Cumulus Announces an All-News Station on 106.7: To Debut Mid-May

[wpb1999]

I have listened some to 106.7 today and one thing I noticed is they keep saying "1067 WYAY". The call letters are difficult to say and are klunky. I hope they plan on changing them.

They started referring to themselves like that right after Randy & Spiff left. I think the firing of Randy and Spiff was all the start of a conspiracy plan from Cumulus to do away with the oldies. They weren't interested in keeping what ABC/Citadel had built right from day one.

 

[charlestondxman]

WSB used to have an afternoon news block in the late 90s and early 2000s before Sean Hannity got big. Calandra Corder was one of the main news people on there. It was from like 5-7.

It didn't air a lot during the summer in full because WSB still had the Braves rights.

 

[tomservo]

Why do these stations in Pitt and Philly begin with a K????

They were around before the K/W split along the Mississippi River was codified. See also WBAP in Dallas and WHO in Des Moines.

 

[BIGSTICK]

Why do these stations in Pitt and Philly begin with a K????

They were around before the K/W split along the Mississippi River was codified. See also WBAP in Dallas and WHO in Des Moines.

Thanks for all the answers guys...... ;D

 

[jabba17]

Why do these stations in Pitt and Philly begin with a K????

They were around before the K/W split along the Mississippi River was codified. See also WBAP in Dallas and WHO in Des Moines.

Thanks for all the answers guys...... ;D

http://earlyradiohistory.us/recap.htm#KW1

 

[fortt3]

WSB used to have an afternoon news block in the late 90s and early 2000s before Sean Hannity got big. Calandra Corder was one of the main news people on there. It was from like 5-7.

It didn't air a lot during the summer in full because WSB still had the Braves rights.

My recollection is that it was back in the Dr. Laura days. She was noon to 3, Clark was 3 to 6 and they had a 6 PM news hour. Hannity was on at 7, I seem to recall hearing the OJ Simpson case being discussed on Hannity's 7 PM show on WizBee.

But then I might be wrong as all get out.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I think you're right. When Hannity first came on WSB, it was supposed to be a test. The station still carried Atlanta's Evening News at 6 with Mike Kavanagh and Lisa Campbell. But before long, Hannity was aired an hour late, starting at 4 and going to 7. The ended Atlanta's Evening News.

 

[recto101]

It's about time for a city Atlanta's size. Yes, another oldies station has been sacrificed, but WSB won't go all-news. Not with Clark Howard in the way. Let's see how Cumulus does it.

Is there a smaller market than Atlanta with an all news station? The only ones I know of are in bigger markets.

1 New York WCBS (CBS), WINS (CBS) & WEMP (Merlin)
2 Los Angeles KNX (CBS)
3 Chicago WBBM (CBS) & WIQI (Merlin)
4 San Francisco KCBS (CBS) & KGO (Cumulus)
5 Dallas-Ft Worth KRLD (CBS)
6 Houston KROI (Radio One)
7 Washington WTOP (Hubbard) & WNEW (CBS)
8 Philadelphia KYW (CBS)
9 Atlanta WYAY (Cumulus) --coming soon
10 Boston WBZ (CBS)
11 Detroit WWJ (CBS)

You can add 14. in Seattle, KOMO Newsradio a FisherABC Station.

KQV in Pittburgh

 

[recto101]

I listened for two days to Cumulus' KGO All News (except weekends) in San Fran to get some idea as to what type of job Cumulus does with news. I will say it was not bad. Here are a few observations:

--I was not happy that mid-day they had all women voices... the two anchors... the field reporters... even the weather. There was not one male voice for a few hours. I do not think that was by design... one of the female anchors kept saying every 30 minutes that she was filling in for someone who had a male name.

--They missed one big story local story that KCBS was carrying in the evening about May Day protesters bashing in windows. KGO eventually picked it up and did a great job, but they were a couple of hours late.

--The imaging does not have any pizzazz. It actually sounded cheap. The one news sounder they play four times an hour is very underwhelming. One thing that CBS has shown is an all news station should have good imaging. Very distinctive sounds for different sections of the news cast. If you are zoning in the car, you wake up when you hear the sounder for traffic. Even KGO's traffic sounder was boring. WINS has always been known for it's imaging... CBS' new WNEW in Washington, DC took what WINS had and pumped it up. Listen to the top or bottom of the hour with WNEW and it is real clear what they are going to cover, it is dramatic, and it draws you in. The traffic sounder is loud and high pitched which gets your attention to pay attention. Granted, WNEW has a few of their own issues like saying "repeating the current temperature of 80 degrees". That is a no-no in radio. Never say repeating.

--There is a big push for the 11:00 PM news on KGO. It has the feel they are tying to compete with the TV broadcasts at that hour.

Overall, I would be happy with a KGO type product if they could work on their imaging. Make it sound like a news station.... make sure the sounders don't sound cheap and all of the announcers know where to start talking. Make sure the sounders are bright in sound. The KGO sounders are not bright and actually sound like they are being played on a cart machine with a dirty tape head.

