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2016 Recap: Fox 2 Detroit Cuts Murray Feldman, Jason Carr and Lee Thomas

December 31, 2016, 7:03 AM by  Allan Lengel

This Top 10 countdown finalist from March 28 is by far the year’s most popular 2016 content, based on readership and number of comments (269). Links to the other nine reposts are at the end.

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Fox 2 has cut three on-air personalities as part of an apparent nationwide, cost-cutting move by Fox in New York that has colleagues at the local station very upset.

The on-air personalities being cut are Murray Feldman, Jason Carr and Lee Thomas, according to people familiar with the situation. Carr is married to Fox 2 reporter Taryn Asher. 

Crain's Detroit Business first reported that Feldman is leaving.

In addition to on air-personalities, the station is cutting business side managers, sources say.

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Murray Feldman

Murray Feldman joined WJBK  as a general assignment reporter in December 1976, and hosted the award-winning Sunday morning financial program, Moneywise, on FOX 2 for five years, according to his station bio. Feldman came to Fox 2 from WPRI in Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked as a news anchor/reporter. He also served as weekend anchor/reporter at WNYS in Syracuse, N.Y, newscaster and music announcer at WWBZ-AM in New Jersey, and as a writer at KYW-AM in Philadelphia.

Jason Carr joined the station in August of 2004. Born in Detroit and raised in Plymouth, he's a Michigan State University graduate.  Before coming to Detroit he worked at stations in Flint, Lansing, Traverse City and Alpena.

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Jason Carr

"As FOX 2's feature reporter, you will most often see me doing the 'fun' stories that I hope balance out a lot of the bad news we see in the world (though I cover those serious stories, too)," Carr wrote in his bio. "I've been privileged to interview presidential candidates, report from inside the clubhouse and dugout at the World Series, and fly with the Blue Angels without throwing up or losing consciousness."

Lee Thomas was an entertainment and feature reporter for WABC in New York before joining Fox 2.

"I love the Big Apple, but living here and getting to interact with the people of southeast Michigan has been the most rewarding experience in my career," he wrote in his station bio. " We've had a lot of fun together. I've seen the world's largest weather vane and the world's largest musical water fountain (both can be found in Michigan, by the way). I've been from Birmingham to Benton Harbor and found good people and good times."


Lee Thomas

Earlier in the day, when word leaked out that Feldman was departing, the station referred calls to Fox in New York. Claudia Russo, a Fox spokeswoman in New York, said she was going into a meeting and would call later for comment. She never returned the call or a follow-up call from Deadline Detroit. 

Related article:

Fox 2 Staff 'Shocked, Angry' at Loss of On-Air Talent, Anchor Huel Perkins Says, March 29

Top 10 countdown 

10. ’This Would Never Happen at a School in Bloomfield Hills’ – Detroit Teen

9. Ex-Cass Tech QB Jayru Campbell Gets New Chance, Hopes for NFL Career

8. Tump’s  Detroit Church Host Feels Heat: ‘Disgracem’ ‘Disrespectful’

7. Stroh’s Bohemian Pilsner Will Be Brewed in the City of its Birth

6. Charlie LeDuff Leaves Fox 2; ‘I Have No Plan for What Comes Next’

5. Gil Hill Praised as ‘A True_Supporter_of_the_City.’_’Always_Encouraging’  

4. N-Word Costs Reporter_Lauren_Podell_Her_Job_at_Local_4_News

3. Garden_City_Teen’s_Post_on_Her_Ejection_from_Trump_Rally_Goes_Viral

2. Bad Cops Are 'Very Few and Far Between,' This Former Detroit Officer Says

 



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