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KEYT workers strike canceling popular live broadcast

August 6, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

Following nearly 18 months of contract negotiations, KEYT staffers left the station on Wednesday to participate in a one-day strike that canceled the popular live broadcast of the first full day of Old Spanish Days Fiesta in Santa Barbara.

In the morning, some staffers picketed outside the TV station.

KEYT is offering a minimum pay of $17.50 per hour while union negotiators are pushing the News-Press & Gazette to pay a minimum of $20 per hour.

Instead of livestreaming La Fiesta Pequeña on Wednesday, KETY provided “alternate programming,” which included content from partner stations.

The News-Press & Gazette Company – based in St. Joseph, Missouri – is owned and operated by the Bradley family.

 


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7 Comments

Having worked in broadcasting…. you start at the bottom. Work your way up. Take what you’re given. Learn the profession. And shut up. These are soy kids…. thinking they are special and deserve more than,…. they deserve. But TV broadcasting/cable is so different now…. and I would suggest they get another job.


6

Nothing says ‘ time to go’ like $17,50 an hour.


14

OM&D, my friend…. in my life, you worked for what you got. If you didn’t like it… then you sought a higher paying job if you could get it. No one is entitled to any size of pay. You decide what you want to accept… or not. These kids need to move on.


3

Your lack of respect for these technicians leads me to believe you never actually worked in broadcasting, Slosum.


1

Not a loss , most local news repeats repeats and then is sprinkled with nauseating public service commercials……alternative programming PREFERED


17

Really!!!

$17.50 an hour, my lowest starting wage is $25.00 an hour!!!


2

I suggest this in the negotiations: As employees with a stake in the results, make KEYT the absolute go to channel, where everyone WANTS to know the latest unbiased news, watch their favorite show, or see live broadcasts of local festivals with intensely good videography and lively commentary.


When you become the highly rated and popular TV station, THEN you can negotiate for more of the money being sent in by the eager advertisers and sponsors.


3