Could there be a reason why traffic reports have been disappearing from Seattle radio with each format change? If I remember correctly, every station used to do traffic reports during drive time when I was little. Now I don't hear traffic reports on 92.5, 96.5, 98.9, 103.7, and 104.5. I'm not sure about 98.1, 99.9, or 107.7 and I think KUOW dropped traffic reports a while ago.
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Traffic reports disappearing from Seattle radio?
- Thread starter bobdavcav
- Start date
Could there be a reason why traffic reports have been disappearing from Seattle radio with each format change? If I remember correctly, every station used to do traffic reports during drive time when I was little. Now I don't hear traffic reports on 92.5, 96.5, 98.9, 103.7, and 104.5. I'm not sure about 98.1, 99.9, or 107.7 and I think KUOW dropped traffic reports a while ago.
I suppose they figure that more people are using those stupid GPS toys as opposed to trying to get live traffic reports from conventional radio. Also, in this day and age, companies seem to be trying to take as much power from live talent as possible in order to accommodate more advertising.
Advertising is KING! Audience...who cares about them...their a bunch of lowly peasants anyway...burn them at the stake for questioning our approach to broadcasting!
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Mike Brewer
Guest
Advertising is KING! Audience...who cares about them...their a bunch of lowly peasants anyway...burn them at the stake for questioning our approach to broadcasting!
When I read this I spit my coffee all over my monitor...
KOMO has probably set a standard around here for the last several years that people just tune in on the 4's and the other stations just accept that is their forte. The music stations are squeezing in, more music? One thing KOMO does well lately to keep those traffic listeners tuned in longer is more in-depth analysis of a news story, especially during the day. Almost KUOW like without the panel.
KOMO has probably set a standard around here for the last several years that people just tune in on the 4's and the other stations just accept that is their forte. The music stations are squeezing in, more music? One thing KOMO does well lately to keep those traffic listeners tuned in longer is more in-depth analysis of a news story, especially during the day. Almost KUOW like without the panel.
I wonder if KOMO would receive better ratings if they tried to emulate the CKWX 1130 format more closely. Straight up news with a "set in stone" schedule of when each component of the news would receive airtime.
Well for the most part they have that schedule, but Brian Calvert doesn't always follow it, since maybe a guest runs over a bit. I am actually liking the mid morning news segment on KOMO, I find myself listening as I get up on a regular basis. It does get a little repetitive if for some reason I catch both the 9 and 11 A.M. hours, but that's pretty rare.
A
AQH
Guest
Advertising is KING! Audience...who cares about them...their a bunch of lowly peasants anyway...burn them at the stake for questioning our approach to broadcasting!
Believe it or not, every adjustment a radio station makes isn't some sort of sinister corporate takeover plan or conspiracy theory.
Believe it or not, every adjustment a radio station makes isn't some sort of sinister corporate takeover plan or conspiracy theory.
Many stations are using CC owned Total Traffic Network which is way cheaper than having a person sitting in.. KIRO only has Kimi Klein mornings and afternoons, the rest of the time TTN airs. Even weekends! Corporate takeover me thinks..
A
AQH
Guest
Many stations are using CC owned Total Traffic Network which is way cheaper than having a person sitting in.. KIRO only has Kimi Klein mornings and afternoons, the rest of the time TTN airs. Even weekends! Corporate takeover me thinks..
What was your position when Metro Traffic was being used by many radio stations in the late 1980s?
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Mike Brewer
Guest
Seattle is too large a market to easily run a short traffic report. The report looks at just leaving or entering Seattle and rarely touches anything else.
Hogwash. If the traffic reporter sticks to reporting the problems and skips the "there's no problem" fill you can easily do a traffic report in :60 or less. Listen to Paul Tosch. He knows how to do that. Or try listening to a NYC station. They do it every report.
When there's no traffic on the weekends, just say "no accidents, collisions or congestion in Seattle" and go right to weather. Don't say "90's good, 520's good, I-5 through Everett's good" WE GET IT THERE'S NO TRAFFIC CONGESTION!! Only report the accidents and not "oh this road's good".
-crainbebo
-crainbebo
A
AQH
Guest
When there's no traffic on the weekends, just say "no accidents, collisions or congestion in Seattle" and go right to weather. Don't say "90's good, 520's good, I-5 through Everett's good" WE GET IT THERE'S NO TRAFFIC CONGESTION!! Only report the accidents and not "oh this road's good".
Then you're missing the point of a weekend traffic report. Can you guess what the objectives are on a weekend traffic report?
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AQH
Guest
Yeah report closures of roads because of construction, but not "90's fine, no traffic, 520's fine, I-5 through the Michigan Curve wide open..." that's WASTING the clock!
Then you're missing the point of a weekend traffic report. Can you guess what the objectives are on a weekend traffic report?
Then you're missing the point of a weekend traffic report. Can you guess what the objectives are on a weekend traffic report?
I may not be qualified to answer this, given I'm almost ten years removed from the traffic reporting biz, and I practiced that art in a metro of maybe 400,000 people. Further more, we never did weekend traffic reports as the need just wasn't there. Heck, it was a struggle coming up with content during weekday AM and PM drive.
