BRW: WGBH news to appear on WBOS

[raccoonradio]

via http://www.bostonradiowatch.com

>>Two well-known Boston's public and commercial FM radio stations have formed a news partnership that was just announced this morning. Non-commercial WGBH 89.7FM will begin producing morning drive news updates for Greater Media-owned WBOS 92.9FM starting this Wednesday, May 16.

90 second newscasts at :15 past the hour. For those who want a bit of news but don't want to depart
from a music station to go to WBZ (90 seconds to cover a lot of stuff!)

 

[TowerBuzz]

Interesting.

Sounds s little similar to when they put the exciting ( :) Robin Young in mornings in an attempt to lure some of the NPR crowd away. I guess it is a match that makkes sense though.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

The WBOS Press Release mentions that this was the result of the wish of their audience for a touch of news. They HAVE an audience?

 

[raccoonradio]

They may bill half-decently, even if the ratings aren't good. Not sure..somewhere I saw a list of Boston stations and what they earned; stations like GM's WMJX and even country WKLB did pretty well. Can't remember
how WBOS did in terms of money-making...

 

[TSBench]

Can't remember
how WBOS did in terms of money-making...

Well, last year they outperformed the format and billed close to 9 mil.

Not bad for a station which must cost next to nothing to run (big market speaking.)

Regards,
TSB

 

[Cornflake the Destroyer]

Here is the press release:

For Immediate Release

DATE: May 15, 2007




UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCED



WGBH Radio to Provide News on Greater Media’s WBOS in Boston





Boston, MA (MAY 15, 2007): Greater Media Boston announces that 92.9 WBOS will add news to its All Music Morning, provided by WGBH 89.7 , beginning on Wednesday, May 16th.



Under the new agreement, 90 second newscasts will run on the quarter-hour (6:15 am, 7:15 am, 8:15 am) and cover international, national, and local news as well as weather and sports. They will be anchored by Dan Tritle, local Morning Edition host on WGBH’s Cape and Islands NPR Stations.



"We are really excited about this unique partnership," said David Ginsburg, Program Director at WBOS-FM. " This partnership presents a unique opportunity for two local radio stations to work together for mutual benefits.”



He added, "While we are keeping the focus on music in the morning, our audience told us they did want a little bit of news. But, we needed the news content and delivery to match our listeners’ core values and expectations. That’s where WGBH fits in so well.”



“We’re pleased that our news service will be serving a new audience,” said John Voci, WGBH’s Director of Radio Stations. “And excited to further develop our news, broadcast and online services, in collaboration with a fellow broadcast partner in the community.”



For more information, please contact WBOS Program Director David Ginsburg at [email protected].



WBOS-FM is a AAA radio station owned and operated by Greater Media Boston, a subsidiary of Greater Media, Inc., the parent company of 20 AM and FM radio stations in the Boston, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. It also owns a modern printing plant and a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey as well as several telecommunications towers located throughout the United States.


WGBH 89.7

Listener-supported WGBH 89.7 is Boston's NPR® arts and culture station, serving its wide-ranging audience with classical music, NPR news, jazz, Celtic, and folk music. The station has been an active participant in New England's vibrant music community for more than 50 years. Today, WGBH 89.7 presents more than 300 musical performances a year, including live broadcasts and remote recordings from such diverse venues as Boston's Symphony Hall, the Lowell Folk Festival, the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and WGBH's own studios. WGBH 89.7, available on Nantucket by tuning in WNCK 89.5, can be heard online anywhere in the world at www.wgbh.org.



The Cape and Islands NPR® Stations

Listener-supported WCAI 90.1, WNAN 91.1, and WZAI 94.3 are The Cape and Islands NPR Stations, a service of WGBH Boston. The stations offer a unique blend of news, information, and public radio favorites mixed with listener conversation and reports that probe local issues. Audiences around the globe can listen online at www.capeandislands.org.




Press Contacts:



David Ginsburg

WBOS-FM

 

[webcastboy]

Interesting. I wonder why WBOS chose to partner with WGBH as opposed to WBUR?

Not that WGBH is chopped liver or anything, but hell...their taglines say it all: WBUR is Boston's NPR News station, whereas WGBH is Boston's Arts and Culture station. Eh, more power to 'em I guess. NPR's strongest advertising has always been itself, so if this exposes more commercial listeners to the world of non-commercial radio, it should augur well for WGBH's ratings. Probably WBUR's, too.

