• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Is KYW Running Pre-Recorded News Overnight?

G

Gregg.

I listened the other night on line. I noticed the traffic reporter introduced himself and gave a time check. He also seemed to be timing his report to fit a music bed. (I suppose the automation system leaves him 60 seconds for his report.) Then the same worded introduction linked his report to a prerecorded NBC 10 meteorologist with the weather. That was the same every time.

When I hear the traffic reporter NOT introduced by the anchor and giving a time check, I suspect this is prerecorded news. I didn't hear the anchor give any time checks. And I didn't hear any sportscast either. That doesn't make any sense, since KYW is co-owned with Sports Radio WIP-FM. That station's sports update person could record sports briefs for KYW. I also noticed the promos gave only the new FM dial position, 103.9. But I didn't hear the AM dial position, 1060.

I am disappointed to learn KYW is not doing live overnight news anymore. It joins WBZ Boston (owned by iHeart) and KOMO-AM-FM Seattle (owned by Sinclair) as all-news stations apparently prerecording an hour of overnight news and running it all night. And I think the Canadian all-news stations owned by Rogers (CFTR Toronto, CKWX Vancouver, CFFR Calgary) are running one national all-news feed all night.
 
Gregg. said:
I am disappointed to learn KYW is not doing live overnight news anymore.
Click to expand...

Are you just discovering this now? This has been going on for about 5 years. It goes back to CBS ownership.

They have the ability to go live if an emergency occurs during overnight hours. An example I remember was when a winter storm came in during the night. They stayed live all night into morning drive. But if major news isn't happening, there's no reason to have a full staff on hand in case it does. By the way, if you turn on the TV at that same time, you'll see the cable news channels do the same thing.
 
TheBigA said:
Are you just discovering this now? This has been going on for about 5 years. It goes back to CBS ownership.

They have the ability to go live if an emergency occurs during overnight hours. An example I remember was when a winter storm came in during the night. They stayed live all night into morning drive. But if major news isn't happening, there's no reason to have a full staff on hand in case it does. By the way, if you turn on the TV at that same time, you'll see the cable news channels do the same thing.
Click to expand...

You bring up a good point.. tv.. even local news or the networks, repeat news/info programming and no one complains about that.. but they do in radio. interesting
 
I know WCBS and WINS NYC (Entercom-owned) and WTOP (Hubbard) are live at all times. I remember WWJ Detroit (Entercom) went to prerecorded news overnight a few years ago but then went back to all-live some time later. I thought all the Entercom full time all-news stations (KNX, WBBM, KCBS as well as WWJ, WCBS, WINS and KYW) were live around the clock. Only WBZ (iHeart) and KOMO (Sinclair) were exceptions.

I see in another thread, KOMO is going to run Jim Bohannon 12 to 2 a.m. and America in The Morning at 3a.m. plus First Light at 4 a.m. At least the latter two are news shows from Westwood One.
 
Last edited:
Would be cool for a network to offer live, night/overnight news programming. Maybe 10pm to 7am to cover both east and west coast stations. Make it generic and take one affiliate per market. Would definitely work....but not sure if it would make money.
 
How many stations do you think would take such a program? There's only 10 or 15 all-news stations in the country...
 
AMRocks said:
Would be cool for a network to offer live, night/overnight news programming. Maybe 10pm to 7am to cover both east and west coast stations. Make it generic and take one affiliate per market. Would definitely work....but not sure if it would make money.
Click to expand...
Honest question: if it’s not making money, by what metric is it working? That’s the purpose of a business.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
How many stations do you think would take such a program? There's only 10 or 15 all-news stations in the country...
Click to expand...
Not even that.

Boston and Seattle do talk in nights/overnights, so you have NYC, Philly, DC, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, LA, SF. I think that is it...
 
Entercom-owned WBBM 780 Chicago repeats the 1 a.m. live hour at 3 a.m., and the anchor says so coming out of CBS News: "Whether you're joining us live at 1:05 or recorded at 3:05..." Time checks are "xx minutes after the hour." I believe 2 and 4 a.m. hours are also live, and the morning drive segment starts at 5 a.m.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Not even that.

