Lotus

[TheBigA]

It still makes it hard to build personal relationships that can help in reporting, in my opinion..

It's simply impossible for any size staff to compete with user generated content. It's like a place now has 5 million reporters. The best a station can do is monitor all sources, and know how to contact someone who is on location where a story is happening. Otherwise you're playing whack a mole.

Now the educational philosophy is called "convergence journalism" where content is shared among print, public radio, commercial television, and associated websites. This is a move necessitated by the job market grads will be facing.

Correct. Every college has its specialization. The ones I work with (there are several) have combined communications with music. Music needs to reach an audience, and communicators need content. So they're mutually beneficial. There is still journalism, but it's as you describe, involving audio/video/social/text in a way that has a revenue stream at every point. The schools have radio stations, but they teach voice-tracking and Selector music scheduling automation. It's a veery different world, and I'm happy to share in what they know.

Even so, when there's a big story, boots on the ground are essential for good coverage.

I agree. Last week's shooting in Maine was a great case in point. The shooting happened at 7PM ET. The city offices were closed, TV & radio were in network or syndication, and everyone was off for the day. The closest big city to Lewiston was Boston. So as you describe, it was all hands on deck. Everyone available from Boston drove to Lewiston, got there around 11 PM, checked in their hotel, and started reporting. Between 8 PM and 11PM, actual news coverage was very limited. But once everyone got there, it was a full time news story, just like covering the White House. Boots on the ground are essential, but impractical for most news coverage today. You just can't afford to staff that way.

 

[bobdavcav]

Update, at least at 11:00 PM on weeknights, the TV simulcast is gone, but nothing else seems out of the ordinary. There were a few headlines given by the anchor, then one story with a KOMO-TV reporter. Also it appears that Kelly Blyer was one of the victims of the cuts, as it's been Jeff Pojela (I probably butchered the spelling of his name) anchoring evenings the past week.

 

[crainbebo]

All-news radio seems to be dying. Look, everyone is getting the news through Facebook or Instagram feeds anyway. Even cable news is dying. Fox News still wins with the under-50s but at a smaller audience than 65+. And that also applies for MSNBC/CNN.

How long can 1000 AM stay all-news before they end up becoming a generic news/talk station? And is Lotus willing to keep the 97.7 in the South Sound for years to come, or sell it off to (probably) a religious operator?

 

[bossbill]

When I worked at KOL 50 years ago. we had a staff member who monitored the traffic updates from the radio frequencies used by KOMO Radio for reports from their in-the-air traffic reporter. We had the traffic updates on the air before KOMO did! Finding this out, KOMO issued a spurious report on the two-way, which KOL got on the air ASAP, and KOMO recorded. Gotcha!

Nowadays, everyone steals from everybody.

 

[Kelly A]

Nowadays, everyone steals from everybody.

Even if it's made up or untrue, to begin with. 'If I heard it on the radio, or saw it on cable TV, it must be true, right?'

 

[PTBoardOp94]

All-news radio seems to be dying. Look, everyone is getting the news through Facebook or Instagram feeds anyway. Even cable news is dying. Fox News still wins with the under-50s but at a smaller audience than 65+. And that also applies for MSNBC/CNN.

To be clear, a MUCH smaller audience. Just 11% of FNC viewers in prime time for July-September were in the age 25-54 bracket, 10% at MSNBC, and 19% at CNN.

All-News radio actually attracts a somewhat younger audience than cable TV news. Median in the mid 50s for radio, median in the early 60s for cable news.

How long can 1000 AM stay all-news before they end up becoming a generic news/talk station? And is Lotus willing to keep the 97.7 in the South Sound for years to come, or sell it off to (probably) a religious operator?

It really depends on the ratings after these cuts. If Seattle listeners continue to leave KNWN with its new style of reportage, the format probably goes. I'd think they would keep 97.7 paired with AM1000 though.

 

[Kelly A]

It really depends on the ratings after these cuts. If Seattle listeners continue to leave KNWN with its new style of reportage, the format probably goes. I'd think they would keep 97.7 paired with AM1000 though.

And all 97.7 does is turn electricity into waste heat. Without adequate coverage in key King County suburbs East of I-5, it's essentially useless.

Was talking with someone the other day about Lotus' plight with KNWN, and he brought up an interesting rhetorical point:
Maybe in an era where people can get local headlines sent to their phones, a news radio station that pretty much only does headlines has become irrelevant. KIRO is successful by mixing headlines about gang shootings and porch fires with talk hosts and sports. Oh, and KIRO has a full market FM signal too.

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe in an era where people can get local headlines sent to their phones, a news radio station that pretty much only does headlines has become irrelevant.

