WSMV-TV4 Nashville Sued For Age, Gender Discrimination

Demetria Kalodimos

Longtime former WSMV Channel 4 anchor Demetria Kalodimos accused her old TV station of age and gender discrimination in a federal lawsuit filed thi week against the TV station's parent company, Meredith Local Media Group.

The lawsuit described WSMV as creating a "hostile environment" that favored men and younger on-air personalities.

"Channel 4 and Meredith have a culture of discarding women once they reach a certain age, as if women have some expiration date," her attorney Kenny Byrd of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a national law firm with an office in Nashville, said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Kalodimos "observed and was subjected to age-motivated ridicule, public berating and criticism from Channel 4 management," her lawyers, Byrd and Kelly M. Dermody, allege in the filing.

In an interview with the Tennessean, Kalodimos said she started bringing gender and age discrimination allegations from her coworkers to station management years ago.

WSMV general manager Dale Woods did not respond to an email and voicemail asking for comment.

Kalodimos — a popular anchor at Channel 4 for 33 years — had a contentious split with the station Jan. 1, the day after her latest contract expired.

Kalodimos, 58 at the time, said she got a letter on her desk — "no conversation, no face to face meeting, no thanks."

The station said then that Kalodimos gave "no timely responses" to its offer of a contract extension, but Kalodimos countered there never was a serious offer to keep her at the station.