You want WXNT to be a better news source, with a bigger news room, but you love that Channel 13 does the news for WFT?
You say the strength of WXNT is their political coverage and talk, but they do too much of it? You'd like more weather, traffic and AP copy?
No one really has big complaints about WXNT. Their biggest complaint is that a station that has been on air for 5 years can't compete with an AM station that has been on air for 30, and has the Pacers and now the Colts! Why do you think they have endless resources and capital? It isn't their brilliant programming and weather updates. It's the fact that they get to put their logo all over the most visible spots in Indy, our sports venues. In fact, everytime WIBC and WFT are mentioned on this board, it goes like this: W--- is great, BUT...
Here are some examples of news breaking on WXNT this week:
- During the car chase earlier this week, less than a minute after it broke on the FIRST local TV station, we had the audio feed on air, with traffic updates so motorists could stay as far away from the routes as possible. WFT had Mancow. I am not sure what WIBC ran, but it was the top of the hour, so maybe weather? (How many cars have a temperature gauge in their car now?)
- Last Friday Afternoon, we reported, accurately, the timeline of the two students, how the administration, and the fate of all the students involved. WFT aired Sporting News Radio. WIBC probably was doing a traffic update (Which WXNT does 4 times an hour) I am not sure whom Dave was interviewing.
Breaking news is not how fast you can put AP copy on the air... sometimes it means having the courage to report on things not yet confirmed by a talking head. We are staffed 24 hours a day with board ops who are extremely bright and passionate about the station, the product, and the listener. From 6 am to 6 pm, we have the two best news anchors in town. With today's technology, you don't need a staff of 14 to cover a city the size of Indy. A local news outfit (which almost every station uses for traffic and local news) covers the city with essentially one reporter.
And the Warren Township talking head? We aired her unedited comments to the public the next day to let the public hear her words, and then let the audience comment on them. We give them the freedom to think for themselves, and the freedom to comment. We don't always choose the soundbite they need to hear, and sometimes we have the courage to discuss a topic most in the city won't. I'd much rather be at home right now, watching American Idol for my show prep. Instead, I am at work, 9 hours before I have to be back, working my bu__ off to bring original news stories and topics to the masses putting on their make-up and ties in the morning.
Frankly, WXNT respects the audience enough to not fill their ears with things that don't really matter. One poster said that Abdul is self-absorbed. Truth be told, Abdul wakes up everyday asking how to inform his listeners on the subjects that truly effect their lives. Every segment is designed with that paradigm in mind. I don't think any other local talk program can claim that.
Every News/Talk station wishes they had the resources that WIBC has. There are very few radio stations in the country that do have a newsroom of their size. Modern radio of any format follows one principle: Make the most out of the least. Five years from now, WFT will have the resources of WXNT. Five years from now, WXNT will be bigger, and more people will know about Abdul. Their ratings will be higher. Their revenue streams will be larger.
I will personally miss Andrew Lee. He did a lot for myself, and he changed this station for the better. Two years ago on this board, WXNT was getting murdered for having bad programming, horrible automation, newscasts and weather reports that had run the previous day, a new morning show host with PSAs running to fill the commercial breaks, board-ops who were less reliable then the automation, and no credibility in political and news gathering services. Two years later, you, radio-info board poster, cannot say these things about WXNT. Abdul and Andrew have changed all of these.
No one can dispute that WXNT has great, unique content. Andrew has built a great foundation at WXNT, and Entercom has taken the bittersweet opportunity to promote within their ranks some talented, passionate people. Within 5 years, WXNT will rival WIBC in town for Newstalk listeners.
You have to have patience, and you have to work the under station under the table.
