Behind the Scenes at Merlin's FM News

[Barry]

Brendan Greeley, a producer at WIQI, the former WEMP's sister station in Chicago when it was also had a news format, has written an interesting account of what it was like to work there. WEMP in New York was probably very similar.
He mentions a lot of stuff that was discussed on this board, such as the constant programming changes, the early days when management thought women did not want to hear any mention of sports, and the automation utilized earlier this year (which included incorrect time checks).
Amidst all the chaos, it appears many of the staffers had an interesting and fun experience working there. But Greeley says management led them to believe that investors were willing to give the format at least 3 years.

Quite a Year:
http://www.radioink.com/goout.asp?u=http://new.dahl.com/2012/09/year-chicagos-fm-news-101-1/

 

[leethalweapon]

A great read.

 

[WNTIRadio]

A great read, and it makes you realize that there wasn't any strategic long term plan in place for "FM News", since the style and format of the news seemed to change like the wind.

I feel bad for all of the former employees, some of whom left very nice jobs, because they were duped by Merlin and company. Some "magicians" they turned out to be.

The part about the focus group of women being brought in after the launch made me think: Wouldn't you do MULTIPLE focus groups and even auditorium testing (play news stories and log whether or not the cross section thinks it's relevant to them) long BEFORE the actual launch????

Wow... with that level of mis-management, it makes me wonder what B.S. has been sold to the investors. I've kept quiet on my opinions on Merlin/FM News for the most part because as a contractor you never know who you will be working for next. But I'm stunned by the level of "no direction" or "changing direction" that was experienced by the writer. It reminded me of my college radio station, where we didn't have money for research and it was a collective effort, with a slightly changing presentation each semester as the staff changed. But this is on a major market level, playing with hundreds of millions of dollars and people's livelihood.

 

[XCountry285]

I'm just glad they're alternative rather than news. News was a disaster

 

[WNTIRadio]

Sure was, because they weren't sure what the product was supposed to be. When there is no direction from management, or an ever changing direction, how can a station succeed?

Also, just about any small amount of market research would have told them that in going head to head with WCBS-AM and WINS wasn't going to work. Both stations have a combined 92 YEARS of experience as all news stations, and have been in the market since 1965 and 1967. Both are top notch in their focus, presentation and air-talent. How did they expect to make a dent in that with sub-par reporting (Steve Langford? He was funny when he was reporting on Eric the Midget), automated news and 1/50 of the resources on the ground that the established CBS outlets have. "The Weather Geek"?? C'mon, who are you going to go to? Some pipsqueak named the weather geek or Craig Allen.

About the only good thing it had going for it was the traffic reports when they were allowed to be comprehensive. Jeff McKay is one of the best, and now he's off the air.

If they had started out as a local news/talk, with a couple of national anchor shows, it may have worked. But the execution of the all news format left only one decision... execute it.

 

[nd2023]

Unfortunately Merlin's FM News was catering to the imaginary female when the earthquake and the hurricane hit. Those were opportunities for people to discover FM News 101.9, and they blew it. There was a period when the straight news approach was working, and I agree with the author that keeping that approach would bring better ratings. Then they went to voicetracking and trying to have employees 750 miles away from each other cooperate (I could imagine how many frequent flyer miles Randy Michaels must have gotten flying back and forth between NYC and Chicago). I remember so many mishaps. Incorrect time checks, local Chicago stories airing on 101.9, even a Chicago traffic and weather report airing on 101.9. We don't care about the traffic in Chicago! FM News ratings became a joke when WBAI and WFME were doing better, along with many out of market stations. Especially NJ 101.5 doing better in NYC than FM News 101.9. Their HD was off for over a month (but that's the least of their worries).

At least they proved that women don't want dumbed down news, and they did a half-a**ed job at voicetracking. Merlin should have just turned 101.9 into a dance station, that would have done much better than FM News.

 

[WNTIRadio]

WBAI wasn't doing better. Their last publicly published cume was on the order of 96,000. Even FM News managed to get six times that.

Even the straight news wasn't going to work, the credibility factor wasn't there. This isn't a market where there are no credible all news stations, there are two that are the pioneers in the format and have it down to an exact science.

 

[recto101]

Wasn't the mistake of FM News Chicago was that WBBM 780AM just went FM back in 2010 because CBS had a failing station on 105.9FM. I do know WBBM was just following the model of KCBS in San Francisco where they flipped a failing oldies station on 106.9FM to simulcast 740 AM. How is it that WBBM, KCBS and WTOP are within the top 5 stations in their respective markets. in those cases KCBS , WBBM and WTOP have to borrow TV reporters from KPIX CBS5, WBBM CBS2 and WJLA ABC7 to gain credibility and they knew they can't market their all-news radio stations on their own. Merlin Failed the all-tabloid/News operations because they did not cross promote their station with a TV station. ALso when I heard sample WEMP-FM in 2011 these people sounded dumbed down especially the women staff. Hello if these people put Merlin news In San Francisco they would be sued for sexism because No1 NPR News and KCBS News attracts More Women in that market.

