Bring Back Radio News

[spew]

If Nashville radio stations are serious about supporting their communities during this flood crisis, then they will restaff local radio newsrooms and bring back news. Fund raisers are fine and they spotlight your sponsors and bring attention to your station but serving the community by giving it full-time 24/7 news is sorely needed.

 

[soundsandsports]

Unfortunely, you won't here an all-news station in Nashville because:

A. There's only 14 all-news stations in the country, and all but one or two are in major markets (WCBS & WINS/New York, WBBM/Chicago, KYW/Philadelphia, KCBS/San Francisco, KNX/Los Angeles, etc...) plus these stations are owned by CBS Radio, and CBS Radio doesn't own any stations in "the boonies" as you can see.

B. After the flood recovery stories go away, there wouldn't be enough news going on in Metro Nashville to even merit WTN or WLAC to go with news all-day and all-night. The TV stations do most of the work here anyway.

C (and most importantly). WLAC will never (unfortunately) give up Rush and Steve Gill and WTN will never give up Michael Del Donkeyo, Dave Ramsey and Phil Valentine .

 

[TheBigA]

First of all, no one is going to go 24/7 news in any market outside the Top 10. Right now, even Houston, which is market 7 doesn't have an all-news station. The government isn't going to require it, regardless of the need. What's more likely is that the government would require all radios to be equipped with a weather channel, allowing residents to hear the NOAA recorded weather forecasts.

But THAT is really where the problem is. The flood in Nashville wasn't apparent until after the rain stopped. The agencies responsible for providing the information radio and TV stations use to warn people never issued a flood emergency. I've been reading stories from people in affected areas saying they had no idea their home was about to be flooded. That was exactly what we heard from people in New Orleans. The flood came quickly and without warning.

Read this article in the Nashville Tennessean, and you'll see where the real problem is:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100514/NEWS01/5140358

The fact is that federal, state, and local government offices, who are directly responsible for emergency information, have been cutting budgets for 20 years. It's not just radio that has been cutting budgets. I think all this criticism of radio, including the article written by Phyllis Stark, ignores the fact that the services responsible for flood information were asleep at the wheel. You can't blame private commercial businesses for this when the government emergency officials, who we pay to be responsible for this information, didn't provide proper warnings. THAT is where the true blame lies. Not with radio.

 

[TheBigA]

One other thing that needs to be said is that there was a time when radio and TV stations, particularly in Nashville, were co-owned, and thus could share staff and resources. Unfortunately government ownership regulations forced WSM and WLAC to sell their TV stations. It took a while, but those sales ended up crippling the radio stations as FM surged in popularity over AM. I believe if radio and TV were still allowed to be owned by the same company, there'd be more likelihood of the radio stations benefiting from the news resources of TV. Although the specific companies that currently own Nashville TV stations are probably not going to buy radio stations any time soon.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

When I first read the original post, I didn't read that the post was calling for an ALL NEWS station. I read a plea that stations have a news function that was at least hovering in the background with people who could interrupt programming WITH NEWS when appropriate.

I just went back and read again. The original post can be read either way. To me the context is this: Nashville radio is unable to jump into action when the need arises. I'm sure broadcasters in Nashville will find issues with that concept.

It is not a Nashville problem. It is pretty much a national problem.

In most communities in the country, if a big event occurs after 11:59 A.M. on a Saturday, what remains of our radio journalism mechanism in this country is basically off-the-clock until Monday morning.

We can do the popular thing and blame it on greedy broadcast operators.

Or we can blame it on poor governance at the Congressional and FCC level.

Or we can blame it on sponsors who are greedy and do not make it clear that they want to reach a responsible audience that demands and appreciates service oriented radio.

Or we can blame it on the general public. Blame it on the public that wants ice cream instead of health food. The public that wants a car with bells, whistles and zoom-zoom instead of safety and "green" capability. The public that is unwilling to reward the station that is prepared to deal with Saturday afternoon happenings by listening to them during the week when the People-Meters are grinding away.

Ahhhh. Let the BLAME GAME continue. After all, Nero reportedly fiddled while Rome burned. (I hope somewhere someone was actually hearing Charlie Daniels playing the fiddle while they read this essay in futility.) ;D

 

[olebud]

Unfortunately government ownership regulations forced WSM and WLAC to sell their TV stations. It took a while, but those sales ended up crippling the radio stations as FM surged in popularity over AM.

BigA -- I could be wrong, but the FCC didn't force the sale of WSM and WLAC -- I don't think. The National Life insurance company that owned WSM am/fm and tv and the park and hotel -- was being taken over by American General Insurance out of Texas. They weren't interested in broadcasting and a Wisconsin man named George Gillette bought the t-v station. The am/fm stations were forced to operate under a special fund set up for them while they went on the block. That's when Ed Gaylord out of Oklahoma stepped up and bought the hotel, the park, the radio stations and the boat (which was still being built). We didn't suffer in news during that time. I'll step out and say we had the best radio news room around. All 3 t-v stations were robbing our news staff because we didn't miss anything and was staffed with good hard working folks. It was after Gaylord went public and the 'old guard' from National Life was slowly eased out that our news room began to suffer. As people would leave, they wouldn't let us replace them...and we saw the writing on the wall. They finally let all but 4 of us go, and made me the news director..then in April of 2002...the others were fired and I was retired. Not sure about WLAC but don't believe it had to do with FCC. Someone from over there could better explain.

