Captain Jorge has been grounded after 26 years of being KABC's airborne reporter as part of the Cumulus cuts.
nmoore6676 said:Mike Nolan got hired back to do on the ground traffic reports on KFI and other stations I believe. That was because of listener response and also KFI news still has him to fly coverage of things like wild fires and such. But KABC is not a highly rated or regarded station any more and to be truthful airborne traffic coverage, except maybe on TV, has little listener appeal in today's GPS/I-Pad world. So this move was inevitable and amazing that they kept him for so long.
Back when I was a kid and traffic reporting from the air was in it's infancy, as were staff meteorologists on TV one local DJ in my home town in Ohio did a spoof on traffic reporting. In his version the "reporter" was driving around the main thoroughfares reporting on aircraft he sighted overhead.
calguy said:nmoore6676 said:Mike Nolan got hired back to do on the ground traffic reports on KFI and other stations I believe. That was because of listener response and also KFI news still has him to fly coverage of things like wild fires and such. But KABC is not a highly rated or regarded station any more and to be truthful airborne traffic coverage, except maybe on TV, has little listener appeal in today's GPS/I-Pad world. So this move was inevitable and amazing that they kept him for so long.
Back when I was a kid and traffic reporting from the air was in it's infancy, as were staff meteorologists on TV one local DJ in my home town in Ohio did a spoof on traffic reporting. In his version the "reporter" was driving around the main thoroughfares reporting on aircraft he sighted overhead.
True, Nolan was brought back at a fraction of his old pay to be a ground bound traffic reporter. I've heard him speak to the matter and what he said was that you get much more accurate reporting from an airborne reporter above the scene than you get from relayed information via ground reporting. Most people don't use their phones to get the info they need because reading a phone display while driving is neither convenient nor safe. And contrary to popular belief not everyone has GPS/Ipad technology at their fingertips. But hey, that's where we're being pushed to go, so maybe someday that statement will really be true. The only reason airborne traffic reporters are being grounded is money. You're not getting more accurate reporting, but radio company suits are saving cash and if you confronted them about it they would simply tell you behind closed doors that they don't care and that's that.
Paul_Warren said:There have been a couple of long-time airborne traffic reporters sacked this week. If these guys want to stay in the game, it's actually not a bad place from which to launch your own business. There are still large, institutional advertisers in many cities who'd love to sponsor airborne traffic watch, and you could sell it back to stations from the outside on barter. I wonder if they'll try?