Well, this is enough to begin a conversation on what we would like to see in the station.

The problem with KGO they don't have an FM outlet to compete against KCBS-FM. I know in able for Cumulus to stay in the "News and Information" business they would have to get staff members from ABC-TV affiliate like Disney's KGO-TV to do reports for KGO-AM. I know for CBS all-News O&O's they always borrow people from CBS TV O&O's like KPIX-TV, KCBS-TV (Los Angeles) to do reports for the CBS all-News O&O's.

 

[Radio1360]

WSB used to have an afternoon news block in the late 90s and early 2000s before Sean Hannity got big. Calandra Corder was one of the main news people on there. It was from like 5-7.

It didn't air a lot during the summer in full because WSB still had the Braves rights.*

So did it sister station in Jacksonville, FL. WOKV-AM 690 (no 106.5 FM back then), and
it used to have the same hourly ID WSB Radio had: [Dramatic Music Flourish] "THIS IS THE STATION JACKSONVILLE TURNS TO FIRST FOR LIVE TEAM COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS...NEWS-TALK 690, WOKV, JACKSONVILLE'S NEWS, WEATHER & TRAFFIC STATION, DEPEND ON IT!" That's when I use to hear this 50,000 daytime station down in my ex-home of Savannah.

*So did WOKV-AM. Braves Baseball was on nearly every day!

 

[charlestondxman]

WOKV had the Braves? Wow, what a signal. Daytime games could be heard all over the place. WOKV also had Georgia football for several years. That's where I first heard Larry Munson when I discovered AM radio.

They were basically a mini-WSB.

 

[rehkopf]

A quick note on KDKA...having a bit of familiarity there. The only time KD is on a straight news format is from 3:00-6:05 weekday afternoons with Rose Ryan Douglas.

The KDKA Morning News (which I used to anchor), is hosted by Larry Richert and John Shumway, with essentially 8 minute news blocks at the top and bottom from 5:00-9:00. Talk shows air from 9:00-12:00 and 12:00-3:00, picking up again after 6:00 PM and thru overnights. No local newscasts on weekends at the moment.

It's a great station, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience...but not quite sure I'd put it in the all-news category.

Best of luck to the new venture in ATL!

Bill Rehkopf
WNEW-FM Washington

 

[beachguy3b]

The problem with KGO they don't have an FM outlet to compete against KCBS-FM.

KCBS-FM is in Los Angeles. 106.9 is KFRC-FM.

 

[broadcastergeek]

In fact, they just announced the launch date. The official launch date is May 29th.

 

[benale]

With the addition of Atlanta, there will be an all news station in every Top ten market. However,KRLD and WBZ are all news from 5AM to 8PM. I 'm not sure if KRLD does all news on Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Miami, Minneapolis-St Paul, Phoenix and San Diego are the biggest markets without an all news station. I don't even think Minneapolis and San Diego do all news in morning drive.

 

[DougBroda]

With the addition of Atlanta, there will be an all news station in every Top ten market. However,KRLD and WBZ are all news from 5AM to 8PM. I 'm not sure if KRLD does all news on Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Miami, Minneapolis-St Paul, Phoenix and San Diego are the biggest markets without an all news station. I don't even think Minneapolis and San Diego do all news in morning drive.

KRLD is not all news on the weekends, even in daytime. 2 one-hour blocks on Saturday, one 2 1/2 hour block on Sunday. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/krld-amfm-program-guide/

 

[FLjack2]

With the addition of Atlanta, there will be an all news station in every Top ten market. However,KRLD and WBZ are all news from 5AM to 8PM. I 'm not sure if KRLD does all news on Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Miami, Minneapolis-St Paul, Phoenix and San Diego are the biggest markets without an all news station. I don't even think Minneapolis and San Diego do all news in morning drive.

Miami will never get an all-newser. Too many Spanish listeners to put on an English speaking all newser

 

[secondchoice]

With the addition of Atlanta, there will be an all news station in every Top ten market. However,KRLD and WBZ are all news from 5AM to 8PM. I 'm not sure if KRLD does all news on Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Miami, Minneapolis-St Paul, Phoenix and San Diego are the biggest markets without an all news station. I don't even think Minneapolis and San Diego do all news in morning drive.

Miami will never get an all-newser. Too many Spanish listeners to put on an English speaking all newser

ESPN has a Spanish service. Are there any all news Spanish stations? You could use the HD2 on a FM for the "other language"? I wonder which (English or Spanish) would be "the other language"?

 

[FLjack2]

All news (or even local news/talk) is expensive to operate. No one in their right mind would spend $$ on any format for an HD channel.

 

[secondchoice]

All news (or even local news/talk) is expensive to operate. No one in their right mind would spend $$ on any format for an HD channel.

You are correct about the costs and expenses. I was just wondering how one station's news gathering could be used to for the 45.8 % (1.6million+) Hispanic part of the market. My personal experience with Hispanics is that most are smart and can understand and speak English. Just listening to a newscast in another language for hours would be difficult for a lot of people, especially if the program was fast paced.