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Why Do So Few iHeart Stations Use iHeart 24/7 News or NBC News Radio?

G

Gregg.

iHeart offers stations two different top-of-the-hour newscasts, even though they are virtually the same. Same anchor, same stories but different identities. Only a handful of iHeart Talk stations run 24/7 and I don't know of any carrying NBC News Radio. I have a list of affiliates below. To compare them, I listened to NBC News Radio on WSM Nashville and I tuned in 24/7 on KSTE Sacramento.

24/7 is a "white label" newscast where you never hear the name of the network. No one ever says "24/7" or "iHeart." Meanwhile, NBC News Radio is branded with the TV network, even though I really don't hear any NBC correspondents' reports on the service. Maybe the iHeart news staff will cull a report from NBC Nightly News or Today but I usually don't hear it.

For NBC, anchors will prerecord their voice saying "NBC News Radio. I'm John Smith", which airs as the NBC sounder music plays. Meanwhile, 247 affiliates hear the anchor simply begin the newscast with the first story. No introduction, no mention of his name. Each affiliated station will have a prerecorded intro for the newscast because the network always starts cold.

The anchor does his outro the same way. Just before going into the break, I guess he hits a button. The NBC affiliates hear him say "I'm John Smith, NBC News Radio." Meanwhile the 24/7 affiliates hear him say "I'm John Smith." And I think it's the same thing for the end of the newscast too.

Isn't it funny that these networks are owned and operated by iHeart, yet only a few iHeart stations use 24/7 newscasts and none that I know of use NBC? Most iHeart Talk stations carry Fox News Radio, which iHeart doesn't directly own but has a financial interest in. And a handful use ABC, I suppose carried over from before there were a Fox News Radio, 24/7 or NBC News Radio.


Here are the stations I know of that run 24/7. The ones owned by iHeart have an *

Cincinnati ... 550 WKRC*

Nashville ... 1510 WLAC*

Oklahoma City ... 1520 KOKC

Pueblo ... 590 KCSJ*

Sacramento ... 650 KSTE* (switched from CBS)

Salt Lake City ... 570 and 105.9 KNRS-AM-FM*

Seattle ... 1090 KPTR*

Washington ... 104.7 W284CQ* (Translator station "Freedom 104.7" fed by WMZQ-HD2)

And the iHeartRadio app has a full time channel with all 24/7 newscasts, sports and weather updates and other features.



NBC News Radio affiliates. Oddly, I don't know of any station owned by iHeart that runs this network.

Duluth ... 610 and 650 KDAL

Nashville ... 650 WSM

Topeka ... 580 WIBW



And these iHeart stations are ABC affiliates, not using any of the iHeart news networks.

Akron ... 640 WHLO

Boston ... 1030 WBZ (switched from CBS - airs newscasts overnight)

Boston ... 680 WRKO

Cincinnati ... 700 WLW

Cleveland ... 1100 WTAM

Columbus ... 610 WTVN

Denver ... 850 KOA

Denver ... 630 KHOW

Houston ... 740 KTRH

Lexington ... 630 WLAP

Los Angeles ... 640 KFI (doesn't air ABC newscasts but uses correspondents' reports and live interviews with hosts)

Louisville ... 840 WHAS

Portland ... 1190 KEX

Sacramento ... 1530 and 93.1 KFBK-AM-FM

Youngstown ... 570 WKBN

.
 
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Keep in mind that iHeart also distributes Fox News. Some iHeart stations carry Fox.

The iHeart 24/7 staff also do local traffic reports. So it's possible the iHeart stations carry the iHeart traffic reports while using ABC TOH news.

ABC provides other services besides TOH newscasts that iHeart stations need, such as web content.

A similar question might be asked about why so few Cumulus stations carry the Westwood One 24/7 music formats.
 
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Gregg. said:
Denver ... 850 KOA

Denver ... 630 KHOW
Click to expand...
That said, KOA only runs ABC newscasts in weekend off-peak hours, and possibly overnights (I'm not going to get up at 3 am to see). Most of the time, it's running newscasts from the 24/7 regional newsroom, which happens to be in Denver, which could be considered local. KCSJ in Pueblo and KCOL in the Fort Collins market also have newscasts produced by the regional newsroom. KHOW usually runs two minutes of ABC followed by 24/7. Locally produced KOA newscasts can include actualities and reports from ABC and Fox. KDFD only runs Fox TOH newscasts.

TheBigA said:
Keep in mind that iHeart also distributes Fox News. Some iHeart stations carry Fox.

The iHeart 24/7 staff also do local traffic reports. So it's possible the iHeart stations carry the iHeart traffic reports while using ABC TOH news.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what KHOW (and, occasionally, KOA) does.
 


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