ABC Radio vs. CBS Radio

[nate81]

> > > > ABC still has demographic networks but mostly what is
> > > > different are the spots. All are branded as ABC News.
> > > > There are not differences in content or presentation of
> > > > newscasts listeners can identify.
> >
> > > Basically, Info is ABC's "flagship" cast, and the other
> > > feeds are basically identical to each other. There's no
> > > appreciable difference between the "Direction",
> > > "Entertainment" and "Contemporary" feeds (among others!).
> >
> > I have noticed that ABC-D (if this is correct) uses
> > different anchors, plus even has a different news sounder
> > from all the others. The ABC-D cast is also usually four
> > minutes long from 6a-12a, and three minutes from 12a-6a,
> > with one minutes of spots for all newscasts.
>
> That newscast is actually the ABC Entertainment newscast. It
> has the kinda "rock n roll" sounder and starts with "Here's
> the Latest From ABC News I'm..."
>
> Regular anchors on weekdays are:
> Morning: Michael Barr (M-W), Liz White (Th-F)
> Midday: Bob Schmidt (M-Th), Karen Chase (F) - regular
> Fill-In, Pam Coulter
> Evenings: Clarissa Douglass (M-Th, I think), can't remember
> who does Fridays, either Chuck Sivertson or Steve Taylor
> Overnights: Gil Fox 3 days a week, and it was Marcia Salter
> the other 4 days, but I haven't heard here in a while,
> instead its been Dave Schreiber.
>
> Weekends are kinda hard to track but:
> Morning: Barr, White, or Joan Bennett
> Middays: Lauren Rodgers
> Evenings: Clarissa Douglass or Steve Taylor
> Overnights: Marcia Salter (or, if she's gone, Dave
> Schreiber)

That is pretty much what I was referring to here. Is there a specific reason why the overnight casts are just three mintues long?

> > First, there's the original "NBC Radio News" - replete with
> > the old '82 era sounder - which is only fed from 5a-11a on
> > weekdays in a five-minute cast. With the same CBS anchor,
> > and just a simple "This is NBC Radio News" at :04:57 past.
> > (CNN Radio News is fed the rest of the day.)
>
> That NBC Radio News cast died about a year ago.

Now I know. RIP. That was still a classic sounder, though (saved onto my hard drive at home...)

- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partership Representative
Student Senate
Lorain County Community College, Elyria, Ohio

LCCC Radio - The Duck</P>

 

[OldAkronite]

> So, basically, unless you can manage to get powerhouse
> stations like WCBS New York, or WBBM Chicago at night over
> the air, or 24/7 online, or even be fortunate enough to get
> a local affiliate near you, you can't CBS News On The Hour,
> am I right?

It's not quite THAT bad...there are still pretty decent pockets of CBS affiliates. The mid-Atlantic region is one of those, and heck, WTOP/DC's 4 signals alone cover much of that region.

But even there, CBS has slowly been losing affiliates.

The upshot is that you'll find the CBS affiliates, but in any given area you're much more likely to find one a station running one of ABC's 5 or so iterations. Even among Westwood One's own products, you're also more likely to find a CNN Radio affiliate these days, but part of that is due to their pairing CNN on the WW1 24/7 satellite feeds.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>

 

[jh]

> That is pretty much what I was referring to here. Is there a
> specific reason why the overnight casts are just three
> mintues long?
>

Less work for the anchor? I don't know, most of the stations running these casts are probably talk stations, which means they have an extra minute to fill in the six-minute hole at the top of the hour. And when they go to three minutes, they also drop the two-minute :57 update.

 

[jh]

> > So, basically, unless you can manage to get powerhouse
> > stations like WCBS New York, or WBBM Chicago at night over
>
> > the air, or 24/7 online, or even be fortunate enough to
> get
> > a local affiliate near you, you can't CBS News On The
> Hour,
> > am I right?
>
> It's not quite THAT bad...there are still pretty decent
> pockets of CBS affiliates. The mid-Atlantic region is one
> of those, and heck, WTOP/DC's 4 signals alone cover much of
> that region.
>
> But even there, CBS has slowly been losing affiliates.

And CBS will probably be a bigger loser than ABC in the CC switch to Fox. At least in the midwest, there are a lot of markets where there are really only two AMs running TOH networks casts. (The other AMs are sports, religion, or Spanish.) In a lot of these markets the CC station is running ABC/Harvey, the other CBS. There may be a few cases where ABC is able to snag an FM affiliate for Harvey and one of their nets (maybe an oldies or country station) but most places ABC will probably move to the CBS. And where does that leave CBS? No FM is going to take it. Maybe they'll pick up a few current CNN affiliates.




>
> The upshot is that you'll find the CBS affiliates, but in
> any given area you're much more likely to find one a station
> running one of ABC's 5 or so iterations. Even among
> Westwood One's own products, you're also more likely to find
> a CNN Radio affiliate these days, but part of that is due to
> their pairing CNN on the WW1 24/7 satellite feeds.
>
> -OA
>

 

[NeilParks]

> Finally, what are the differences between ABC and CBS?

On CBS all the anchors sound like professional newscasters.

On ABC some of them do. Doug Limerick does not. Others fall somewhere in between.

CBS has "World News Roundup" at 7 am and 7 pm Eastern Time which would sound excellent if the stations didn't butcher it beyond all recognition, cutting away any old time they pleased after 1 minute or 3 minutes, even in mid-story.

 

[NeilParks]

Infinity all-news stations and CBS TOH

> (As far as I know, none of the all-news major market CBS stations use the 6 minute TOH cast,

WCBS (NYC) has done so for years, though at some weekday hours it cuts away after the first commercial to go into local news. WWJ Detroit uses the TOH cast whenever I've heard it. (But WWJ butchers World News Roundup.)

 

[KMan]

> > Finally, what are the differences between ABC and CBS?
>
> On CBS all the anchors sound like professional newscasters.

Except Chris McGreedies (sp?)...

I hope Jim Chenevey is back tonight.........

 

[OldAkronite]

Re: Infinity all-news stations and CBS TOH

> WCBS (NYC) has done so for years, though at some weekday
> hours it cuts away after the first commercial to go into
> local news. WWJ Detroit uses the TOH cast whenever I've
> heard it. (But WWJ butchers World News Roundup.)

And come to think of it, I've been within range of WBBM/Chicago in recent days, and they use the TOH network cast, too. Even in afternoon drive!

For that matter, so does KCBS in San Francisco.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>