 

[Nashsound]

Hi Buddy,
maybe he's referring to the old TV/Radio Crossownership rule from 1970 I think, when the FCC decided that if a grand-fathered AM/FM/TV combo was sold, the radio and TV had to go to different buyers. They changed that in 2003, I think so you could own both again, depending on the size maket. I went thru that in Charleston WV when they broke up a combo I worked for..the TV guys build a new building and the radio guys inhereted an indoor basketball court ( the Tv studio)
anyway, just a thought.

Jeff

 

[spew]

This is not about one radio station doing the news on the weekends. This is about all of them doing the news on the weekends especially during a crisis and this is even easier now that almost all of them are in the same building. Every radio station in Nashville should have shut off the music Saturday afternoon and said "hey there is a house floating down I-24. This is not right. Stay off the roads or you could die" The stations who did not do that should have their licenses taken away. Oh sure the news station for the old middle aged white guys (WTN) did it...but what about all the others that the people really listen to.

 

[TheBigA]

That's when Ed Gaylord out of Oklahoma stepped up and bought the hotel, the park, the radio stations and the boat (which was still being built).

Gaylord owned the full compliment of TV stations at the time. He couldn't add one more. So he was forced to sell. I think the max at the time was 7. You're right however about WLAC-TV.

My point is that a free standing AM station like WSM-AM simple doesn't have the resources to cover news the way they did in the old days. These stations need to be combined with other media resources, like TV or newspaper, in order to do what they were about to do 25 years ago. In the markets where there are 24/7 news stations, they're combined with TV stations.

 

[TheBigA]

Every radio station in Nashville should have shut off the music Saturday afternoon and said "hey there is a house floating down I-24. This is not right. Stay off the roads or you could die" The stations who did not do that should have their licenses taken away.

That is the absolute wrong thing for a radio station to do. That is the job of local emergency officials. They have been charged directly with the responsibility of telling people what to do. Not some DJ on a radio station. Saying the wrong thing on the air could create unnecessary panic, and lead to further loss of life. The federal government has spent billions of dollars creating a homeland security department, and they failed to include radio. Most of those homeland security people are weekday employees, and don't work weekends. No emergency alerts were sent out, and it's not the job of radio to circumvent emergency officials. Those emergency officials should be held responsible for not doing their jobs. We saw it five years ago in New Orleans, and we're seeing it again. "You're doing a fine job, Brownie." NOT!

Every radio station in Nashville was staffed and ready to go with emergency alerts if they'd received word of one. None was sent.

I often hear people say that radio stations have some kind of responsibility in emergencies. That responsibility was pretty much co-opted by several federal agencies that were created over the last 50 years that have gradually replaced radio or broadcasting in terms of responsibility. There are lots of local public officials who have very clear authority in that area. Radio just makes its airwaves available if and when requested. That's it.

 

[secondchoice]

Don’t feel bad, we can’t get an all news operation in Atlanta #7. CBS has 2FM’s (one of them doing poorly in the ratings) and an AM in Atlanta and still no all news operation. All news is expensive to run. Atlanta with the large non-native could run the whole CBS radio newscast to cover the national and 10 minutes an hour. WSB (the only local station with a serious news operation) does a good job being in the same building with Channel 2 that is not too hard. But back to Nashville, IIRC WLAC use to run all news during the day and John R. at night (News and Blues). What ever happened to David Tower on 1300 WMAK? I still remember his closing “This (five to ten second of silence) is David Tower! One time one of the announcers filled the gap with “a recording”. I almost wrecked the car. I guess you had to hear it live for it to be funny. David’s newscasts always seem very serious. What I always wanted to know, why don’t radio stations “buddy up” with a TV station to do a short newscast? It could be a plug for the TV station and provide the station with good local news.

 

[TheBigA]

What I always wanted to know, why don’t radio stations “buddy up” with a TV station to do a short newscast? It could be a plug for the TV station and provide the station with good local news.

I think some do, but there are issues. Same with the local newspaper. It's just a lot easier when they're co-owned.

 

[jharmon]

Why Radio News? In the 21st Century, there are so many more places to get news and information, than to wait for the info to be filtered down to AM radio. There's the I-phone, I-pad, Blackberry, interent, etc.
It's a new world order...embrace it.

 

[secondchoice]

Why Radio News? In the 21st Century, there are so many more places to get news and information, than to wait for the info to be filtered down to AM radio. There's the I-phone, I-pad, Blackberry, interent, etc.
It's a new world order...embrace it.

There is a problem with the "new world order": #1 content and #2 reliability.

