WSB-AM Drops Live Local News Overnights

[RoddyFreeman]

I heard through the grapevine that WSB radio is dropping its live newscast and traffic during the overnight hours starting tonight. Mark Alewine, who had been with the station for 24 years, has left. He did so much more than overnights, having a constant presence on Atlanta's Morning News. I will miss hearing him.

I don't know how WSB will handle the news from midnight to 4:30AM. My guess is either they will run CBS Radio News, or the evening news anchor, Jennifer Griffies, will record a newscast to be played in the overnight hours. (They might opt for that because they still could say, "the WSB 24-hour newsroom.")

WSB is owned by the Cox Media Group, but of course the Cox Media Group is now owned by Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm. Accordingly, the bottom line is more important now than under "real" Cox ownership. The bottom line has also had a significant impact on WSB-TV sales management.

 

[TheBigA]

Most of the Entercom stations have been running recorded newscasts in overnight hours. KYW in Philadelphia was doing it while it was still owned by CBS. WBZ Boston runs recorded newscasts overnights as well.

 

[Kent]

I don't know how WSB will handle the news from midnight to 4:30AM. My guess is either they will run CBS Radio News, or the evening news anchor, Jennifer Griffies, will record a newscast to be played in the overnight hours. (They might opt for that because they still could say, "the WSB 24-hour newsroom.")

I once worked at a station that had a 24 hour news center but not in-a-row. We used to joke about that behind the scenes. The overnight and weekend newscasts were almost always prerecorded (which were recorded individually so the exact same newscast didn't run every hour), but we also had an on-call rotation that handled breaking news. Our stations were still attended 24/7, though, as you can't efficiently do that otherwise. Our news director also lived in the apartment complex on the other side of our parking lot. So, if something major happened, he was getting his tookus out of bed! I don't know if Cox Atlanta still always has someone there, but recorded newscasts with an on-call rotation might be a viable option.

WSB is owned by the Cox Media Group, but of course the Cox Media Group is now owned by Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm. Accordingly, the bottom line is more important now than under "real" Cox ownership. The bottom line has also had a significant impact on WSB-TV sales management.

Cox was always about budget and running everything as lean as reasonably possible. Private equity, however, is almost always even stricter and will usually have no problem with slashing and burning if it's not getting enough money out of its investments.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I once worked at a station that had a 24 hour news center but not in-a-row. We used to joke about that behind the scenes. The overnight and weekend newscasts were almost always prerecorded (which were recorded individually so the exact same newscast didn't run every hour), but we also had an on-call rotation that handled breaking news. Our stations were still attended 24/7, though, as you can't efficiently do that otherwise. Our news director also lived in the apartment complex on the other side of our parking lot. So, if something major happened, he was getting his tookus out of bed! I don't know if Cox Atlanta still always has someone there, but recorded newscasts with an on-call rotation might be a viable option.

Cox was always about budget and running everything as lean as reasonably possible. Private equity, however, is almost always even stricter and will usually have no problem with slashing and burning if it's not getting enough money out of its investments.

As I recall, WSB started doing live news overnights in the mid-90's when WGST, which was still competitive, added live overnight news. Mark Alewine was at WSB for 24 years so I'm guessing he joined the station when they started those newscasts.

 

[blackgold]

IDIOTS!

Those idiots! What are they thinking? News happens 24/7, and if overnight news is recorded, no one will know what's going on.

 

[TheBigA]

News happens 24/7, and if overnight news is recorded, no one will know what's going on.

Because they'll be asleep.

 

[kf4rca]

Those idiots! What are they thinking? News happens 24/7, and if overnight news is recorded, no one will know what's going on.

Its not the end of the world. If you still want breaking national news, there's WCBS (880) who seems to still have a live overnight operation.

 

[Ray]

Before the pandemic, I would listen to WCBS or WBZ at night during my work drive simply to get detailed news. WSB typically just does a very brief news skim in 1-2 minutes in order to get jump back to the commercials set. The tagline for WCBS is "more than the headlines". I know brief news is also what surveys show most people want now however. I can only imagine how much money they made for Cox.

 

[BarryATL]

Has anybody been up late yet to hear what they are doing?

 

[trusty]

So, when is the last live newscast in the evening? I mean, the early news starts at 4:30am, and there are people there way before then preparing it, so there is someone there for breaking news. Are we talking about just 3-4 hours of airtime without a produced live newscast?

 

[BarryATL]

Late Friday night (10/3, Saturday morning) 2:30 AM Newscast.

Station ID
Local News Sounder
"It's 2:30 AM and I'm Charlie O'Brian live in the WSB Newscenter"
Headlines (60 seconds)
Commercials (2 min) at 2:31
WSB Newstime 2:33
Traffic
Weather
StormTracker Radar
I'm Charlie O'Brian with 95.5 WSB Atlanta's News and Talk.
2:34 AM it is done and gone.

SIXTY SECONDS of news.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Late Friday night (10/3, Saturday morning) 2:30 AM Newscast.

