All News 106.7 is Here…Finally [last song, audio, first impressions]

[BarryATL]

Okay... it has been a very rough weekend for All News 106.7. Here are my observations:

--The weekend folks need some guidance from management. They need someone there to help them along until they are comfortable. And by guidance, I mean in the control room with them.

--There has to be a way for weather temps, radar, and current conditions to be available to the anchors. Weather radar should be on a screen that the anchors can see. Temps need to be available (and communicated over the air) for different parts of the metro area. When they do give a temp, it is just generically "Atlanta". Where is that? Temps at the airport can be much different than Roswell.

--The voice overs for each segment make the station sound automated instead of live and local. There is no interaction (banter) between anybody as there was the first couple of days. The traffic person and the anchor should talk to each other as they segue from news to traffic. The anchor should introduce the weather locally. Right now it really sounds pre-recorded. Adding the live voice before and after Fox 5 would help a lot. Sports, traffic, business, weather all sound automated and pre-recorded.... there is no feel for live and local.

--What is causing all of the tentativeness when the anchors are on the air? Lots of hesitating and pregnant pauses. These guys know how to read on the air. Operationally, something is causing this and needs to be addressed quickly.

--Traffic over the weekend was pretty much a loss except for Sunday afternoon/evening. Saturday during the day was terrible. The person was just reading Hwy numbers and not looking up street numbers. Also, nobody was answering the "traffic trooper" phone for over an hour Saturday.

Out of all of this, the live and local feel is lost when there is only one anchor on the air. It is possible to have it feel live and local, but not when the one anchor and all of the segments have a segmented "network" feel to it.

 

[BarryATL]

One very positive thing was the traffic guy I head Sunday between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. The was all over the concert and downtown traffic problems. He seemed to have a grasp of the local roads and their names. Good job!

 

[ctryboy]

That was Matt Hoffberg, he is the KICKS 101.5 morning show producer.

 

[RunnerDude]

I agree with the posts saying AN106.7 needs distinctive traffic sounders to get attention rather than the VO announcements and soft jazzy music. I personally love the KNX L.A. traffic sounder that mimics car horns with a catchy rhythm. Always gets my attention when I'm zoned out.

 

[nightmanager]

The KFI traffic sound would be one to grab. Sound of squealing brakes, a crash, and bam right into the music. It works amazingly well for them.

(If Clear Channel had A clue, and they don't, they'd make WGST sound exactly like KFI and be done with it. But they won't do it.)

 

[BarryATL]

As usual, John Lisk is doing a great job today. He added at the 11:56 weather break, "Fox 5 Storm Team Radar shows scattered showers around the metro and the Atlanta temp is XX." That is a great step in the right direction.

The sounder beds playing all through a segment sounds like we are joining the 680 The Fan Sports Network... then we join the Atlanta Business Chronicle Network... then we join the traffic network... Then the join the weather network. These news sounder beds a just bad are very distracting. News sounder beds should be for headlines. If you are going to do it for half of the segments each half hour they lose their effectiveness.

I agree with the above about the VO... but, you already know that.

 

[BarryATL]

"this is John Lisk on All News 106.7. All News 106.7 news time is 12:33."

The above is the reason some of us suggested changing the call letters so there is a secondary identity. When I talk to my friends I do not say "Have you heard the new news station All News 106.7?" I say "Have you heard the new 24 hr news station?" I would add a set of call letters to that if they were advertised. All News 106.7 is too long. It would be a little better if it was All News 1067.

The above is not that important, but it is something that jumps out every once in awhile.

 

[richllewis]

The weather report I heard over Itunes made me go check our local radar here in Mississippi. The same front that went through Atlanta is producing rain in the Tupelo-Columbus MS area. But weather in general, unless it is east-west like the front today, is usually past us by the time it reaches Atlanta.

 

[Mrtraveler01]

I just noticed that All News 106.7 is now using the KRLD jingle package (same as the one for News 92 in Houston).

When did this change happen?

 

[BarryATL]

It happened when all of the voice overs appeared late last week. They are not good news sounders to begin with and there is about 6+ minutes of news sounder music bed played during every 30 minute segment. Sports, weather, traffic, business, and two headline segments play the music bed during the entire segment. Too much in my opinion.

Sounders are supposed to be sounders. The news does not need a musical accompaniment. If there is a feeling that more noise needs to be added because FM radio sounds too quiet, then bring in a teletype bed or some such.

 

[BarryATL]

At 11:06 and 11:16 weather, the anchor (listened for 20 minutes and did not give his name) said something to the effect that temps are falling around the metro. Currently at Hartsfield XX, Cartersville XX and Decatur XX degrees. Great job! The anchor is mixing up the cities at each weather break.

The 11:00 hour anchor seems very comfortable at the mic. He is updating the market's closing numbers as I type this.

By the way, the :14 headline news sounder is good. The music bed belongs under the headlines fits and seems natural.

 

[BarryATL]

Fred McFarland is doing great with traffic tonight. Construction all over the metro. He seemed to be clear about where the construction sites were and which lanes would be affected. Also, he used the common names for intersections and affected roads. No hesitation and seemed comfortable... felt comfortable on this side of the radio (computer).

The 11:26 weathercast the anchor talked about some weather on the radar affecting the midwest that would probably be in our area by dawn. Fantastic!

Okay... I have listened for a complete 30 minute news cycle (11:05 - 11:36 PM) and still no name for the anchor.

 

[BarryATL]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

 

[RTibbs]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

Did you notice how as soon as wpb1999 left Rooddy appeared???? A conspiracy theorist would see it as more than a coincidence??? Roddy are you keeping something from us.