One also wonders what kind of precedent this sets. Certainly both the national NPR and local affiliate newscasts on WGBH and WBUR are well-regarded, and at the same time many commercial radio newscasts are scaling back to the bare minimums...or to questionable product placement ads masquerading as news in the middle of newscasts. One could see WGBH/WBUR exporting their newscasts to other signals, becoming mini content providers for the local area. Heh, can you imagine WRKO carrying WBUR's local newscasts?!?! ;D

 

[JustinT]

Well, last year they outperformed the format and billed close to 9 mil.

Not bad for a station which must cost next to nothing to run (big market speaking.)

It's true that they've been doing the "morning show" on the cheap, but they do go all-out on Earthfest.

 

[brightonboris]

Well, last year they outperformed the format and billed close to 9 mil.

Not bad for a station which must cost next to nothing to run (big market speaking.)

It's true that they've been doing the "morning show" on the cheap, but they do go all-out on Earthfest.

True, but they sit on sponsorship deals which cover most if not all of the cost associated with EarthFest. WholeFoods and other big corporate earthy crunch brands foot a good chunk of change to get their names in front of 200,000 eyeballs. It has turned into a giant marketing machine.

Plus, musicwise, it's not like they're bringing acts like the Police or RHC to the Esplanade. It's Guster. Enough said.

 

[theAguy]

According to the BIA numbers both TTK and BOS billed 9 million. I don't think anyone over at BOS is making big money. And we know that TTK has a very fat payroll.



I assume that they went with GBH over BUr because BUR wasn't interested in providing content to another station.

What I can't understand is why they didn't use one of their in house people like Gay Vernon Lori Grande or Hank Morse to record some news in the morning. They get the Metro news feed already and doing 4 more reports a morning is no big deal. I will be interested to see if the GBH content is anything more than rip and read stuff. 90 seconds is not a lot of time for news.

Here are all the BIa numbers for those of you who missed them:

EEI 35.5
BZ 35.1
MJX 24
Kiss 23.6
JMN 18.8
BMX 18.3
BCN 18.0
ODS 17.2
ZLX 16.8
ROR 13.7
MKK 13.5
AAF 11.0
KLB 10.7
TTK 9.0
BOS 9.0

 

[Eli Polonsky]

True, but they sit on sponsorship deals which cover most if not all of the cost associated with EarthFest. WholeFoods and other big corporate earthy crunch brands foot a good chunk of change to get their names in front of 200,000 eyeballs.

Since most attendees have two eyeballs, does that mean that the average Earthfest draw is approximately 100,000?

 

[brightonboris]

According to the BIA numbers both TTK and BOS billed 9 million. I don't think anyone over at BOS is making big money. And we know that TTK has a very fat payroll.



I assume that they went with GBH over BUr because BUR wasn't interested in providing content to another station.

What I can't understand is why they didn't use one of their in house people like Gay Vernon Lori Grande or Hank Morse to record some news in the morning. They get the Metro news feed already and doing 4 more reports a morning is no big deal. I will be interested to see if the GBH content is anything more than rip and read stuff. 90 seconds is not a lot of time for news.

Here are all the BIa numbers for those of you who missed them:

EEI 35.5
BZ 35.1
MJX 24
Kiss 23.6
JMN 18.8
BMX 18.3
BCN 18.0
ODS 17.2
ZLX 16.8
ROR 13.7
MKK 13.5
AAF 11.0
KLB 10.7
TTK 9.0
BOS 9.0

and Sue Cope from WROR is another 'newsperson' they could've used.


It's more likely that WBOS 'sold' those 90-seconds to WGBH.
No one is giving anyone any free airtime these days. Everyone's
competition, even public radio.

Doesn't WRKO have a similar arrangement with Fox25
where Maria Stefanos pretends to give a minute news tease
while flirting with Howie Carr during the 6pm hour?

 

[brightonboris]

True, but they sit on sponsorship deals which cover most if not all of the cost associated with EarthFest. WholeFoods and other big corporate earthy crunch brands foot a good chunk of change to get their names in front of 200,000 eyeballs.

Since most attendees have two eyeballs, does that mean that the average Earthfest draw is approximately 100,000?

Not counting dogs and cats, yes.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

It's more likely that WBOS 'sold' those 90-seconds to WGBH.
No one is giving anyone any free airtime these days. Everyone's
competition, even public radio.