Station ID
Local News Sounder
"It's 2:30 AM and I'm Charlie O'Brian live in the WSB Newscenter"
Headlines (60 seconds)
Commercials (2 min) at 2:31
WSB Newstime 2:33
Traffic
Weather
StormTracker Radar
I'm Charlie O'Brian with 95.5 WSB Atlanta's News and Talk.
2:34 AM it is done and gone.

SIXTY SECONDS of news.

He's been the weekend overnight newscaster, and I was surprised to hear him. On Wednesday night, they aired CBS Radio Network news. That could have been because of President Trump's situation, but I'm guessing that's what they'll continue to run.

 

[Kent]

Talk radio is so clock dependent they could easily have a voicetracked overnight newscast mentioning the time and get it exactly right each time. Guessing that weekend overnight news was live, but, if you can adhere to your allotted time, you can record the news on a talk station perfectly.

On another board, I was talking about how I once worked for a cluster of stations that had a few ABC/Citadel satellite formats. The classic hits format was dead on every hour. Joining it from live programming was easy because the top of the hour fired at exactly :00. Joining the Hot AC network feed was a lot tougher. Guessing classic hits was so strict on timing because a substantial enough number of its affiliates aired ABC News. All of those network newscasts are spot on.

 

[AMFMTV]

So, when is the last live newscast in the evening? I mean, the early news starts at 4:30am, and there are people there way before then preparing it, so there is someone there for breaking news. Are we talking about just 3-4 hours of airtime without a produced live newscast?

That's what I'm assuming. Jennifer Griffies' last newscast is 11:30pm, I believe. You have to think the Atlanta's morning news folks are in by 2:00 - 2:30am to prepare the show. A lonely couple of hours for the board operator downstairs, though.

 

[secondchoice]

That's what I'm assuming. Jennifer Griffies' last newscast is 11:30pm, I believe. You have to think the Atlanta's morning news folks are in by 2:00 - 2:30am to prepare the show. A lonely couple of hours for the board operator downstairs, though.

They actually have a live human board operator 24 / 7?? A lot of stations have PC based automation systems running everything except the local content.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

They actually have a live human board operator 24 / 7?? A lot of stations have PC based automation systems running everything except the local content.

Yes, some bigger stations do... kind of a board op/keep an eye on things on air and news wise, it case the stinky brown stuff hits the rotating metal things

 

[BarryATL]

Listened last night. CBS News top and bottom of the hour. They do not join it very cleanly for a major market station. On one of the news casts they filled with the local news sounder for about 10 seconds.

 

[WCDukenfield]

If Apollo keeps chipping away, we will have lost something some rural areas lost years ago - somewhere to turn in emergencies. I have friends in one of the towns that burned down in Southern Oregon, and during the height of the fires I listened to every local station and not one had local coverage. Portland's news stations didn't mention that area either. The only one that had any coverage of the fires was Oregon's state NPR network, but that was the next day. If something big happens in Atlanta, just like the slogan says and even at 2am, I could depend on them. So, the next time there's a train derailment and there's poisonous gas seeping through a neighborhood, I guess we're out of luck.

 

[davideduardo]

If Apollo keeps chipping away, we will have lost something some rural areas lost years ago - somewhere to turn in emergencies. I have friends in one of the towns that burned down in Southern Oregon, and during the height of the fires I listened to every local station and not one had local coverage. Portland's news stations didn't mention that area either. The only one that had any coverage of the fires was Oregon's state NPR network, but that was the next day. If something big happens in Atlanta, just like the slogan says and even at 2am, I could depend on them. So, the next time there's a train derailment and there's poisonous gas seeping through a neighborhood, I guess we're out of luck.

Today's cuts are significantly due to Coronavirus and not just "big investment bankers" buying or foreclosing on station groups.

The main cause in the loss of service to smaller communities was Docket 80-90 which made many profitable smaller markets either overall unprofitable or marginally so. By adding many stations and allowing others to mover around their area, places with small and profitable stations suddenly had many more stations and were not able to sustain news and community activities. Whether it was Austin, Texas, or Lake City, Florida from medium markets on down that FCC policy destroyed the ability to have robust news departments in markets and towns all over the country.

That was one of the primary causes for consolidation to be approved: less then half of all stations were shown to be profitable.

Then, of course, came new media, the 2008/09 recession and such. Radio, in real dollars bills about 35% of what it did in 2000. And that was before the virus. There is no way to have overnight news staffs when revenue, at this moment , is off by over 80% of its year 2000 levels.

 

[TheBigA]

If Apollo keeps chipping away, we will have lost something some rural areas lost years ago - somewhere to turn in emergencies.

They're not in the emergency services business. Technically, neither is radio. When the feds created the Department of Homeland Security, they took on the emergency services responsibility. Radio stations are merely the conduit for that information.

So, the next time there's a train derailment and there's poisonous gas seeping through a neighborhood, I guess we're out of luck.

Pretty much, yes. Congress held hearings after that happened, and that was the conclusion reached. Radio was not responsible.