False and Apparently "AI" Derived News Story about KNX's FM changing Format in LA.

[davideduardo]

Well known and skilled LA talk programmer sent me a message saying,

"While the story is incorrect, there some facts that Alex Silverman chose to ignore. KNX does break the simulcast for at least two hours on Saturday morning for "CarPro" informercial. I believe they run another informercial(s) on Sunday morning. They have carefully managed the infomercial time to not exceed 5% of weekly program time in order to maintain the total line reporting. So it magically isn't happening!

Someone listening early on weekend mornings might jump to the wrong conclusion that the station has changed formats. They just couldn't resist the "crack" of radio sales departments, infomercials. KNX was running this dreadful program before they went to FM."

What is being referred to is that Nielsen allows a small percentage of weekly non-simulcast hours while still listing a station as a full single line simulcast.

That rule was intended to allow stations with sports contracts that did not allow simulcasts to still get SLR listings. The rule was not intended for commercial paid programs. But the rule is not specific and thus allows it.

 

[Kelly A]

But this is a simple and easy to see example that hits those of us in radio quite accurately.

I guess that's true David. Need to keep it simple.

 

[TheBigA]

Someone listening early on weekend mornings might jump to the wrong conclusion

Sure, but that's not what we're talking about. A website with the word "News" in its name posted a story that no one checked or verified. This is becoming a very common thing with social media based news. This whole weekend was filled with fake and false stories that were reported and then amplified on social media about this Jason Aldean song. This KNX story is inexcusable because no one checked with anyone before reporting it. The old standard was getting two sources to verify. This site didn't even get one. This is bad for this particular site, but it gives a bad name to news in general.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

A website with the word "News" in its name posted a story that no one checked or verified.

Probably no one from NewsBreak even read it. If it was written by a person at all, that person would have been a "contributor" who receives a couple red cents if they earn views.

NewsBreak only has a handful of staff, and none in Los Angeles (as of spring 2022)

 

[Miss Tuned]

Just like your post about history which only a few folks at the senior center care about, what does that have to do with anything today?

What do your endless posts about senior centers and old folks have to do with anything today? You're obsessed.

 

[davideduardo]

Sure, but that's not what we're talking about. A website with the word "News" in its name posted a story that no one checked or verified.

Based, most likely, on the weekend morning non-simulcast. That is certainly insignificant enough to ignore, and does not prove a change in AM format. But it is, as far as it goes, true.

This KNX story is inexcusable because no one checked with anyone before reporting it. The old standard was getting two sources to verify. This site didn't even get one. This is bad for this particular site, but it gives a bad name to news in general.

I think they heard about the paid programs on AM and jumped to a conclusion without thinking it through... or AI took comments about "KNX splits from simulcast on Weekends" and made up a story.

 

[pjc1961]

As pointed out in this post by Lance Venta taken from the L.A. forum thread, the "news item" was picked up originally from a listener's post (which became a thread) on Reddit noting that 1070 and 97.1 were running different programming on Saturday morning 7/22/2023, thus wondering if the simulcast was broken permanently:

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/has-knx-1070-am-changed-format.765612/post-6632770

 

[Miss Tuned]

As it's not a straight 24/7 simulcast and the AM breaks off for a few hours on weekends, does that mean KNX and KNX-FM have to report separately in Nielsen? Genuine question.

 

[Kelly A]

What do your endless posts about senior centers and old folks have to do with anything today?

Because it seems like just about every post devolves into something related to the 50's through the 80's, stopping at 1990.

 

[Kelly A]

As pointed out in this post by Lance Venta taken from the L.A. forum thread, the "news item" was picked up originally from a listener's post (which became a thread) on Reddit noting that 1070 and 97.1 were running different programming on Saturday morning 7/22/2023, thus wondering if the simulcast was broken permanently:

Not a News Bot; but even ChatGPT has been trained using the information found on Reddit. That's why recently Steve Huffman from Reddit stopped sharing the platform API for free, because Large Language Model AI' like ChatGPT, have been using the API to train, and access conversations held on Reddit: Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview
Many users of Reddit are upset, because they've never had to pay for access to the Reddit API before, and are now pulling their pages,or moderation work in protest.
This controversy is something that's been a concern of Geoffrey Hinton, former head of AI research at Google. Hinton quit Google partly because of his concern over how LLM AI like BARD (Googles version of AI) and ChatGPT from Open AI, are being trained, and from where. As is pointed out in this pretty simplistic example of the KNX schedule-thing, scraping or misinterpreting information from the Internet, even if just because of poor punctuation or syntax, can cause an AI system to misunderstand what's being said, or simply parrot incorrect information.