Boston and Seattle do talk in nights/overnights, so you have NYC, Philly, DC, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, LA, SF. I think that is it...
Click to expand...
WBZ in Boston no longer has talk overnight. They have prerecorded news from Midnight - 5 a.m. with live traffic and weather together reports.

They still have a talk show from 8p.m. - Midnight.

But point taken...
 
I personally think they should go back to the old school sign on and sign offs. Here’s the very first one from circa 1965. Earliest known on 1060 Kilocycles
 
SarahB98 said:
I personally think they should go back to the old school sign on and sign offs. Here’s the very first one from circa 1965. Earliest known on 1060 Kilocycles
Click to expand...
The main reason why stations started running 24 hours a day was to avoid the critical sign on at the beginning of the most listened to daypart. For most, overnights is just fill but serves to insure that the transmitter works at the beginning of drive time.
 
SarahB98 said:
I personally think they should go back to the old school sign on and sign offs. Here’s the very first one from circa 1965. Earliest known on 1060 Kilocycles
Click to expand...
Right when Westinghouse reacquired 1060, moved "KYW" from Cleveland, and three months before the flip to all news.

ixnay
 
SarahB98 said:
I personally think they should go back to the old school sign on and sign offs. Here’s the very first one from circa 1965. Earliest known on 1060 Kilocycles
Click to expand...

what decade are you living in.. oh right, the 60s.

No reason for most AM's in big cities to sign off any more.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
SomeRadioGuy said:
what decade are you living in.. oh right, the 60s.

No reason for most AM's in big cities to sign off any more.
Click to expand...

what decade are you living in.. oh right, the 60s.

No reason for most AM's in big cities to sign off any more.
Click to expand...
Unless they're doing transmitter maintenance.

Speaking of which, when was the last time Philly's 1060 signed off for transmitter maintenance?

It's been a few years since I heard (approximating this quote) "This programming note: KYW will be signing off at 1 am this coming Monday morning for transmitter maintenance. KYW will return to the air four hours later at 5 am Monday morning." I'd hear that announcement several times during the week leading up to the temporary shutdown every time, but it's been a few years since I heard it. Why did KY' see it necessary to air multiple alerts re the pending shutdown so far ahead? To alert wee hours advertisers?

ixnay
 
ixnay said:
Unless they're doing transmitter maintenance.
Click to expand...
Most 24 hour stations have auxiliary transmitters. Unless there is work on the ATU or phasor, then there is no need to go off the air.
ixnay said:
It's been a few years since I heard (approximating this quote) "This programming note: KYW will be signing off at 1 am this coming Monday morning for transmitter maintenance. KYW will return to the air four hours later at 5 am Monday morning." I'd hear that announcement several times during the week leading up to the temporary shutdown every time, but it's been a few years since I heard it. Why did KY' see it necessary to air multiple alerts re the pending shutdown so far ahead? To alert wee hours advertisers?
Click to expand...
Few stations ever have had overnight advertisers. (It would be an interesting thread to cover any exceptions, such as the Dolly Holiday show for the motel chain). I suspect that they thought that by doing those announcements they were enhancing the idea that KYW was always there with the news.
 
I'm not sure how you'd be alerting advertisers. You owe them the spots per the contract. It's not up to an advertiser to be listening and paying attention when you happen to make such an announcement. If you even had a paid spot in that period, basic business dictates you advise the advertiser of the scheduled down time with a plan for the make good.
 
Nearly EVERY spot you might hear overnight on most radio stations are there for the price of $0. They are bonus spots, added to a contract to hopefully bring down the average cost per spot. Most of them attempt to be slotted in the 12a -1a hour or the 5a - 6a hour.

Salespeople will throw as many of these overnight $0 spots at a contract as they can and it's usually up to sales managers to keep these within reason.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom