A little more than a month after another Bangor television station dismissed its sports anchor, ABC affiliate WVII has opted to do the same thing.

Nate Long was let go last week after almost 31/2 years as sports reporter and anchor at WVII in what station general manager Mike Palmer described as “a strategic decision.”

Long’s last day at the station was Tuesday, Dec. 30.

“I came into work Tuesday and that’s when he told me,” Long said. “His reasoning was that the station was going in a different direction and this would help the news department put out a better product.”

Palmer said the move is not identical to what WLBZ did when it allowed Wayne Harvey’s contract to lapse and opted not to replace him with another sports anchor.

“We have another full-time sports guy in Ted Lombardi and so we still have a sports anchor,” Palmer explained. “Basically, our two full-time guys go to one-and-a-half full-time guys, and we’re still doing a daily sportscast and its length remains unchanged.

“And this is not a paring down because we’re absolutely committed to getting another person in here soon. We just changed the ratio to make it a little more on the news side.”

It shakes out like this: Lombardi replaces Long as sports anchor and a yet-to-be-hired full-time reporter will replace Lombardi, but he or she will divide duties between sports and news instead of just doing sports.

“During high school tournament time, the new person will likely be doing more sports than news. It depends on the season and what’s going on,” said Palmer.

Long was understandably disappointed and frustrated by the decision.

“The worst part about the whole thing really is now I don’t get a chance to say goodbye to most of the coaches and people I met and worked closely with since I’ve been here,” said Long, a Massachusetts native. “I felt like I was now a member of the Bangor community.”

Long has strong feelings about how this will affect WVII’s overall product and/or perception by viewers.

“A lot of people are saying this is the end for Channel 7 as far as having any chance at all at competing and putting something out there that people want to watch,” Long said. “They’re already hurting and this hurts things even more.

“I’m not trying to say anything bad about the people there working in news. But when it comes down to it, what’s it going to be? A station full of kids right out of college?”

Palmer downplayed the idea that the station was suffering in terms of experience and name recognition.

“Nate is a very nice man, but he wasn’t that experienced when he came here,” he said. “The fact is this is one of those markets that’s a developmental market where you get a lot of young reporters who start here and then move on.”

Long received four weeks’ salary as part of a severance package and is on vacation in St. John, Virgin Islands. When he returns, he may start officiating middle school and high school basketball games.

“I just got certified today to be an IAABO [International Association of Approved Basketball Officials] official, so I’ll probably do at least a couple games to offset the cost of the uniform when I get back,” Long said. “I’ll try to figure out what I’m going to do when I come back. I’ll at least stay through January and see what happens from there.”

Long guessed his dismissal may also have been motivated by a desire to cut costs, but Palmer said that was not the case.

“It’s inconsequential. When you factor in the benefits and the fact we’re giving Nate a severance package, it doesn’t save anything,” Palmer said.

This is another in a series of personnel moves at WVII that included the cutting of two reporters back in September.

“With this GM and the current ownership, Channel 7 will never compete with Channel 5,” Long said. “All they’ve done is cut people. Back in September, they cut the most experienced reporter we had. If they’re not going to try and compete, then I’m glad I’m not still there working hard for someone who really doesn’t care what kind of product you put out.”

Palmer says the latest move is just the opposite.

“Any way you slice it, it’s an extra half-body for news,” he said. “Overall, yeah, it’ll be a little less sports, I suppose, but it will also be a little more news.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or aneff@bangordailynews.net