What Merlin did was open the Doors for Cumulus to try their own all-news experiment in San Francisco(news and Information brand) and Atlanta(all-news 106.7). ALthough there's been rumors for some time that Cumulus is looking for an LA station for all news. Also CBS with WNEW-FM in Washington DC to go after WTOP and block Merlin from entering that market.

 

[recto101]

Wasn't the mistake of FM News Chicago was that WBBM 780AM just went FM back in 2010 because CBS had a failing station on 105.9FM. I do know WBBM was just following the model of KCBS in San Francisco where they flipped a failing oldies station on 106.9FM to simulcast 740 AM. How is it that WBBM, KCBS and WTOP are within the top 5 stations in their respective markets. in those cases KCBS , WBBM and WTOP have to borrow TV reporters from KPIX CBS5, WBBM CBS2 and WJLA ABC7 to gain credibility and they knew they can't market their all-news radio stations on their own. Merlin Failed the all-tabloid/News operations because they did not cross promote their station with a TV station. ALso when I heard sample WEMP-FM in 2011 these people sounded dumbed down especially the women staff. Hello if these people put Merlin news In San Francisco they would be sued for sexism because No1 NPR News and KCBS News attracts More Women in that market.

What Merlin did was open the Doors for Cumulus to try their own all-news experiment in San Francisco(news and Information brand) and Atlanta(all-news 106.7). ALthough there's been rumors for some time that Cumulus is looking for an LA station for all news. Also CBS with WNEW-FM in Washington DC to go after WTOP and block Merlin from entering that market.

I forgot one thing How about ARNN how is it doing? I know ARNN is owned by TRN Inc and they air their all-news product on some of their all-news affiliates and News/Talk stations around the country. In San Francisco KSFO-AM airs ARNN News at 4am but the ratings show that KSFO is at a 1.5-1.9. While KGO News is at a 2.x and KCBS would be at a 4.7-6.7 range and KQED-FM 4.7-6.7 in range also. I understand ARNN was supposed to compete against Cumulus all-news and CBS all-news in some markets. I understand its mainly political news.

 

[WNTIRadio]

What Merlin did was open the Doors for Cumulus to try their own all-news experiment in San Francisco(news and Information brand) and Atlanta(all-news 106.7). ALthough there's been rumors for some time that Cumulus is looking for an LA station for all news. Also CBS with WNEW-FM in Washington DC to go after WTOP and block Merlin from entering that market.

Merlin didn't do that, WTOP did that with its success. Failures don't inspire others to try new things.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Michaels must’ve been searching for answers to give the billionaires when inspiration struck. He got an idea in his head that he just couldn’t shake: voice-tracking.

Well that's one thing that didn't change when they finally flipped 101.9 to New Rock. That, along with the apparent flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants strategy, lack of promotion, etc. It all seems consistent with the account of what went on at all-news.

 

[recto101]

What Merlin did was open the Doors for Cumulus to try their own all-news experiment in San Francisco(news and Information brand) and Atlanta(all-news 106.7). ALthough there's been rumors for some time that Cumulus is looking for an LA station for all news. Also CBS with WNEW-FM in Washington DC to go after WTOP and block Merlin from entering that market.

Merlin didn't do that, WTOP did that with its success. Failures don't inspire others to try new things.

True I knew WTOP, KCBS and WBBM did that with success. and Cumulus 106.7FM in Atlanta was trying to replicate the success CBS did in San Francisco and Chicago For Hubbard its DC.

 

[jh]

I forgot one thing How about ARNN how is it doing? I know ARNN is owned by TRN Inc and they air their all-news product on some of their all-news affiliates and News/Talk stations around the country. In San Francisco KSFO-AM airs ARNN News at 4am but the ratings show that KSFO is at a 1.5-1.9. While KGO News is at a 2.x and KCBS would be at a 4.7-6.7 range and KQED-FM 4.7-6.7 in range also. I understand ARNN was supposed to compete against Cumulus all-news and CBS all-news in some markets. I understand its mainly political news.

I had a chance to listen to ARNN recently while in Las Vegas. This was during the Republican National Convention, so that was the big story and they seemed awfully friendly to the GOP. Maybe they covered the Democratic convention the same, I don't know.