I hear this all the time. These are two different processes. Push vs pull media. People in NY, SF, DC, and Chicago also have access to news on their phones, and yet they also listen to news on the radio. People can do both. If we base what we do in radio on content exclusivity, we might as well all shut down the transmitters and go home.

 

[Kelly A]

I hear this all the time. These are two different processes. Push vs pull media. People in NY, SF, DC, and Chicago also have access to news on their phones, and yet they also listen to news on the radio. People can do both. If we base what we do in radio on content exclusivity, we might as well all shut down the transmitters and go home.

The point is; that maybe the differentiation between the current success of a KIRO and KUOW who have more than headlines and :90 seconds about the headline. That, and FM signals that cover King County.

 

[TheBigA]

The point is; that maybe the differentiation between the current success of a KIRO and KUOW who have more than headlines and :90 seconds about the headline. That, and FM signals that cover King County.

But the all-news stations that succeed in other markets also are mainly headline services. That's kind of what the format it. However, if all KNWN does is headlines, why did they need a staff of reporters?

 

[Kelly A]

But the all-news stations that succeed in other markets also are mainly headline services. That's kind of what the format it. However, if all KNWN does is headlines, why did they need a staff of reporters?

To cover the local headlines. To my friend's point; covering the local headline for :90 or less doesn't make for good TSL.

 

[TheBigA]

To cover the local headlines. To my friend's point; covering the local headline for :90 or less doesn't make for good TSL.

News stations don't aim for TSL. Talk stations do. Two different approaches. All news stations aim for return visits. Give us 22 minutes, we give you the world. Check back four or five times a day. That's what they say at WINS.

 

[Kelly A]

News stations don't aim for TSL. Talk stations do. Two different approaches. All news stations aim for return visits. Give us 22 minutes, we give you the world. Check back four or five times a day. That's what they say at WINS.

But even if you get 22 minutes, that still gives you at least one quarter-hour credit which counts toward TSL.

 

[TheBigA]

But even if you get 22 minutes, that still gives you at least one quarter-hour credit which counts toward TSL.

It does, and that's why they say it. But you said KNWN doesn't have good TSL, and I expect that's true. News stations repeat the headlines a lot and some find that annoying. But the format is about cycling through current news, so that can become repetitive. It's only useful to listen for short bites. KUOW mixes in a lot of feature stories and a wide variety of news beyond the local area. KIRO is part of a unified TV/radio/online presence. News stations outside the Top 10 markets have mixed in talk shows in their presentation, and I expect KNWN will try to do that somehow. KTAR Phoenix does it.

 

[Kelly A]

News stations outside the Top 10 markets have mixed in talk shows in their presentation, and I expect KNWN will try to do that somehow. KTAR Phoenix does it.

The challenge for Lotus is they already have a (for the most part) full-time right-wing talk station in KVI.
The risk is cannibalizing an already expensive talk station with another talk show on the 'news' station likely at the same time as KIRO has talk programming.

 

[boombox4]

This issue with KNWN's situation as a news radio station reflects a bigger one -- that journalism in general is in decline, and it's changed to the online, blog / influencer opinion model.

And don't forget social media's place in modern day news. If I want to know why there is a cop helo and a couple other helos circling over the next neighborhood, I'm not going to find out in a local suburban newspaper, because there is none. The metro newspaper won't cover it, and if they do, it will be some time next week. Local TV might mention it if there was a shooting or a massive fire.

But if I want to know why 50 cop cars were flying down the highways towards the next neighborhood with several helos flying overhead, social media sites like Nextdoor Neighborhood are the go-to. They may send me to a legit news site. They may not. It may not matter. Someone will actually know something about it. And whatever they know will be adequate.

And it's free. Can't beat the cost of free, right?

In the 1980s, when journalism was at its apex, there were between 250K-300K journalists in the US -- print, TV, radio, etc. Today, with nearly 100 million more people in the US, there are around 46K actual journalists, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps data on this sort of thing. They don't count all the individuals on Nextdoor acting as 'reporters', nor do they probably count half the opinionated "News" blogs on the internet, nor do they probably count influencers who spread their version of what they would consider "news" (which others would call fake news) who either have their own vlog, website, substack, or social media outpost.

But journalism, as we were taught in the 1980s anyway, really doesn't exist anymore. It's morphed into a sort of pseudo-journo-social-influencer delivered infotainment.

Sad to hear about the people who are being laid off at KNWN and elsewhere in radio right now. Sucks when you get the notice. Been there, done that.....

 

[Kelly A]

This issue with KNWN's situation as a news radio station reflects a bigger one -- that journalism in general is in decline, and it's changed to the online, blog / influencer opinion model.