The only one to display such enthusiasm and leave abruptly would be oh I don't know Good Times and Great Oldies???

 

[jabba17]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

Did you notice how as soon as wpb1999 left Rooddy appeared???? A conspiracy theorist would see it as more than a coincidence??? Roddy are you keeping something from us.

The only one to display such enthusiasm and leave abruptly would be oh I don't know Good Times and Great Oldies???

Or Mr. Emo, insidemyhead, who had a perpetual malaise for the demise of [email protected].

 

[RTibbs]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

Did you notice how as soon as wpb1999 left Rooddy appeared???? A conspiracy theorist would see it as more than a coincidence??? Roddy are you keeping something from us.

The only one to display such enthusiasm and leave abruptly would be oh I don't know Good Times and Great Oldies???

Or Mr. Emo, insidemyhead, who had a perpetual malaise for the demise of [email protected].

Ahh my good buddy Insideyourhead. I don't remember Mr. Emo but what about Freebird Fantasia was it GST obsessed? Or the person who was obsessed with Christmas music, ChristmasinAtlanta or something like that. Or Dr. Bombay.

 

[jabba17]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

Did you notice how as soon as wpb1999 left Rooddy appeared???? A conspiracy theorist would see it as more than a coincidence??? Roddy are you keeping something from us.

The only one to display such enthusiasm and leave abruptly would be oh I don't know Good Times and Great Oldies???

Or Mr. Emo, insidemyhead, who had a perpetual malaise for the demise of [email protected].

Ahh my good buddy Insideyourhead. I don't remember Mr. Emo but what about Freebird Fantasia was it GST obsessed? Or the person who was obsessed with Christmas music, ChristmasinAtlanta or something like that. Or Dr. Bombay.

Was Dr. Bombay a Greaseman fan?

Mr. Emo was my description of insideyourhead.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

What happened to wpb1999? We have not heard from him since Thursday or Friday. Did he go on vacation?

Did you notice how as soon as wpb1999 left Rooddy appeared???? A conspiracy theorist would see it as more than a coincidence??? Roddy are you keeping something from us.

The only one to display such enthusiasm and leave abruptly would be oh I don't know Good Times and Great Oldies???

Gee, how did you ever guess?

 

[BarryATL]

AN106.7 continues to make changes and tweak the on air product. It keeps getting better.

--Markets are updated after the business news.
--Sometimes the sports is updated or read by the anchor in the late evening with scores.
--When there is only one anchor they are using pre-recorded reporter voices in the headlines.
--The news sounders are being changed for the better. (will discuss in more detail in next post)
--Traffic is doing much better in listing streets.
--The anchors are giving current conditions after each weather forecast.
--Anchors are telling us what is on weather radar.

Here are the areas that I think still need improvement.

--Some of the VO need to go away. Especially the one before traffic. *IF* traffic is live, then the anchor should use a sounder and talk to the traffic person. Right now the ONLY thing that sounds live is the anchor. Everything else on AN106.7 sounds pre-recorded.
--When giving the temp it is helpful to list temps for more than just Atlanta. I have heard only one anchor list temps from different parts of the metro. Make the connection to the towns where people live. The temp is the easy way to make that connection. Joe Doe who drives from Cartersville to the airport each day thinks the station is a little more local when once in awhile he hears the temp for Cartersville. This is a missed opportunity to connect to the listener.
--Traffic reports have gotten shorter. Your signature is the traffic reports. Let them take as long as they need.
--Advertise traffic and weather together on the sixes.
--Become the weather authority for Atlanta. Give details... always talk about the radar. Advertise that AN106.7 is the place to turn if there is every a problem. Make sure NWS weather alerts can be seen IMMEDIATELY by the anchor and the anchor knows that a weather alert is considered breaking news. Make sure the anchors can break format for weather when needed. WSB has a huge lead in the weather area. AN106.7 should be wall to wall live if there is every a weather problem and format be damned.
--Music beds...... discussed in next post.

That is how I see it so far.

 

[BarryATL]

Okay... music beds. During the time period :14 through :22 every single spoken word (besides the 120 seconds of commercial) has a music bed under it. Music bed after music bed after music bed after music bed. Please stop the madness!

Here is an approximation of the AN106.7 clock (without the commercial breaks listed and there are lots of those):

:59 Headlines w/music bed
:00 ABC News
:02 News
:06 Traffic w/music bed
:07 Weather w/music bed
:10 News
:14 Headlines w/music bed
:15 Sports w/music bed
:16 Traffic w/music bed
:17 Weather w/music bed
:20 Business w/music bed
:23 News
:26 Traffic w/music bed
:27 Weather w/music bed
:29 Headlines w/music bed
:30 ABC Headlines

Almost everything has a music bed. Why? Sometimes they are too loud... sometimes they are too musical (the business one was distracting until it was changed today). This is the ONLY news station I have ever listened to that has all of these music beds. Is there something going on in the imaging of this station that I have missed? Run a loop with newsroom noise if the sound is too quiet... or a teletype or anything other than all of the music.

On a positive note, the new news sounder package is great. The anchors need to know how to use it better. Coming out of the TOH ABC news, the anchors are hesitating too much and the fast paced rhythm is lost. Also, the start of the news sounder going out of the TOH ABC News is generally sloppy. Sometimes we hear a bit of the network commercial and mostly we hear a second or so of dead air then the sounder. When the sounder starts the anchor should start talking immediately after the three notes of the sounder so the rhythm continues.