ARNN's format is really that of a talk show that does news stories, if that makes any sense. There were no sports or business updates. There's only four breaks an hour, so there wouldn't be enough time for a local affiliate to run local news/weather/traffic/sports and any kind of a spot load. Their clock is here... http://www.americasradionewsnetwork.com/uploads/files/ARNNMidMorningprogramclock.pdf

The affiliate in Las Vegas is 670/KMZQ, which runs AARN AM/PM drive and an hour at noon. The rest of the time is syndicated talk, mostly conservative political. No local programming, no local news, and local spots seem to be few and far between. They have a 0.1 share. Their successful FM CHR is apparently paying the bills for the AM.

ARNN also has a 24/7 top and bottom of the hour network. Five minutes at :60, one minute update at :30. The audio content is primarily from AP. It sounds pretty good, better than IRN/USA or SRN. http://www.americasradionewsnetwork.com/listen-to-the-top-of-the-hour-arnn-news-demo

 

[recto101]

I forgot one thing How about ARNN how is it doing? I know ARNN is owned by TRN Inc and they air their all-news product on some of their all-news affiliates and News/Talk stations around the country. In San Francisco KSFO-AM airs ARNN News at 4am but the ratings show that KSFO is at a 1.5-1.9. While KGO News is at a 2.x and KCBS would be at a 4.7-6.7 range and KQED-FM 4.7-6.7 in range also. I understand ARNN was supposed to compete against Cumulus all-news and CBS all-news in some markets. I understand its mainly political news.

I had a chance to listen to ARNN recently while in Las Vegas. This was during the Republican National Convention, so that was the big story and they seemed awfully friendly to the GOP. Maybe they covered the Democratic convention the same, I don't know.

ARNN's format is really that of a talk show that does news stories, if that makes any sense. There were no sports or business updates. There's only four breaks an hour, so there wouldn't be enough time for a local affiliate to run local news/weather/traffic/sports and any kind of a spot load. Their clock is here... http://www.americasradionewsnetwork.com/uploads/files/ARNNMidMorningprogramclock.pdf

The affiliate in Las Vegas is 670/KMZQ, which runs AARN AM/PM drive and an hour at noon. The rest of the time is syndicated talk, mostly conservative political. No local programming, no local news, and local spots seem to be few and far between. They have a 0.1 share. Their successful FM CHR is apparently paying the bills for the AM.

ARNN also has a 24/7 top and bottom of the hour network. Five minutes at :60, one minute update at :30. The audio content is primarily from AP. It sounds pretty good, better than IRN/USA or SRN. http://www.americasradionewsnetwork.com/listen-to-the-top-of-the-hour-arnn-news-demo

Does ARNN have an affiliate in the NYC market? When I look at the affiliates list they tend to have a sales advertising on the ARNN site. I found that ARNN is also in Washington DC on WTNT radio and they have low ratings probably lower than WNEW-FM 99.1. But Like San Francisco there's an-all news station WTOP-FM going Head to Head for the top 5 tatings spots with an NPR News/Talk station WAMU-FM.

 

[scottylightning]

Sure was, because they weren't sure what the product was supposed to be. When there is no direction from management, or an ever changing direction, how can a station succeed?

Also, just about any small amount of market research would have told them that in going head to head with WCBS-AM and WINS wasn't going to work. Both stations have a combined 92 YEARS of experience as all news stations, and have been in the market since 1965 and 1967. Both are top notch in their focus, presentation and air-talent. How did they expect to make a dent in that with sub-par reporting (Steve Langford? He was funny when he was reporting on Eric the Midget), automated news and 1/50 of the resources on the ground that the established CBS outlets have. "The Weather Geek"?? C'mon, who are you going to go to? Some pipsqueak named the weather geek or Craig Allen.

About the only good thing it had going for it was the traffic reports when they were allowed to be comprehensive. Jeff McKay is one of the best, and now he's off the air.

If they had started out as a local news/talk, with a couple of national anchor shows, it may have worked. But the execution of the all news format left only one decision... execute it.

People did enjoy the Weather Geek moniker(and some TV meteorologists were jealous that someone was actually allowed to use the technical meteorological terms that we learned in school and not having to dumb it down) and it worked well in Philly too(IQ 106.9 is all about being "smart").

I was the new kid in town and when you have experienced on-air mets such as Craig Allen and Elliot Abrams it's hard for anyone to switch over to something different; I did appreciate those who listened to me as I tried every morning to deliver an accurate and trustworthy forecast while also offering an education to the listener.

 

[WNTIRadio]

I think the "weather geek" actually dumbed you down, instead of the opposite. If you had used your real name, or if they had allowed you to, you would have built trust with the audience in doing so.

I'm not doubting your abilities, I'm doubting the management coming up with an asinine nickname for you.

As a "weather geek" myself (my dad followed weather like a religion) with the ability to read a map with isobars on it and know how to interpret the different forecast models, I appreciate anyone who doesn't dumb it down. Just use your real name on the air, your abilities will give you all of the credibility that you can get... your forecasts will speak for themselves.

