A lot of them are part-time. Examples: "anchor/reporter" Larry Kane is usually referred to on air as "special contributor." He mostly does political, and there may be weeks at a time when you don't hear him. On the other hand, in the run-up to an election, you'll hear him every day.
Ron Corbin retired at the end of December. When I looked a couple of days ago, his photo is still on the website.
Some long-time reporters are part-time (less than 30 hours a week). I've heard that for some, their part-time schedule fits in nicely with raising children.
I've been reading these "KYW must change" posts for a while now. Here's my take: They don't need to change much. Reasons: OK, they've lost some 12+ ratings. But perhaps some of their recent moves to monetize certain aspects of their programming (Trumark Traffic Center, Penn Medicine Studio) is actually making up for any revenue that might (I have no idea if this is true) be lost due to a slight decline in their 12+ rating.
Reason 2: Philly is a city of tradition. See also: WPVI, Channel 6 Action News. It's been No. 1 in Philly TV news, all time slots, for the vast majority of the last 35 years. And it has three competitors. KYW's only competitor is WHYY, and it's a different news animal as a public broadcaster.
For some of us who spent time in the biz (14 full time years myself) and might be considered "radio geeks," KYW might sound stale with its teletype and some of its pacing (or lack of it). But it appears to be working.
If you want evidence of CBS Radio's commitment to the all-news format in its largest markets (and partial all-news stations in other major markets), look how it it hanging on in Washington DC despite absolutely dismal ratings at WNEW-FM: 0.8 in most recent monthly reports.
A bigger threat to KYW than its current on-air sound may be a decline in belief that people need to listen to the radio to get news at all. IMHO, longer term, that may have more to do with the ultimate demise of KYW-1060 than anything they're doing on air.
So here's a polite request: Let's not rush to conclusions about KYW based on its 12+ numbers ... conclusions such as "they need to change," and "they're stale."
I like discussing the station's merits on this board. Frankly, I hate the idea that they've put on the audio of CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley at 6:30, but that can be for another post. But ... can we move on from some of the recent repetitiveness on this topic? Thanks.
