When the project is finished in mid-December, 150 television and radio employees will join 600 newspaper workers at the Main Street location. The cost of the studio is “a moving target,” Taylor said, but it will represent an investment of $10 million to $20 million.
“It is an investment in a place we care about,” said Taylor, great-grandson of Daily News founder Gov. James M. Cox. “It’s an investment in our business, it’s an investment in our employees and it’s an investment in Dayton. This is a place we’re going to be committed to for a long, long time.”
It’s Cox’s third major capital investment in the area in recent years, following construction of the Print Technology Center in Franklin in 1997 — a total investment of $105 million — and the $16 million purchase and renovation of an old NCR building at 1611 S. Main St. which opened as the Cox Media Center in 2007.
Taylor said the company plans no layoffs with the relocation, but Cox may gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings by no longer maintaining separate facilities for the newspaper and broadcasting entities. Over time, there may be work force reductions through attrition, Taylor added.
Cox announced plans for the new studio in December, and reorganized its senior management in January to include officials of WHIO-TV, WHIO Radio and the Daily News.
There are no immediate plans for the WHIO studios at 1414 Wilmington Ave., Taylor said, but the property may be sold.
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