 

[scottylightning]

I think the "weather geek" actually dumbed you down, instead of the opposite. If you had used your real name, or if they had allowed you to, you would have built trust with the audience in doing so.

I'm not doubting your abilities, I'm doubting the management coming up with an asinine nickname for you.

As a "weather geek" myself (my dad followed weather like a religion) with the ability to read a map with isobars on it and know how to interpret the different forecast models, I appreciate anyone who doesn't dumb it down. Just use your real name on the air, your abilities will give you all of the credibility that you can get... your forecasts will speak for themselves.

I did say "I'm Meteorologist Scott Derek, your weather geek.", but during Irene, the little snow events, and severe thunderstorms we dropped the geek part to take the serious approach. The "geek" started a few days after FM News launched as I was being yelled at for being too technical(at the time I had over 1:00 to talk); Liz Aiello realized how energetic and passionate I was about the weather so she was the one who came up with the name. At first I didn't enjoy it, but then I became accustomed to it(BTW, Liz was the first person to ever give me a chance on-air; I was looking for jobs all across the country before she discovered me and I will forever be grateful). My name in the newsroom was "Geek" from that point on and if you listened to me on-air I wasn't afraid to speak up if I felt that other stations were not giving an accurate forecast. I even called out the National Weather Service in Upton once for not issuing a dense fog advisory for two hours when the proper criteria was there for it! During the October 29th snowstorm I remember mentioning the European model(which has a better spatial resolution than the GFS) on-air and while no weather model is perfect(it's a model and then it's up to the meteorologist to decide whether or not he agrees with it based on biases, climatology, etc.) it pegged that storm pretty well.

There was supposed to be a huge social media platform for me to create a "weather classroom" with videos, etc., but all I had was just blog on the site(as the weather page itself was just AccuWeather embedded in) while maintaining my own Facebook and Twitter weather accounts(which were mine before FM News anyway). Every meteorologist out there is a true weather geek-I think the moniker was supposed to be the equivalent to "Storm Tracker X(whatever TV channel it is)" or "Doppler 9,000,000" as it was something that stuck out in people's minds and they'd remember it.

I don't know if people actually knew I had a meteorology degree(despite saying it in my lockout); I have my undergraduate in Earth Science(meteorology concentration) from Kean University(that's where John Marshall went and there's a lot of alumni working for News 12) and last summer I decided to start grad school classes online. I will have my Masters in Applied Meteorology by the end of 2013 after I have to go down to Mississippi State to present my thesis(Weather effects on Radio Wave propagation across Philly and NYC).

 

[radiophiler]

I was happy to hear (in Philly) that the Merlin stations had hired their own meteorologist. What are the choices most news and N/T stations have these days for on-air meteorologists? Someone in State College, PA. Someone in Atlanta. Contract with a local TV station to use their meteorologists. Best scenario: you're co-owned with and in the same building as a TV station and you share the meteorologist.
As long as you're sharing that person with other media, you can't be sure you're first on the list when severe weather happens. Tornado warning in your county? Gee, let's get the person in State College, hundreds of miles away, to comment on that. But wait, he's doing a live shot on another station, so you'll have to wait. If you're sharing a local TV person, you might be able to simulcast what the meteorologist is doing on a live TV broadcast.
The only way you know you have the absolute priority is to have the meteorologist be your own, in your own studio, or at least calling in live from another location within your market.
There's been much criticism about what Merlin did with its news stations. Hiring their own meteorologist was, IMHO, one of the smartest things they did.
And since when is "geek" a bad word? Maybe I'll change my log-in here to "radiogeek."

 

[WNTIRadio]

It's not a bad word. But someone in a position of authority and credibility loses a touch when they have a goofy nickname. Imagine Brian Williams doing the news as "BW the newsgeek". Just not the same. I thought Scott was being sold short with that moniker.

Considering it came from Liz Aiello, that says it all. Liz, he wasn't doing Eric the Midget updates on Howard 100 News... But that's what happens when someone who isn't qualified gets hired to run a market #1 all news operation.

 

[satech]

The name "weather geek" sounded immature and unprofessional to me as well. Mr. Derek also often boasted that he was fresh out of college, as if that would somehow make his forecasts more trustworthy!?

And remember, FM News hilariously claimed victory over their coverage of the Northeast earthquake last year, as well as the hurricane and Halloween snowstorm. They were so convinced that those events were going to be the station's breakthrough moments... while their ratings didn't budge and everyone just kept listening to WINS and WCBS. And it's no wonder; FM News's "live on scene" hurriance coverage consisted of some reporter calling from her home, looking out her living room window, and saying that it's rainy and windy outside. No **** Sherlock, it's a hurricane!!