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AP Death Watch?

L

Les

Guest
OK, finally stopped laughing.

Just read an announcement from AP about how they're "enhancing" their
hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not raising the
price.

Oh, they're also monkeying with their bottom-hour updates and eliminating
all feature feeds but, again, they're not raising the price.

Can nobody at AP spell "Fox"?

Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH? Would welcome
comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being accomplished.
Satellite details? Internet?

Change is in the air......
 
How about a moment of silence for UPI so that we might reflect on how poor the AP has become since they lacked a real competitor.

And can anybody spell "Reuters?" The only news organization in a position to compete with the AP.

The mantra of America business is "how little can we get away with and how much can we get away with charging for it?" Sounds like AP has bought in. Too bad the Japanese didn't buy UPI instead of the Moonies. They'd improve the speed, quality and accuracy, offer more and charge less (and make more money while they're doing it).


> OK, finally stopped laughing.
>
> Just read an announcement from AP about how they're
> "enhancing" their
> hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not raising
> the
> price.
>
> Oh, they're also monkeying with their bottom-hour updates
> and eliminating
> all feature feeds but, again, they're not raising the price.
>
>
> Can nobody at AP spell "Fox"?
>
> Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH?
> Would welcome
> comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being
> accomplished.
> Satellite details? Internet?
>
> Change is in the air......
>
 
AP went from a great service that mid & small market N/T stations would kill for, if they could afford the cash payment (barter wasn't started until 2004 or so), to a second-rate radio network on the level with CNN Radio, NBC Radio, or USA Radio Network News. The fact they can't even put together a 5 minute TOH newscast shows how much they have cut from the network. They also canned the network wide sports at :45 and business updates during the day. I loved the AP 24-Hour All News Service, too bad they killed that too. Most stations that used the AP 24-Hour All-News Service also had a network affiliation, so the AP 24-Hour All-News was used with their main network news to augment programming. Heck, even some big stations like KOMO & KRLD were using it to put together a good news product with their local staff for nights, overnights, and weekends.

If you had a N/T station that was exclusively using AP, what's the point in staying with them when they have severely cut back their news product? Between any of the 4 ABC Networks, CBS, or FOX, a station that wants news should be able to find a consistent product among those choices.



> OK, finally stopped laughing.
>
> Just read an announcement from AP about how they're
> "enhancing" their
> hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not raising
> the
> price.
>
> Oh, they're also monkeying with their bottom-hour updates
> and eliminating
> all feature feeds but, again, they're not raising the price.
>
>
> Can nobody at AP spell "Fox"?
>
> Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH?
> Would welcome
> comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being
> accomplished.
> Satellite details? Internet?
>
> Change is in the air......
>
 
> Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH?
> Would welcome
> comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being
> accomplished.
> Satellite details? Internet?

I think it's a little too early to discuss how Fox is doing. Though I'm sort of surprised my station hasn't seen a lot of listener comments...Lord knows I heard enough about how we should dump CBS Radio News during the whole Rather thing. (And no, trying to explain that they were two different services and we were under contract did not resonate.)

Feed's are sent through satellite. For now, the one minute TOH feed's still being fed through an ABC sat...5 minute TOH (and one minute BOH option) is a Premiere service. News feeds are sent from the bird, but are also available for download from the affiliate website (a wonderful idea).

FYI, Westwood One also offers affiliates downloads of certain features over the Net as well as the bird.
 
> I think it's a little too early to discuss how Fox is doing.
> Though I'm sort of surprised my station hasn't seen a lot
> of listener comments...Lord knows I heard enough about how
> we should dump CBS Radio News during the whole Rather thing.
> (And no, trying to explain that they were two different
> services and we were under contract did not resonate.)

It never does. The Rather thing was a talking point and you heard the same rhetoric framed precisely the same way on every single conservative talk show. Then you get 100 or so rabid listeners who call the switchboard and spew venom at the receptionist. Meanwhile, the vast majority of listeners could care less and are happy with or without CBS. In the end, nobody flees a conservative talk station just because there is a bong at the top of the hour and that familiar news sounder.
 
> How about a moment of silence for UPI so that we might
> reflect on how poor the AP has become since they lacked a
> real competitor.
>
They weren't that good for radio even when UPI was around. AP has always been a newspaper service first, then TV, then radio. For the past several weekends, the AP broadcast wire in Iowa has had no product until late in the afternoon for the TV stations and newspapers, nothing at all in the morning for radio!

