Local News Icon Demetria Kalodimos Out At WSMV

NASHVILLE, TN -- Demetria Kalodimos, the anchor who became a fixture and an icon of Nashville local news, is out at WSMV after 33 years on Knob Hill, the station announced Monday.

Kalodimos has not been on the air for weeks and reportedly cleaned out her desk in the early morning hours of December 5 during a scheduled vacation, prompting widespread consternation and criticism, including from Bob Mueller, Kalodimos' venerable counterpart on WKRN.

Kalodimos' contract with the NBC affiliate ended Dec. 31.

"Channel 4 offered an extension of her contract for the purpose of discussions, and hoped to continue supporting her journalistic work. However, we received no timely responses from her," WSMV said in a statement posted on the station's website. "Nevertheless, we expect to enjoy and applaud her future creations through her production company and other endeavors. Out of respect for our employees, we do not believe it is appropriate to comment further on personnel matters."

In her own statement, however, Kalodimos disputed her now-former employer’s version of the clearly acrimonious split.

“It is quite sad to end a nearly 34 year career the way this company chose to end it, with a letter left on a desk, no conversation, no face to face meeting, no thanks,” she said.

Kalodimos said that the only offer extended to her by the station was for two weeks to create the “illusion” she’d retired.

WSMV said Tracy Kornet will anchor the station 5, 6 and 10 newscasts.

Kalodimos' departure severs WSMV's last link with its 1980s and 1990s Dream Team of the late Dan Miller and meteorologist Bill Hall, along with sports anchor Rudy Kalis who retired in early December. During that era, WSMV dominated the Nashville airwaves, making Channel 4's local news broadcasts appointment television.

Kalodimos posted a photo of her and Miller on Twitter Monday morning and addressed the changes at the station more directly in her statement.

“Longtime and loyal viewers need no explanation of what’s been happening at WSMV, a once lauded 'legacy' television station,” she wrote.

A round of cuts at the station in August hit, among others, the actor who portrayed Snowbird for decades. A group of former on-camera personalities filed a lawsuit alleging age discrimination against Meredith, WSMV's corporate owner. In that suit, it's alleged that station managers publicly berated the veteran Kalodimos.

Popular metereologist Paul Heggen left WSMV for a job in Raleigh-Durham in November.

In her statement, Kalodimos vowed she hoped to continue serving as a journalist saying there’s no need for her to retire.

While best known as an anchor, Kalodimos is also well regarded as an investigative journalist. One of her investigations revealed the existence of the so-called Body Farm at the University of Tennessee, a leading facility in forensic science research but largely a secret - even to those whose family members’ bodies were there - until her investigation.