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Coverage of Osama bin Laden's Death: KTAR vs. KFYI

A

asugeorge1

So, by now, most of you know that Osama bin Laden is dead. The news broke about 7:45 P.M. (I saw it first on CNN with Wolf Blitzer), and by 8:00 P.M. it had spread to all major news networks. On the radio side, KTAR (92.3 FM) was the first to switch to the breaking news coverage via ABC radio news. Overall, I believe KTAR did a better job covering the story over KFYI (550 AM). KTAR gets applause for providing live, local coverage after the initial announcement with the lovable one, Jay Lawrence at the mic, along with Mac and Gaydos and Bruce St. James phoning in to provide some analysis. They also had a live edition of Voice to America with Tony Femino from 10:00 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. This is compared with Coast to Coast AM airing on KFYI which, for all intents and purposes, is a joke. Unfortunately, after 12:00 A.M., KTAR switched to Dave Ramsey. :mad: I got to say, I don't understand KTAR's love affair with this guy, especially on this important news night. But, sure enough, there he is on KTAR at this very moment.

Overall, though, I think the Phoenix-area winner for coverage of the death of Osama bin Laden has to go to KNX (1070 AM) from Los Angeles and their CBS radio coverage. Yes, you have to deal with the skywave fades and the adjacent interference from KDUS, but their live coverage blows the Phoenix area stations out of the water. In addition, I got to give some props to KJZZ (91.5 FM) because they continue to have live coverage into the night, albeit courtesy of the BBC.

The question of the day, then, is who do you think did a better job covering the death of Osama bin Laden? Does KTAR get the award again, or does KFYI pull off the upset? ??? Even better, were any of you listening to the BBC and NPR on KJZZ or, for DXers, KNX 1070 out of Los Angeles?
 
I can't really say, being that I was on one station more than the other, so I wont just assume what stations did when I was not listening. However, I did indeed listen to SOME shows, and I might be back later to deliver my opinions, later, if I find it necessary to do so at the time.

I am rather disappointed to discover that Ramsey was STILL on! That almost wants to make me say KFYI won by default, but I can't just assume KFYI was better just because I mostly listened to them overnight. I wasn't on KTAR at all after 11pm, so I'm just now finding out Ramsey actually aired last night. Anyway, well I'm going to sleep now. The rest of you wide awake reading this, I hope you all enjoyed your good nights sleep last night.
 
I heard KTAR with Jay Lawrence talking about this with... Mac Watson. I flipped to KFYI and heard FOX News TV audio with former US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.

Hmmm.... Local radio host, or guy who actually helped create international anti-terror policy. Which would I listen to?

Even though KFYI was not doing radio per se, since they were running TV audio, the content they had was, in my opinion, superior.
 
Ok, I've decided to deliver my opinion, after all, and keep in mind that this is strictly from the talk show segment(s) point of view.

I don't know anything about what happened on KFYI from 10am and later today, but I must say that KTAR has been doing an exceptional job at discussing and debating the details. As a matter of fact, the fashion in which they discussed and presented the issues and the angle they chose to take on the entire situation really surprised me. I don't think any of the common sense / thinking / talk haters can factually say anything against them this time - it was actually almost like they went "out of their way" not to piss anyone off - EXCEPT for the conspiracy theorists and Obama doubters!

Even the things I've heard on KFYI earlier during the Barry Young show were somewhat surprising to me! They were very supportive of the whole situation, gave credit where credit was due, and even credited and critiqued both sides of the aisle equally. I repeat, I did not hear both stations uncut for the entire 22 hours following the Osama incident all the way up to the time of this post, but I will say that from the exact precise time(s) I tuned in to the times I tuned out of both stations, I immediately heard fair and balanced TALK all the way through! (I mean TALK as in the opinion talk segments. This is not including the news coverage).

I must stress, once again, that I'm somewhat impressed at how the entire thing was handled (talkshow-wise). I will admit; I was indeed expecting a bunch of "where are the photos?" "I don't believe he's dead" "this is all for approval ratings" and "It was the troops, not Obama" talk. NOPE. COMPLETELY the opposite! Fair and balance speculation and talk, but with more of an "anti conspiracy theory" lean! They gave a LOT of proper credit where credit was due in regard to how the entire Osama assassination was carried out.

Knowing me, usually always "(over) analyzing" everything and dissecting everything down to the lowest common denominator and looking at specific detail to see what makes sense and what doesn't - before considering and acting on personal emotion & circumstances, I tried to analyze and think about the content I was hearing from both a talk radio fanatic and a talk radio hater point of view to see who could pick out what to support their emotional feelings and thoughts towards or against the stations. Outside of the coast to coast show, I, personally, could not find anything that people could find to take out and bash either station or any hosts for. As a matter of fact, I think the talk radio fanatics would be a little less impressed than the talk haters - if they heard TODAY'S shows... | But then again, I only tuned in to the people I like most, which are Mac & Gaydos, Bruce St James, Barry Young, some of Jim Sharpe (I was putting together dj mixes during his show which is why I missed parts of it), and all on-air team members who are associated with the people I've listed above (in no particular favorite order). Therefore, I cannot judge all shows. The ONLY place I heard some major conspiracy leaning questioning was during Coast To Coast AM, which was understandable since most of the shocking news and mind-mystifying twists that immediately followed the Osama killing happened during that show.

Although I personally wasn't too fond of every single thing I've heard, I'm glad I tuned in. They really made me think about and see more aspects and possibilities than my brain was willing to naturally acknowledge. I'm absolutely loving Mac & Gaydos right now.
 
As far as my personal opinion on the entire Osama situation, I was not there, so I can only go based purely on hearsay. I will not act like I know anything other than the fact that there's no 100% guarantee that any info that I'm hearing at all is accurate, and like I always say on facebook, my sodium level stays high because I take EVERYTHING I see and hear with a grain of salt.

Despite any facetious material you may find on my facebook page, I honestly neither fully believe or disbelieve any of the things I hear from the media itself.
 
After a while, I just listened to BBC. Much better than the endless wanking on CNN and FOX
 
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