When we had UPI they were always more responsive, I think because we were a customer. With AP, you're not a customer, you're a "member."

> And can anybody spell "Reuters?" The only news organization
> in a position to compete with the AP.

For national and world news, but not for state product.

>
> The mantra of America business is "how little can we get
> away with and how much can we get away with charging for
> it?" Sounds like AP has bought in. Too bad the Japanese
> didn't buy UPI instead of the Moonies. They'd improve the
> speed, quality and accuracy, offer more and charge less (and
> make more money while they're doing it).
>

As I recall, UPI was first purchased by somebody in Mexico, then some years later sold to some outfit in the middle east connected with the cable channel Financial News Network. Although their news product was good (this was in the late 80s) there were always management problems. We withheld payment due to a billing problem and it took them over a year to figure it out despite our repeated calls, letters, etc.

>
> > OK, finally stopped laughing.
> >
> > Just read an announcement from AP about how they're
> > "enhancing" their
> > hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not
> raising
> > the
> > price.

They're not raising the price YET. They will. They always do. Although I think AP calls it an "assessment" since they're a non-profit co-op.

> >
> > Oh, they're also monkeying with their bottom-hour updates
> > and eliminating
> > all feature feeds but, again, they're not raising the
> price.
> >
> >
> > Can nobody at AP spell "Fox"?

I understand our group has signed an agreement with Fox, although the ABC affiliates with Paul Harvey will remain with ABC.


> >
> > Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH?
> > Would welcome
> > comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being
> > accomplished.
> > Satellite details? Internet?
> >
> > Change is in the air......
> >
>
 
>
> When we had UPI they were always more responsive, I think
> because we were a customer. With AP, you're not a customer,
> you're a "member."
>

But not a full, voting member. More like a guest member (an oxymoron) who gets to pay a fee set by members and use the pool or golf course on a limited basis during the off hours. AP is of, by and for newspapers. Always has been.


> > And can anybody spell "Reuters?" The only news
> organization
> > in a position to compete with the AP.
>
> For national and world news, but not for state product.
>
> >

AP mostly gets state and local news ("of spontaneous origin") from newspapers. They have state capitol and large city bureaus mostly to get the news from the newspapers and put it on the wire. They cover little or nothing themselves. UPI had small, scrappy bureaus. They weren't entitled to take news even from client newspapers, so they had to go get it themlves; often with very limited resources. Reuters could follow UPI's example and do the same; then set up "Reuter's Audio."
 
> As I recall, UPI was first purchased by somebody in Mexico,
> then some years later sold to some outfit in the middle east
> connected with the cable channel Financial News Network.

The Middle East Broadcasting Corporation based in London I believe owned it for awhile. Pat Robertson even had some money in it. Now it's owned by the Moonies, which means credibility problems. Most of their client base fled years ago and stay gone.
 
I just checked out the news clocks at apbroadcast.com - beware as it is a .pdf file - for APNN. It's set to take effect July 25.

What a shame. The whole operation seems to have been gutted. Can't help but see it as a kick in the teeth to not only small-town N/T stations. One example is WEOL-Elyria, which had used AP ANR as a complement to their news operation. But several successful college radio stations (WBWC-Berea comes to mind) also have used APNN for TOH newscasts.

The BOH "newscast," if you want to call it that, is a :60 sec status report that will also air at :55 past. The explanation is so N/T stations can squeeze the BOH cast with traffic, weather, and local news. Just who buys THAT?

BTW, the only Fox Radio News affil in the Midwest that I know picked up the TOH newscast is WOWO/1190- Fort Wayne. Had been promoting it for some time, but WOWO finally dumped their longtime ABC-I affil to pick up FRN. From what I've heard by DXing WOWO, FRN is doing a decent job. The clock seems to go like this:

00:00-02:30 - News content
02:30-03:30 - Commercials
03:30-05:30 - News content

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

http://www.lorainccc.edu</P>
 
> OK, finally stopped laughing.
>
> Just read an announcement from AP about how they're
> "enhancing" their
> hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not raising
> the
> price.
>
> Oh, they're also monkeying with their bottom-hour updates
> and eliminating
> all feature feeds but, again, they're not raising the price.
>
>
> Can nobody at AP spell "Fox"?
>
> Anybody on board who is using the new FOX 5-minute TOH?
> Would welcome
> comments on how it's performing and how the feed is being
> accomplished.
> Satellite details? Internet?
>
> Change is in the air......
>
UNBELIEVABLE! Now what will WICC do?
 
