Honolulu (TANGNEWS) - The vacation is over. The Tang family is moving back to the mainland. Recently KHNL News 8 Sports Director Jason Tang was given a 60-day notice of layoff from his job of almost two years.
"It's definitely sad that we have to leave, but we're choosing to look at it positively," said Tang. "We get to be closer to family."
Tang is one of almost 70% percent of the KHNL news team that was given notice of layoff. KHNL, the NBC affiliate in Honolulu recently agreed to a shared service agreement with KGMB, the CBS affiliate in the Islands. With the merger, only one news team will be needed as the newscast will be simulcast on both stations.
"It's sad to see so many good people getting laid off at KHNL, but it wasn't a surprise. They laid off two of three of our news managers and kept the ones at KGMB, so their news team obviously had the upperhand," said Tang. "But they were also the station that had the most momentum in the ratings, so from a business standpoint, why ruin a good thing I guess."
With his 60 day notice, Tang's last day at KHNL will be on Monday, November 2nd. However, if he finds a job before, he'll move his family as soon as possible. But he's keeping tight lipped on the progress of his job search.
"I have a lot of good people in my corner, including my family, and while I don't have a job offer as of right now, I have some pretty solid leads. Stay tuned as they say in the biz," said Tang.
If he doesn't find a job before November 2nd, the family of four will move back to California and shack up with Tang's mother-in-law.
"I think she would prefer that to me finding a job," said Tang jokingly. "But seriously, she wouldn't mind us moving in for a little bit I think."
As for his family, his wife Heather, and two small children will definitely miss the Island state. Well, most of it anyways.
"I will miss the beaches, the weather, the people, and even the plate lunches," said Heather. "I won't miss the cockroaches, or the high cost of living though, and luckily Jaxon is too small to understand the move, but I think it'll be hard on Ashlyn. When we sold our table and chairs, she broke down in a crying fit. And that was for a table and chairs."
The Tang family is excited to move closer to family, and buy a house when they land a new job. That's right, they're saying "when", none of this "if" business.
"Come on! He's Jason Tang. You think he's not going to find a job on TV? Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pleeezzee, HE'S SEXY!!!" said Jason in his best impression of Heather. Heather did, however, agree with at least one part of that statement.
"Yeah, we're confident he'll find a job, but that's all I'm agreeing with," said Heather.
When all the baking was done, we headed to Chuck E Cheese's with the Hong and Abelmann families. The only other time we had gone there was when Ashlyn was just a little older than Jaxon is now. It was much more fun for all this time around.
The best group shot taken. Gonna eat some grub
Stay tuned for a super long picture post of the fun we've been having!
