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Lotus
- Thread starter bossbill
- Start date
In what sense?
lotuscorp
LEADING THE FUTURE OF RADIO Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Lotus owns and operates radio stations across the United States. Discover Lotus
www.lotuscorp.com
Oh I hadn't heard. It's that time of the season you know...
OK, so what actually happened? Just Seattle, or other markets as well?
I've been checking around and haven't heard or seen anything related to Lotus. Usually someone sneaks a memo online if something was up.
Is it affecting KOMO and KPLZ? It seems like Star still has their on-air personalities for weekdays so far.
I've heard, so take that at face value, that several news folks have been let go. Seems like they've had a hard time monetizing those stations Sinclair was happy to unload on the cheap. Go figure. They also make a lot of knee-jerk decisions. Godspeed for those getting let go right before the holidays.
So reliable sources, including a tweet (X) from Corwin now formerly at AM-1000, confirm: All twelve staff reporters have been laid off.
The reason sited: advertising and associated revenue headwinds. That said; Lotus claims that the station will remain 'all news'.
Speaking personally, I'm not sure how one does 'all news' without reporters, but I guess we'll see soon.
The reason sited: advertising and associated revenue headwinds. That said; Lotus claims that the station will remain 'all news'.
Speaking personally, I'm not sure how one does 'all news' without reporters, but I guess we'll see soon.
Really unfortunate news. I haven't followed super closely, but I believe the KNWN news operations were fully separated from KOMO-TV at this point? I imagine that shared resources across KOMO-AM/TV would have made the AM 1000 format more viable from a cost standpoint. Were/are they still doing any sort of partnering with KOMO TV?
As I recall, there was some sort of reciprocal content agreement as part of the sale from Sinclair. Could be that AM-1000 will just repurpose audio from KOMO-TV stories? We will see. Or, hear.
Uh-huh....
Very sad to hear about the layoffs at KNWN. Was once a strong News Radio station as KOMO. I doubt the decline in ratings over the last couple years has anything to do with those terminated or even the call-letter change. KNWN needed a full-market FM (not a rimshot) to be competitive against KUOW-FM and KIRO-FM. Outside of sports it is hard to get those under 60 to listen to AM. Most other All News stations in top 20 markets migrated to a full-market FM signal. Those that haven't are facing the same fate.
There is still a market for news and information in Seattle. KUOW-FM was number one in the last PPM release, top three 25-54. KIRO-FM does well too.
There is still a market for news and information in Seattle. KUOW-FM was number one in the last PPM release, top three 25-54. KIRO-FM does well too.
As moderator: Let's put this thread back on topic...
As reporter: I can confirm that the reporters at KNWN are gone. Some working through today. Station is using reports from KOMO-TV still as well.
As reporter: I can confirm that the reporters at KNWN are gone. Some working through today. Station is using reports from KOMO-TV still as well.
That's how a lot of radio stations handle it. They make content deals with local TV. There are also group news services or networks that can provide content. Total News & Traffic from iHeart (formerly Metro Networks). They can also get national news from ABC News Radio, CBS News Radio, or Fox.
What a lot of stations do is collate various news sources (the local paper, other news radio, and the internet) to cover local stories without sending their own physical reporters to sites. It's been done since the 90s. As long as the station has anchors, they can present the news.
As I said earlier in this thread, everyone has been hit hard by a drop in advertising. Some have deeper pockets than others.
I think twelve FT reporters was a lot in number, but Lotus might be throwing out the content baby with the bathwater by cutting them all. Just my opinion of course, nor am I privy to their financials which no doubt has more backup for the decision.
Other news radio stations with content agreements from the local TV station have tried this before, but discovered just audio from a TV story doesn't always translate properly to a radio audience. And somehow I doubt the news folks at KOMO-TV now that KOMO radio is gone are interested in catering their stories for an audio-only platform, especially when they don't have to. Running local story audio from TV will likely sound clunky.
And news is the most expensive format of all.
Right. A station I worked at in the early '90s had a small but respectable news staff and they were inevitably cut. About a year later after listeners continuously complained about the lack of local news, their solution was to work out a deal with one of the TV stations in that market where the AM station in that radio cluster would carry their 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts from beginning to end, including commercials. They worked it out financially between the radio and TV station involved, and the TV station used it as a feather in their cap to sell additional advertising or charge higher rates since clients' spots were not only seen/heard by their TV audience, but now by a "captive" radio audience as well! The GM and sales folks were thrilled. Those who cared about the quality and content of the on-air product were mortified. Basically they had a small black and white TV in the radio studio that the staff would tune to that TV station to get the news, and they used the 1/8" headphone jack to from the TV to deliver the audio to the console. Back in the analog TV days it wasn't uncommon to get buzzing or high pitched noise as they'd switch from one camera shot to another and all that was going out over the air. News stories and even commercials that relied heavily on the visuals that were seen by the TV audience were lost on radio. I think it lasted a bit more than 6 months before they finally came to their senses and killed the idea.
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It depends on what the reporters do. If they go out, cover stories, and provide audio, that function can be done by TV. As long as there are live anchors reading the news, the audio is just an accessory to telling the story. It's obviously more interesting with actual quotes, but the story can be told without it.
There's no question that advertising revenue has fallen for everyone. Even NPR, Sirius, and Spotify have identified advertising shortfalls as the reason for cutbacks. When revenue goes down, you can't pay people. There are some expenses, such as rent or insurance, they can't avoid. But they can lay off staff. If the people are laid off, they could return when the economy improves.
Well, apparently this is a bigger story than I thought. I noticed on Monday that the KOMO-TV simulcast at 11 PM was gone, and it hasn't returned all week. It does appear that at least some of the reporters are still on through today, as I heard Corwin just the other day, can't remember whether it was yesterday or Wednesday.
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