It is unfortunate that AP executives decided to pull the plug on its 24 hour news network starting July 15th. When you compare it to some of the so-called news organizations currently on the air, AP wasn’t that bad, especially for those stations still trying to make a go of an all news format.

Several posters are correct that without competition from UPI, AP got a bit lazy over the years when it came to both its network and wire service. At one time there was a rumor that Ted Turner might have purchased UPI and linked it with CNN. But that never came about.

I’ve never heard the USA network, but visited their website and saw that some of their programming included talk shows. That’s fine if your format calls for news AND talk, but not if you want just straight news.

Reuters, I don’t believe has a radio network, just wire service, which is a shame because I think a Reuters radio network, with the right staff and direction, could have been a great replacement for the, so-to-be defunct AP News Network.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mark_Giardina on 06/09/05 12:31 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> It is unfortunate that AP executives decided to pull the
> plug on its 24 hour news network starting July 15th. When
> you compare it to some of the so-called news organizations
> currently on the air, AP wasn’t that bad, especially for
> those stations still trying to make a go of an all news
> format.

It seems the universal truth outside of NPR, BBC and CBC is that the news has been cancelled. What we get now is CNN breaking its arm patting itself on the back for its 25th anniversary, so the news has been cancelled there. MSNBC viewers continue to flee the official news network for the Runaway Bride, Michael Jackson, and weeknights of talk that are so unbalanced you'll fall off the right side of your couch. Fox never offered news to begin with. Headline News is running Nancy Grace and other non-hard news programming, so no news to be found there either. Radio's idea of news is a 2.5 minute newscast-lite followed by talk radio, and that isn't news either, unless you live in a major market that carries a REAL all-news station that actually delivers NEWS, not opinion.

AP News Radio seemed stilted to me. In addition to incredibly loud studios (someone turn the air conditioner next to the mike off), the programming felt cobbled together from elements that didn't flow so well. It slightly reminded me of the old AFRTS shortwave service with standalone news reports jammed together to create a format. But I applaud the effort.

> Several posters are correct that without competition from
> UPI, AP got a bit lazy over the years when it came to both
> its network and wire service. At one time there was a rumor
> that Ted Turner might have purchased UPI and linked it with
> CNN. But that never came about.

Now we're back to ABC and CNN rumored to be joining forces again. Yay, more media consolidation.

> I’ve never heard the USA network, but visited their website
> and saw that some of their programming included talk shows.
> That’s fine if your format calls for news AND talk, but not
> if you want just straight news.

USA Radio News was far more religious-oriented when Marlin Maddoux was still around, but they've seemed to tone it down. They seem to be the network of choice for small market radio looking for free news.
 
> I just checked out the news clocks at apbroadcast.com -
> beware as it is a .pdf file - for APNN. It's set to take
> effect July 25.
>
> What a shame. The whole operation seems to have been gutted.
> Can't help but see it as a kick in the teeth to not only
> small-town N/T stations. One example is WEOL-Elyria, which
> had used AP ANR as a complement to their news operation. But
> several successful college radio stations (WBWC-Berea comes
> to mind) also have used APNN for TOH newscasts.


FederalNewsRadio was also using AP network news as a compliment as well as Triangle. I ache inside hearing about the end of an era in news. I remember hearing the news sounder for the first time driving to Buffalon and pickings up AP in Syracuse....I had neve heard it before and was impressed. That was in mid 90's but listening lately on the web has saddened me as well.....how the mighty have slipped...

Well I sure wish AAR or Democratcy radio or some other venture would pick it up and let them grow it back out....this is one news network that could be left in the center where it has been. I wouldn't want any buyer to change the focus of the news on AP but instead give it the resources to deliver at it did in the past. I only mention AAR/Democracy radio because neither has really good news..and AP would fill the bill with unbiased news Hour on the Hour.
 
Les: Just read an announcement from AP about how they're "enhancing" their hourly 5-minute feeds to 3-minutes. But they're not raising the price.

Ha! When Kellog's shrinks the cereal box, they lay low and hope you don't notice. Maybe they should try sending out press releases reporting the new "enhancement".<P ID=">______________
"If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague." - Oscar Wilde</P>
 
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