Here is AP News feed on Iheart if one is wondering how it sounds like.
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CBS Radio News Closure: Effects on KCBS and San Francisco
- Thread starter rx8driver2
- Start date
Here is AP News feed on Iheart if one is wondering how it sounds like.
So, not exactly a club the most prestigious all-news stations in the country are likely to join if there's an alternative.
Since AP is a service that stations can pay for, they can use it just about any way they want. So there may be more affiliates out there than might be readily apparent, with those affiliates using it for actualities and voicers. It doesn't have the kind of brand prominence that ABC or Fox has. It's fairly "white-label". That may be appealing to some stations, too.
If you combined the Audacy all-news stations (and their stronger news/talk stations such as KMOX or KMBZ) with WTOP and then hired stringers to fill in the gaps in places such as the big Texas markets, you could do OK. We'll see what Audacy comes up with.
Steve Futterman's available. Steve Futterman seems to always be available, no matter the time, no matter the story. He's ex-CBS News and always does quality work. The guy's the Iron Correspondent. They should just hire him and let him move a cot into a spare office (of which there must be no shortage these days) in KNX or KCBS and do their TOH newscasts all day, every day. 🤣 🤣 🤣
Steve Futterman's available. Steve Futterman seems to always be available, no matter the time, no matter the story. He's ex-CBS News and always does quality work. The guy's the Iron Correspondent. They should just hire him and let him move a cot into a spare office (of which there must be no shortage these days) in KNX or KCBS and do their TOH newscasts all day, every day. 🤣 🤣 🤣
Steve joined NPR a couple of years ago.
I respectfully disagree. NPR people always are identified as "NPR's <name>" and lockout as "<name>, NPR News". Futterman is identified as "Reporter Steve Futterman has the story" and locks out as "I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles", or "For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman". That's a subtle tell, whoever the independent/stringer is.
Okay. But Steve has a page on the NPR website, and no other independent/stringer I know does:
Nicole Nixon, my former colleague at CapRadio, filed 134 stories for NPR. You can find her stories in a search, but there is no "Nicole Nixon" page.
Without confirming the lack of a Nicole Nixon page -- or a Scott Shaffer page, etc. -- you're right that Futterman has his own page collecting the stories he's filed. But I clicked through to a few just now, and he's never identified as "NPR's Steve Futterman", nor does he ever lockout the way an NPR reporter or correspondent would. In contrast, take a look at a random sampling of stories from today's Morning Edition, and all NPR employees adhere to that convention. Nicole, or Scott, or yourself when you were at CapRadio, would initially be identified as "From member station CapRadio in Sacramento..." or "From member station KQED in San Francisco...", and would lockout with the "For NPR News, <name> in <location>".
Futterman's deal seems to be different, on call exclusively for them to do the same kind of features he used to do for CBS News. There's a whole NPR West down in Culver City, so it's not like they don't have their own stable of news talent to draw on. Nor is it like a train derails in Southwest Left Bumblef*ck, and Weiserguy is the closest thing to a radio person within 180 miles, so I do a report for them as a stringer. It would be interesting to know what Mr. Futterman's deal is with NPR.
Which, simplifying, calls into question “Steve Futterman’s available”.
Kind of like Dan Mitchinson on KCBS...before Audacy laid him off.
Yeah, it's that green glow of sarcasm (or is it radiation?) sneaking out for a quick toke of gamma rays before beating a retreat back to the solemnity of this thread.
For awhile it did seem like Mr. Futterman was everywhere. He was at the Superbowl down the road from me in Feb, then he was at the Olympics in Milano just days later. Both are stories that NPR people, or in the case of the Superbowl, a KQED person, could have ably covered. It felt sorta like the assignment editor was his brother-in-law. (Oops, bad bad Sarcasm, get back in your beer can!)
See, and this is part of my problem with the idea that Audacy is somehow going to cobble together a radio network. I mean, they could...but they've spent the last seven years throwing experience and talent overboard at their all-news stations. Some folks saw the writing on the wall and retired on their own terms, but not many.
So, if you're Steve Futterman, I think you have to look very warily at an "opportunity" to join a startup broadcast network run by those guys.
Whatever Futterman's arrangement with NPR is, I can tell you that they tend to treat and compensate their people well. I remember my first 18 months at CapRadio, where I was part-time. I earned more than I did working full-time at KFBK (the drawback was the lack of insurance coverage and paid vacation time), and I felt infinitely more secure than I would have felt at iHeart if someone had pitched me on coming back.
Neither with the level of experience that Steve brings. He's been covering those two events for about 40 years. That's more of what he likes to do than sit in an anchor chair. If I remember correctly, his last role at CBS News Radio was overnight anchor. He can do it, but he prefers on-site reporting. The way he does it, he puts together a package for NPR, CBC, and a few other international broadcasters. It's cheaper to use Steve than send their own reporters. He's a pro, and will even do TV if needed.
That's interesting, makes sense. Sounds like you know the guy personally. Thanks.
(Oh by the way, sorry for that post last night. That was after a day of punching numbers into Turbotax, and I'd gotten rather punchy myself.)
I don't remember seeing anyone from KQED when I was at Super Bowl City last time it was in Santa Clara. It was all national sports networks. KNBR and other sports stations might have been there too, but I just remember the national sports networks.
I wasn't so much referring to covering the game as covering the "scene", around the area, stadium, security, etc. It's their backyard, so in theory a KQED person ought to be better suited to that than an NPR person parachuting in from, say, Boise. (With apologies to Kirk Siegler if he ever stumbles upon this post.) Same with KCBS verses a CBS crew from NY or LA. For certain types of color, someone who lives and works in the market year round should have a more intimate familiarity.
I'd suggest that Futterman knows San Francisco as well as anyone at KQED. I'm not aware that KQED has a lot of field reporters who do that kind of coverage, especially on weekends.
Someone like Futterman can, to some extent, write his own ticket. He's got as much of a name as anyone else in radio news. There are a lot of other people out there who don't have a well-known name and who've been looking for work. They might not exactly jump at the opportunity but a payroll deposit is a payroll deposit. Or, in other words, any port in a storm will do.
As you well know, it's also not as if the big guys such as iHeart are any more stable.
When I started out in my second, non-media career, I was astonished at the benefits that were available to me. Some of that diminished over time, but I was a lot better off than I would likely have been if I had tried to stay in the media.
Since we're talking about San Francisco, and most stations are union shops, the benefits employees receive will likely come from the union, and not the company. That mainly applies to on-air talent, production workers, and even some engineering staff.
Those who are "content creators," making videos for YouTube or TikTok, you are likely self-employed. You receive non-employee compensation from those companies, and therefore don't receive benefits at all.
Ha! I was listening to CBC News on my car's Sirius XM radio this afternoon. And sure enough, Steve Futterman was covering the You Tube/Facebook trial in Los Angeles. I was surprised he signed off his report by saying "Steve Futterman, CBC News, Los Angeles." Not "for CBC News."Steve Futterman's available. Steve Futterman seems to always be available, no matter the time, no matter the story. He's ex-CBS News and always does quality work. The guy's the Iron Correspondent. They should just hire him and let him move a cot into a spare office (of which there must be no shortage these days) in KNX or KCBS and do their TOH newscasts all day, every day. 🤣 🤣 🤣
Unless I'm putting too much weight on one word, "for." But in the past, whether the correspondent used "for" or the regular sign-off told us if he were an employee or a stringer.