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iHeart Black Information Network

Wow, sounds like a stab at this forum's operators especially since Lance used to moderate these boards before he was turfed. But hey, thanks for sharing.

Hardly a stab.

This is not a news board. It is where the news and events are discussed.

When Scott posts, we all know that we can expect illustration, clarification or explanation of something going on in radio.
 
During the 1980s, the hourly newscasts of the old National Black Network (which were carried here on WWRL and the old WNJR) and WLIB's former news format were focused on hard news. The delivery of NBN Worldwide News was similar to that of the Associated Press' hourly newscasts: quick, serious, and concise. WLIB not only reported the news; they talked about the stories in great detail. In this respect, WLIB was a cross between 1010 WINS and NPR.

Having listened to Black Information Network on the iHeartRadio app, I say that the new network has taken a different approach than that of either NBN or WLIB. Instead of simply being a source of hard news, BIN offers a mix of news and feature stories. Also, it lacks the depth of WLIB's old newscasts. It would be interesting to hear how BIN will handle breaking news stories.
 
The news release specified other programming and podcasts to come. This is not the final product


Hardly a stab.

This is not a news board. It is where the news and events are discussed.

When Scott posts, we all know that we can expect illustration, clarification or explanation of something going on in radio.
 
To Barry - fair point.

Here's how I sum up the programming:
A mish-mash of press release excerpts and AP wire stories involving racism against blacks or contributions to black-oriented civic causes. Dry news reads from anchors sitting in a studio (or home studio). ZERO live reporting. In fact, I don't believe I've heard *any* reporting from the field, even pre-recorded.

The topics chosen for on-air attention are extremely narrow. General news topics (the types of things you might hear on the CBS World News Roundup, for example) are largely or entirely ignored.

Some of the newsreaders sound washed up and out of the demographic.

Some of the "stories" discussed are actually days or even weeks old, and the research/writing is very superficial.

All around, a terrible effort and terrible product that clearly is being run on a shoestring budget. It's a bigger disgrace than FM News 101.1's first several months on the air. Fortunately, in NYC's case, this content is relegated to an HD2 or HD3 channel that probably no more than a few thousand people will ever hear. In places like Norfolk, this pathetic programming is actually running on a major FM analog signal!
 
A mish-mash of press release excerpts and AP wire stories involving racism against blacks or contributions to black-oriented civic causes. Dry news reads from anchors sitting in a studio (or home studio). ZERO live reporting. In fact, I don't believe I've heard *any* reporting from the field, even pre-recorded.

Have you ever heard any Total Traffic & News reporting? The former Metro Networks were merged in to Total Traffic when iHeart bought Metro about 10 years ago. What you're describing sounds a lot like what they did. A lot of NY and NJ radio stations used Metro in the 90s. Very little on-site reporting. Mostly rewrites from either online or other sources. Sort of the radio version of Newsy.
 
I am somewhat familiar with those services, and yes, there are definitely analogues in terms of content curation.
 
Would it be possible for iHeart to buy time on one of the NYC AMs such as 620, 930, or 1430 to air their Black Information Network in the #1 market? I assume iHeart is maxed out in NYC and could not purchase another station.
 
Would it be possible for iHeart to buy time on one of the NYC AMs such as 620, 930, or 1430 to air their Black Information Network in the #1 market? I assume iHeart is maxed out in NYC and could not purchase another station.

According to this article, the NYC affiliate is Power WWPR:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/...ork-local-national-news-radio-black-community

It will also power news services for iHeart’s 91 hip-hop, R&B and gospel stations around the U.S., according to a press release from the company, including stations like New York’s Power 105.1, Los Angeles’ Real 92.3 and KMEL in San Francisco.
 
To Barry - fair point.

Here's how I sum up the programming:
A mish-mash of press release excerpts and AP wire stories involving racism against blacks or contributions to black-oriented civic causes. Dry news reads from anchors sitting in a studio (or home studio). ZERO live reporting. In fact, I don't believe I've heard *any* reporting from the field, even pre-recorded.

The topics chosen for on-air attention are extremely narrow. General news topics (the types of things you might hear on the CBS World News Roundup, for example) are largely or entirely ignored.

Some of the newsreaders sound washed up and out of the demographic.

Some of the "stories" discussed are actually days or even weeks old, and the research/writing is very superficial.

All around, a terrible effort and terrible product that clearly is being run on a shoestring budget. It's a bigger disgrace than FM News 101.1's first several months on the air. Fortunately, in NYC's case, this content is relegated to an HD2 or HD3 channel that probably no more than a few thousand people will ever hear. In places like Norfolk, this pathetic programming is actually running on a major FM analog signal!

I've been listening to the local Seattle-Tacoma BIN affiliate for about an hour each day, out of casual interest. The presentation is slick, and there are a few historical stories and anecdotes each hour, but for news there are a lot of repetitions of what I would call 'viral news', the sort of thing you usually see spread on FB via IPhone clips, albeit with a narrator telling you the story instead of the actual video playing.

Not being a radio programming expert (I was a production peon when I worked in the industry), I'll leave the programming conclusions here to those who know a lot more than I do about such things.
 
Point of pride here (because I was part of breaking this story) - as he does so often, Lance had the story up well before iHeart had their release out.

There's still some trade journalism happening out there that's more than just reprinting releases. And I'm glad to be part of it :)

Careful Scott, patting yourself on the back can cause shoulder injuries.
 
Nah. He’s probably tired of certain posters who take RadioInsight stories and post them on sites like the NYRMB without attribution. There’s one particular person who does it constantly...
 
This could really be an extremely valuable information source for the black community so long as it is comitted to allow the free flow of information from a diverse group of black Americans.
This network will just become even more important if we elect Biden as president since he has clearly stated that if an American has black skin then they are not allowed to freely choose their vote and speak their views, their vote and life are property of the Democrat party. Refer to the Biden interview with the Breakfast club to back up the fact that I have just stated.
 
So he said it. That's all, an exact quote is an exact quote. Maybe you had more to say that somehow got deleted?
 
So he said it. That's all, an exact quote is an exact quote. Maybe you had more to say that somehow got deleted?

The current president has said many stupid and inflammatory things in the last three years and had to "Walk It Back". If the President can do it why can't other other people do it?
 
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