#1 Do you want to get your information from somebody who spends every waking moment chatting on line with people who they have never seen in person? Real news organizations actually have “contacts” with real people. I have spent countless hours calling police and fire departments, politicians, and even business executives double checking facts from our “tip” line. A lot of the tips were wrong. Some were correct. A couple of the tips ended up bigger than expected. A real news organization actually has to take responsibility for what they put out. I forget the name of the movie about Watergate, Nixon, and the reporters, but that could not have been covered without real people checking and double checking the facts.

#2 Lots of the internet coverage and electric power in Nashville was underwater during this event. What most people do not realize a failure at a phone company switching center will take out cell coverage (most cell companies use phone company T1’s or T3’s between the cell tower and their switching center). One drunk hitting a pole or errant ditch-witch near the cable “head” location or phone company central office can take out a large part of a cable or phone system in any city. In the early 1990’s MCI had one fiber cable cut in Ohio and only about 10% of their west coast to east coast calls could go thru. And do not forget the threat of “cyber” attacks crippling the internet.

Radio has become the only reliable emergency media outlet in an emergency. How many battery powered TV sets can pick up the new DTV? Cell phone usage in cars will soon be illegal. Apple even has a new app that only allows you to phone 911 in a moving vehicle.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Why Radio News? In the 21st Century, there are so many more places to get news and information, than to wait for the info to be filtered down to AM radio. There's the I-phone, I-pad, Blackberry, interent, etc.
It's a new world order...embrace it.

Excuse me while I put on my sanctimonious face. :-[

I believe you are expressing what in some circles would be labeled as "elitist" thinking:

"Only the minority of citizens who have the available discretionary funding to have i-Phones, i-Pads, Blackberry, high speed Internet, etc. should be empowered with the benefits of Freedom of the Press."

I am married to this delightful woman who is artistic, has a phenomenal sense of color relationships, and many other such high-level functions. BUT! She is gadget-phobic. There are days when she declares war on the garage door-opener which she claims has a mind of it's own. And you want me to cancel my newspaper subscription and explain to her that there will be classes tomorrow on how to use her new Blackberry?

If your New World Order comes up missing, check our guest bathroom.... down at the bottom of the little thingy that stores the toilet brush. ;D

By the way. There was a bit of "Vocabularis Americana" that George Herbert Walker Bush never quite comprehended and it may have cost him the election in 1992. Back in the 1960s there was this precursor to the Tea Party Movement. It was the John Birch Society. And one of their successes was to embed in the English language the term "New World Order". It was inclusive of everything evil. Communism. Bilderbergers. Council on Foreign Relations. Even Senator Fulbright.

I may speak to your New World Order, I might shake hands with it. But please. I cannot, at least in public, embrace the New World Order.

 

[NashRadio]

SecondChoice: Re: your second(!)-to-last post: My recollection (the word itself proves I'm old) is that WLAC had the day broken up into blocks: 3 hours news, 3 R&B, but that could very well be wrong. That schedule doesn't seem to make much sense. (And back then, radio did.)

 

[NashvilleRadioGuru]

Why Radio News? In the 21st Century, there are so many more places to get news and information, than to wait for the info to be filtered down to AM radio. There's the I-phone, I-pad, Blackberry, interent, etc.
It's a new world order...embrace it.

You can't access those instriments while driving. You can also listen while you work on something else. Hard to watch TV, Surf for news, iPad, iPod, iTouch, while you are working on another project.

Radio is still viable for news. WLAC does an OK job of it still.

The most you could expect here is a news hour in the morning, midday, or afternoon. I have heard a few stations that still have that.

 

[w9wi]

Unfortunately government ownership regulations forced WSM and WLAC to sell their TV stations. It took a while, but those sales ended up crippling the radio stations as FM surged in popularity over AM.

BigA -- I could be wrong, but the FCC didn't force the sale of WSM and WLAC -- I don't think.

From 1970 until ?? (1996, I think) the Cross-Ownership rule prohibited common ownership of radio and TV stations in the same market. Combinations that existed in 1970 were grandfathered, permitted to continue. But if the stations were sold, the "grandfathering" was lost. The radio stations and the TV could not be sold to the same buyer.

That would have applied to all three major Nashville stations - WSM 650/95.5/4, WLAC 1510/105.9/5, and WSIX 980/97.9/2 (or was it still on 8 when it was sold?).

The FCC didn't force the sales of WSM or WLAC, but once they did sell the TV stations had to go to someone else.

 

[catfishal]

Why Radio News? In the 21st Century, there are so many more places to get news and information, than to wait for the info to be filtered down to AM radio. There's the I-phone, I-pad, Blackberry, interent, etc.
It's a new world order...embrace it.

You can't access those instriments while driving. ....

You can listen to Internet radio streams with most smartphones when it plugged into the AUX jack of your car stereo. In most metros, the coverage is decent enough where you get very few if any dropouts. Rural areas are another story though even along the interstates. Not that this helps with local news coverage though.