 

[michael hagerty]

As it's not a straight 24/7 simulcast and the AM breaks off for a few hours on weekends, does that mean KNX and KNX-FM have to report separately in Nielsen? Genuine question.

No. There's a maximum number of hours they can broadcast separately and still qualify for single-line reporting in Nielsen. Probably originally intended to cover situations like sports coverage on one station, but not another and things like that, but Audacity uses it to make a few bucks on the AM while keeping the news rolling on the FM.

 

[TheBigA]

Probably no one from NewsBreak even read it.

Correct.

I think they heard about the paid programs on AM and jumped to a conclusion without thinking it through... or AI took comments about "KNX splits from simulcast on Weekends" and made up a story.

I think the latter. The AI needs to reprogram its system to only draw on verified stories and sources rather than rumors,

 

[Loverofradio]

What scares me, David, is that a lot of the body of the false copy looks like it could have been scraped from the discussion boards right here on this forum---the "what-ifs" that rolled through here about KNX possibly ditching the AM since they choose to position themselves as 97.1 FM without mention of 1070. (EDIT: It appears it was actually scraped from a Reddit post from a guy who didn't know KNX-AM runs paid programming on weekend mornings while the FM stays in format).

For those wondering, this is why it's more important than ever not to wander off too far into speculation on this board, and why it's also important when Frank, David, Big A, Kelly or I come barreling in to try to get things back to facts in evidence.

WTF is AI gonna do with the "fictional" boards hosted here?

Journalism needs to stay far away from AI

 

[gr8oldies]

But those who subscribe to Jerry's newsletter know that he often makes predictions that don't come to happen. It's part of his, well, "charm".

I've learned to take Mr. Del Colliano with as many grains of salt as possible. I seem to recall him proclaiming Cumulus buying CBS

 

[Kelly A]

Journalism needs to stay far away from AI

That's because these sites are only interested in clicks, not integrity. And therein is the reason why they use news bots to scrape content from wherever online.

 

[Loverofradio]

That's because these sites are only interested in clicks, not integrity. And therein is the reason why they use news bots to scrape content from wherever online.

Surprisingly, Newsbreak could be a credible app at times. I know a lot of my stories were picked up as well as actual breaking stories. This is actually a head scratcher

 

[Kelly A]

Surprisingly, Newsbreak could be a credible app at times. I know a lot of my stories were picked up as well as actual breaking stories. This is actually a head scratcher

Sure, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Doesn't mean it isn't broken.

 

[secondchoice]

I understand this is not a "end of times" event, but with a large percentage of people getting their "news" from sites that do not check their sources the potential for real damage is there. What if 3 or 4 ppm wearer's get confused and drive in an area where the FM coverage is bad Monday Morning ? They might not switch to the AM if they thought it wasn't the same as the FM. Would KNX's owner be able to sue if their ratings went down on the AM? If I was Newsbreak's lawyer I would have them do a retraction unless they want to see if Dominion's suite is applicable here. I am all for freedom of the press but running an incorrect story because you are too cheap to check it out IMHO is ot protected by the Constitution.

 

[michael hagerty]

I understand this is not a "end of times" event, but with a large percentage of people getting their "news" from sites that do not check their sources the potential for real damage is there.

Worse, there are far more reputable news sites that are seriously considering some use of AI in their operations. This shows how far that can go wrong.

 

[Kelly A]

I understand this is not a "end of times" event, but with a large percentage of people getting their "news" from sites that do not check their sources the potential for real damage is there.

You mean like Facebook newsgroups?

What if 3 or 4 ppm wearer's get confused and drive in an area where the FM coverage is bad Monday Morning ?

PPM registers what the panelist is hearing, nothing about some incorrect information online. If FM coverage is bad, then chances are the panelist will just switch to something else.

They might not switch to the AM if they thought it wasn't the same as the FM.

That and if under 60, they likely don't think of AM at all.

Would KNX's owner be able to sue if their ratings went down on the AM?

Sue who? Some foreign bot? Good luck with proving the incorrect schedule had anything to do with the drop in numbers. They could request a ratings audit but would need a good cause. Having some bot publish incorrect info on a obscure site, wouldn't likely be reason to request an audit.

If I was Newsbreak's lawyer I would have them do a retraction unless they want to see if Dominion's suite is applicable here.

Oh please. Too much drama here. This and the Dominion defamation suit are like comparing bowling balls with oranges. The only similarity is they're both sort of round in shape.

I am all for freedom of the press but running an incorrect story because you are too cheap to check it out IMHO is ot protected by the Constitution.

This isn't the press. It's a scraping site that is looking for clicks. All of this is of little consequence.