That sounds likely. It is unfortunate that GM didn't make use of their own news stable, but the fact that they didn't makes it seem even more likely that they're probably getting something out of GBH for the deal.

 

[theAguy]

I think the asumption that GBH is buying the time is a right. But I bet GBH is getting a great deal on the time. Most likely, BOS has plenty inventory in the morning and the affiliation with GBH gives them some added credibility.

Now the question is does GBH get 10 or 15 seconds to mention one of there underwriters on BOS? I don't think GBH would spend money just to have their calls on BOS.

I would assume that when GBH sells one of there underwriting packages they bonus in mentions on BOS in morning drive to help close the deal.

Fox 25 is definatly buying the time on the Howie Carr show. A Howie Carr audience is a natural for Fox News and rather than run a pre recorded spot having Maria on live adds much more value.

Ernie Boch who I think everyone would agree knows how to market his product only buys radio if he can have a live tie in with the program. His hits on the WAAF morning show are all purchased by his in house ad agency.

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes Fox25 is def. buying time on Howie's show...and the spots end when the ratings period does.
They say so right on the air ("Maria, we're not going to hear from you for awhile because the
ratings period ends tonight...")_

 

[brightonboris]

I think the asumption that GBH is buying the time is a right. But I bet GBH is getting a great deal on the time. Most likely, BOS has plenty inventory in the morning and the affiliation with GBH gives them some added credibility.

Now the question is does GBH get 10 or 15 seconds to mention one of there underwriters on BOS? I don't think GBH would spend money just to have their calls on BOS.

I would assume that when GBH sells one of there underwriting packages they bonus in mentions on BOS in morning drive to help close the deal.

Fox 25 is definatly buying the time on the Howie Carr show. A Howie Carr audience is a natural for Fox News and rather than run a pre recorded spot having Maria on live adds much more value.

Ernie Boch who I think everyone would agree knows how to market his product only buys radio if he can have a live tie in with the program. His hits on the WAAF morning show are all purchased by his in house ad agency.

I'd think this would be a straight time-buy just like buying billboard space or a newsprint ad which WGBH does on regular basis. They have a pretty strong marketing dept with a real budget. Someone got creative enough to get this pulled off. Plus, they plug wgbh.org/news(which redirects to a local NPR portal) at the end of WGBH news update. Then again, how small is that demo segment that WGBH maybe chasing - brainy, lefty, well-to-do WBOS listeners surfing over to WGBH website to catch up on some NPR news....

 

[Mickey37]

Ernie Boch who I think everyone would agree knows how to market his product only buys radio if he can have a live tie in with the program. His hits on the WAAF morning show are all purchased by his in house ad agency.

What's Boch's live tie-in on WBZ? He has ads all over that station.
Also, I don't think Junior has quite reached his father's level of imagination yet. Ernie Sr. did some things with his ads that at the time no one else was doing.
I'm very glad, however, to see that the Boch family is still spending so much on local radio, tv and even newspaper advertising.

 

[raccoonradio]

Herald:
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=1001451

>>
"(Greater Media's Phil) Redo said the station polled people about what they’d like to hear on the air. “The one thing that was missing was some connection in real time to what’s going on in the world,” he said.
For now WGBH is providing the service for free, but is working with WBOS’ sales team to find sponsorship opportunities for the newscast, said John Voci, director of radio stations for WGBH. Despite WGBH’s non-commercial status, Voci said he didn’t see a conflict in setting up a news service for WBOS, a commercial station. “Our goal here is to try and reach a broader audience,” he said.
>>

So you can't run ads on 'GBH (though maybe the donorship annoucements can sound a bit like ads)
but when you take 'GBH newsers and let them go elsewhere, it's OK.

 

[webcastboy]

Ya know, it's probably worth noting that technically it's not WGBH news that's going on WBOS, it's the WCAI/WZAI/WNAN news. The press release says:

They will be anchored by Dan Tritle, local Morning Edition host on WGBH’s Cape and Islands NPR Stations.

There's obviously a lot of overlap between WGBH and the Cape stations, but they do operate more independently than one might think. One wonders if this means that the newscasts won't be branding WGBH so much as branding the Cape stations? That'd seem odd, but no odder than WBOS allowing another, competing, station to have its branding on WBOS's airwaves.