Local news station WSAV-TV is weathering a storm of protest in the face of the suspension of chief meteorologist Kris Allred.
The NBC affiliate suspended Allred after she used an obscenity off-camera — but audible to viewers — during an evening newscast on July 30. Since then, dozens of viewers have posted pleas, threats and messages of support for Allred.
Late Wednesday evening, Allred posted on Facebook that on Monday she will be back on the air, forecasting on WSAV.
“I just want to tell everyone that I am happy with how this situation was settled. What happened needed to be seriously addressed, and I agree with how it has been resolved,” she wrote on the WSAV Facebook page.
An earlier Facebook post thanking viewers for their support received about 400 likes from other users, who also have flooded Allred’s Facebook page with messages of support. An online petition calling for her immediate reinstatement, Put Kris Allred Posman Back on WSAV, had received nearly 1,500 likes by Wednesday afternoon.
“We don’t take this situation lightly and neither does Kris Allred,” WSAV General Manager Debbi Thompson said in a statement posted on the station’s Facebook page.
“The apology she made was immediate and sincere, and the feedback we’ve gotten is that her apology has been warmly accepted by you.”
Allred is the chief meteorologist for both WSAV-TV and WSAV.com. She gives the weather report Monday through Friday online and on the 6 and 11 p.m. news broadcasts.
The incident was a mistake, Allred wrote on WSAV’s Facebook page. “I was rushing off camera dealing with a technical issue, and I didn’t know my microphone was on,” she wrote.
“But that is still simply no excuse. I am very sorry for having used such offensive language in any situation, and it certainly will not happen again.”
Neither Allred nor Thompson responded to requests for comment.
Viewer Mark Melody has created a Facebook page, We Support Kris Allred, for messages of support.
“It was a mistake,” Melody said. “We all make mistakes like that. I don’t think that’s a fireable mistake. WSAV promotes these people so we spend time with them. To throw that aside is wrong.”
Melody said he was shocked to read Allred’s message.
“Kris is a very good weather forecaster,” he said. “We’ve all become dependent on her because she’s very good at what she does. Even during the incident, she showed she cares about us.”
Some punishment might be necessary because the comment went out over the air, but not firing, Melody said.
“WSAV, your motto is ‘on your side,’” Melody said. “Look at all the people who support and want Kris back on the air from your Facebook page.”
Linda Gale Edwards said she doesn’t know about the incident other than what she’s read, but supports Allred.
“I just think it’s a little over the top that they’re threatening to take her off the air permanently,” she said. “It wasn’t like it was a racial slur or anything.”
Debbie Waters said she was boycotting WSAV until Allred was reinstated.
“We’re all human, and we all make mistakes,” Waters said. “I honestly think it was a mistake. We’ve heard mistakes like this before on “The Today Show,” WSAV, on many shows,” she said. “I just think someone as good as she is should not be reprimanded this harshly.”
WSAV will lose viewers if Allred goes, Waters said.
“I get a lot of weather information through my iPad,” she said. “She puts alerts on there when bad weather is coming. It just lets you know how to plan your day and I miss that. She lives her work.”
Viewer Dwayne Franks was waiting out a storm at work and didn’t see Monday’s broadcast, but heard about it from his family when he got home.
“I think anybody who watches her forecasts knows she’s down to earth,” he said.
“That’s one of the human traits that makes us imperfect. I don’t think anybody should be throwing stones.”
Allred takes risks just by being on the air, Franks said.
“WSAV would be running a risk of hiring someone else who could do exactly the same thing she did,” Franks said. “For one incident to pull her off the air is horribly unfair and unfair to the viewership.”
According to the Federal Communications Commission: “It is a violation of federal law to air obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to broadcast indecent or profane programming during certain hours.”
Those hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.