Could a radio network syndicate CBS, ABC or NBC evening news on the radio?

[Syfy]

By the way, the once named "CNN Headline News" with the repeating 30 minute news summary, was hawked to radio stations as a fulltime and/or part-time format. Several radio stations around the country ran CNN Headline News. Generally speaking, the format was not very successful with most stations picking up a new format in a year or so.

Was this when it first launched?

 

[b-turner]

I don't know if CNN offered the radio audio at the same time the TV network began. Given the thinking of the time, they may have or shortly after they worked out the kinks. The big thing with CNN was getting reach. They modified the schedule to replace a few standard features to create The Airport Network and a network for the grocery stores that was designed to air as you were in the checkout line. Both of those were just Headlines News with certain inserts to create a new brand. It seems there might have been another specialized network as well. Regardless, I recall being impressed with how they took existing content to create a new and different product not once but for what have been several different products. I wonder if they have anything to do with the gas station audio/video as you pump gas.

 

[Gregg.]

I worked for a CNN Headline News affiliate in Albany NY in the 1990s. Around the country, a few dozen AM stations did All-News using Headline News, with their own inserts at various times of the hour. I seem to remember Headline News did light features at :24 and :54 so that's when we did our own local news instead. Then at :00 and :30, the top national stories aired from the network. There were also breaks where our station inserted local commercials and 30 second weather updates.

Even though CNN marketed this to radio stations via a radio syndicator, I thought they were never fully committed. CNN never told its reporters to stop using graphics alone to identify the audio clips in their reports. So reporters would talk about a big snowstorm, and a clip would come on saying "I am sending out crews to plow the roads." Only on TV could you see the graphic that it was Governor John Smith saying this. The CNN reporter didn't say Gov. John Smith in his report.

In many markets, small to large, AM stations are still simulcasting TV audio, not just 60 Minutes or The CBS Evening News. WGN 720 Chicago runs the WGN-TV morning news at 4am. I think it sounds terrible, especially when meteorologists stand in front of a weather map showing us a cold front moving through or sportscasters say "Look at that spectacular catch!" On the other hand, I do sometimes listen to MSNBC while listening to SiriusXM in my car.

 

[Syfy]

I worked for a CNN Headline News affiliate in Albany NY in the 1990s. Around the country, a few dozen AM stations did All-News using Headline News, with their own inserts at various times of the hour. I seem to remember Headline News did light features at :24 and :54 so that's when we did our own local news instead. Then at :00 and :30, the top national stories aired from the network. There were also breaks where our station inserted local commercials and 30 second weather updates.

Even though CNN marketed this to radio stations via a radio syndicator, I thought they were never fully committed. CNN never told its reporters to stop using graphics alone to identify the audio clips in their reports. So reporters would talk about a big snowstorm, and a clip would come on saying "I am sending out crews to plow the roads." Only on TV could you see the graphic that it was Governor John Smith saying this. The CNN reporter didn't say Gov. John Smith in his report.

In many markets, small to large, AM stations are still simulcasting TV audio, not just 60 Minutes or The CBS Evening News. WGN 720 Chicago runs the WGN-TV morning news at 4am. I think it sounds terrible, especially when meteorologists stand in front of a weather map showing us a cold front moving through or sportscasters say "Look at that spectacular catch!" On the other hand, I do sometimes listen to MSNBC while listening to SiriusXM in my car.

Headline news sirius xm channel plays forensic files / crime programming like 75 percent of the time not a whole lot of news.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Headline news sirius xm channel plays forensic files / crime programming like 75 percent of the time not a whole lot of news.

Yes it's a waste of a station.

 

[vchimpanzee]

They modified the schedule to replace a few standard features to create The Airport Network and a network for the grocery stores that was designed to air as you were in the checkout line.

They had something like this in the 90s at my grocery store. I couldn't stand how loud it was and, furthermore, there were these very annoying sound effects when they would go to commercial. I complained about the volume level and was told the volume level was determined by the people in charge of the channel, not the store. I quit going inside and let my father do the shopping, and not long after that they got rid of it.

 

[Kelly A]

They had something like this in the 90s at my grocery store. I couldn't stand how loud it was and, furthermore, there were these very annoying sound effects when they would go to commercial. I complained about the volume level and was told the volume level was determined by the people in charge of the channel, not the store. I quit going inside and let my father do the shopping, and not long after that they got rid of it.

Most of the larger grocery chains play background music that has encoded messages in an effort to relax customers and reduce shoplifting. "I enjoy shopping at this store" "I am an honest person, and would never consider stealing from this store."

Just a little background music sci-ops trivia for a Tuesday..

 

[Syfy]

They had something like this in the 90s at my grocery store. I couldn't stand how loud it was and, furthermore, there were these very annoying sound effects when they would go to commercial. I complained about the volume level and was told the volume level was determined by the people in charge of the channel, not the store. I quit going inside and let my father do the shopping, and not long after that they got rid of it.

That surprises me they couldnt adjust the volume on their own sound system.

 

[tvnut]

WBBM 780 Chicago still runs “60 Minutes” on Sunday. It’s never gone for the daily simulcast of the “CBS Evening News,” but I’ve heard both CBS and NBC weekday newscasts carried in smaller markets, usually the first segment.

There was a time late in their tenures when Dan Rather and Peter Jennings anchored the 5 p.m. ET radio news for their respective networks as a reminder for the audience that the TV broadcast was coming in 90 minutes. NBC having abandoned direct control of what was left of the NBC Radio Network, Tom Brokaw could not do so even if he wanted to.

 

[spt87]

Not a new idea - I heard KYW airing the 10 or 11pm new from KYW-TV. WBZ ran the CBS evening news for a couple years and ran 60 minutes as well. I think there was a push for the CBS owned news radio stations to run the CBS evening news and 60 minutes at one point. As said above - it doesn't translate that well but for CBS it was a way to promote the TV new shows I suppose.

 

[vchimpanzee]

That surprises me they couldnt adjust the volume on their own sound system.

I assume it meant they didn't have permission.