Your comment reminds me of meetings I used to attend in the late 90's/early 2000's where the whole online blogger thing was coming into it's own. Discussions of how we could utilize 'citizen journalists' within newscasts always came into play. The problematic aspect is the same today as then; how much work and time is lost following up to verify the report? Does the citizen journalist have some sort of agenda that colors the story? If the story is slanted, how do you make sure all sides are presented?
How do you compensate the citizen journalist, considering some staff will need to confirm the story and probably write it?

And don't forget social media's place in modern day news. If I want to know why there is a cop helo and a couple other helos circling over the next neighborhood, I'm not going to find out in a local suburban newspaper, because there is none. The metro newspaper won't cover it, and if they do, it will be some time next week. Local TV might mention it if there was a shooting or a massive fire.

And that's what we have today with 'news' on social media. The citizens who would need to be checked by news people just go on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, whatever. All unverified.

 

[davideduardo]

In the 1980s, when journalism was at its apex, there were between 250K-300K journalists in the US -- print, TV, radio, etc. Today, with nearly 100 million more people in the US, there are around 46K actual journalists, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps data on this sort of thing.

On the other hand, journalism was a lot more labor intensive before PCs. It took lots more time for the reporter to write. More time to edit and verify. Time for folks like the "City Editor" and the like to allocate column inches and depth of a story. Time to do typesetting and proofing.

Same goes for TV: a local demonstration that was filmed had to have the film physically taken back to the studio, where a team would develop and edit it and write a script. Several hours, at least, from even to broadcast and a dozen or more people involved. Today, it can be done live with a one to two person crew on site, a producer, an editor and one or two anchor's on the set. And even the on-site "film" is being replaced by video provided by spectators.

So today, it takes far less person-power to create a "news medium" than it did 40 or more years ago. My point is that not so many journalists are needed today.

 

[davideduardo]

How do you compensate the citizen journalist, considering some staff will need to confirm the story and probably write it?

And that's what we have today with 'news' on social media. The citizens who would need to be checked by news people just go on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, whatever. All unverified.

I mentioned in the past the little dinner-with-beer gatherings that a group of us would always have after a major news event occurred in Ecuador in the 60's. Our group included local and regional correspondents for everything from Newsweek to several of the news "wires" and magazines.

A week or so later, we'd meet with the clippings from Time, Newsweek, Times of London, and major papers from Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow as well as teletype tears from AP, UPI, FrancePress, Pravda, Reuters and Prensa Latina. And anything else we could get, like leftist Tiempo from Mexico City.

We had all been at and in the reported even, whether the overthrow of a president or the signing of the contract for the Trans-Andean oil pipeline. We saw it happen.

Every report was flavored with the political outlook of the news outlet or service. Some took sociopolitical perspectives, others were pure economics from the capitalist to socialist spectrum, some were human impact centered. But the amazing thing is that in many cases a "fresh" reader might think that the collection of articles was about two or three totally different events. No report was a flagrant lie; each simply described what the reporter and the journal thought was important.

 

[PB Randolf]

This issue with KNWN's situation as a news radio station reflects a bigger one -- that journalism in general is in decline, and it's changed to the online, blog / influencer opinion model.

And don't forget social media's place in modern day news. If I want to know why there is a cop helo and a couple other helos circling over the next neighborhood, I'm not going to find out in a local suburban newspaper, because there is none. The metro newspaper won't cover it, and if they do, it will be some time next week. Local TV might mention it if there was a shooting or a massive fire.

But if I want to know why 50 cop cars were flying down the highways towards the next neighborhood with several helos flying overhead, social media sites like Nextdoor Neighborhood are the go-to. They may send me to a legit news site. They may not. It may not matter. Someone will actually know something about it. And whatever they know will be adequate.

And it's free. Can't beat the cost of free, right?

In the 1980s, when journalism was at its apex, there were between 250K-300K journalists in the US -- print, TV, radio, etc. Today, with nearly 100 million more people in the US, there are around 46K actual journalists, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps data on this sort of thing. They don't count all the individuals on Nextdoor acting as 'reporters', nor do they probably count half the opinionated "News" blogs on the internet, nor do they probably count influencers who spread their version of what they would consider "news" (which others would call fake news) who either have their own vlog, website, substack, or social media outpost.

But journalism, as we were taught in the 1980s anyway, really doesn't exist anymore. It's morphed into a sort of pseudo-journo-social-influencer delivered infotainment.

Sad to hear about the people who are being laid off at KNWN and elsewhere in radio right now. Sucks when you get the notice. Been there, done that.....

Journalisim is dead. Newsroom Generative AI Lead.