Here is how I would script a weekend report: "Watch for an accident that has southbound Academy down to a single lane at Platte. And construction this weekend will close North Circle at Lake Avenue. Otherwise, area roads are problem free." Read or play the ten or fifteen second sponsor ad, and then end it.
In metro markets with one million plus population, there may actually be content to warrant weekend traffic reports. Mostly, traffic is an excuse to run a standalone ten or fifteen second ad.
A
AQH
Guest
In metro markets with one million plus population, there may actually be content to warrant weekend traffic reports. Mostly, traffic is an excuse to run a standalone ten or fifteen second ad.
On both aspects winner winner, chicken dinner!
It's sad to hear the traffic reports slip away. They still serve a great purpose, and seem to be mostly a win for stations that run them.
The first major station to drop traffic was KUOW in a very head-scratching decision about five years ago. The worst part was that after cycling through a number of Metro Networks anchors in the AM drive, they'd finally settled on Harmon Shay, who sounded great with the NPR format.
With so few live and local drive time shows these days, traffic reports, which once were integrated right into the show (remember Steven Kilbreath doing traffic at Metro when the T-Man first started? These reports would run for five minutes with T-Man giving him a hard time throughout. Eventually Kilbreath joined the show outright) are just inserted without even an intro. Just don't have the same impact.
And like many things these days in radio, the quality of the talent giving the reports has seriously declined.
It used to be that traffic was a great way for a new talent to break in, picking up overnight shifts, etc, to gain experience. The reporters on drive time, however, were pros pros. I don't know that that is the case any more.
If you tuned in ten years ago you'd hear people like Bill Ogden, Angela Kirby, Shane Kobane, Bonnie Brown, Leslie Larkin, Heather Stark, Lan Archer, Jeff French, Cheryl Iler, Lisa Wood, Lisa Foster, Anna D, Sara Johnson, Mary Whitish and Gina Tuttle giving the reports. These guys were absolutely rock solid.
Look around... who's doing the reports these days? Gina's still there, so's Shane Kobane, Mary Whitish and Heather Stark. The rest have moved on or retired. And the new crop just isn't as good. Laurie Hardie can't get through a single report without tripping up. Deanna Joy's voice isn't that great. Judith Larson puts me to sleep. Alex Myers, a young guy breaking in, sounded great for a few years, but has also moved on.
Meanwhile, KIRO has gone with Kimmie Klein, who someone reported, is not a Total Traffic reporter but instead is from a different, competing service. And she's terrible. Just think, a decade ago KIRO had a threesome doing traffic during drivetime (Tony Scott in studio, the great Steve Sanders in the chopper and Metro's Shane Kobane in "air 2") and now they're down to a giggly sound girl with no gravitas doing her reports from a booth.
No wonder no one wants to talk about radio any more. Its just depressing.
The first major station to drop traffic was KUOW in a very head-scratching decision about five years ago. The worst part was that after cycling through a number of Metro Networks anchors in the AM drive, they'd finally settled on Harmon Shay, who sounded great with the NPR format.
With so few live and local drive time shows these days, traffic reports, which once were integrated right into the show (remember Steven Kilbreath doing traffic at Metro when the T-Man first started? These reports would run for five minutes with T-Man giving him a hard time throughout. Eventually Kilbreath joined the show outright) are just inserted without even an intro. Just don't have the same impact.
And like many things these days in radio, the quality of the talent giving the reports has seriously declined.
It used to be that traffic was a great way for a new talent to break in, picking up overnight shifts, etc, to gain experience. The reporters on drive time, however, were pros pros. I don't know that that is the case any more.
If you tuned in ten years ago you'd hear people like Bill Ogden, Angela Kirby, Shane Kobane, Bonnie Brown, Leslie Larkin, Heather Stark, Lan Archer, Jeff French, Cheryl Iler, Lisa Wood, Lisa Foster, Anna D, Sara Johnson, Mary Whitish and Gina Tuttle giving the reports. These guys were absolutely rock solid.
Look around... who's doing the reports these days? Gina's still there, so's Shane Kobane, Mary Whitish and Heather Stark. The rest have moved on or retired. And the new crop just isn't as good. Laurie Hardie can't get through a single report without tripping up. Deanna Joy's voice isn't that great. Judith Larson puts me to sleep. Alex Myers, a young guy breaking in, sounded great for a few years, but has also moved on.
Meanwhile, KIRO has gone with Kimmie Klein, who someone reported, is not a Total Traffic reporter but instead is from a different, competing service. And she's terrible. Just think, a decade ago KIRO had a threesome doing traffic during drivetime (Tony Scott in studio, the great Steve Sanders in the chopper and Metro's Shane Kobane in "air 2") and now they're down to a giggly sound girl with no gravitas doing her reports from a booth.
No wonder no one wants to talk about radio any more. Its just depressing.
I may not be qualified to answer this, given I'm almost ten years removed from the traffic reporting biz, and I practiced that art in a metro of maybe 400,000 people. Further more, we never did weekend traffic reports as the need just wasn't there. Heck, it was a struggle coming up with content during weekday AM and PM drive.
Here is how I would script a weekend report: "Watch for an accident that has southbound Academy down to a single lane at Platte. And construction this weekend will close North Circle at Lake Avenue. Otherwise, area roads are problem free." Read or play the ten or fifteen second sponsor ad, and then end it.
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Humm...sounds like you were doing traffic in Colorado Springs
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