reasons behind his decision.

“It’s been a long march toward it, driven by what’s going on at the station,” he told the Peoria Journal-Star. “Not just the recent contract dispute, but the way the station has gone down over the years.”

Contract negotiations between employees at WEEK and Granite Broadcasting disintegrated last spring, after the union voted down a contract offer that would allow for the outsourcing of news and weather broadcasts. “There are terrific people in that newsroom who will continue to put out a great product, but the ownership basically ignores the experience and expertise of the people in the newsroom,” Dimmick said. “It’s been a slow slide from the journalism I knew.”

Advertisement

Dimmick has been the station’s evening anchor since 1995. Although he told the Journal-Star his last day would be September 16, his bio has already been removed from the station’s website.

Advertisement