FM news 101.9 - why did news on FM fail?

[Marcos_C]

Stunting is done for several reasonable reasons. For technical reasons (You can't always just up and change format without making technical adjustments. A lot of that is done during stunting) In the case of FM News, they were building a newsroom where the reporters could record their reports and have them sent to the computer so only the anchors needed to be in the studio. When it launched, they had all of the anchors and reporters in the room at the same time taking turns. The studio was not ready. They should have stunted longer.

So, that explains how WINS-FM* was able to go straight from alternative to all-news on October 27 at 8:50 am. The studio that 92.3 used for the alternative format was being closed as the station switched to simulcasting an all-news format that originates in another studio. Certainly, stunting wasn't needed in that case.


* = The call sign had already changed from WNYL several hours before the flip.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

In Chicago, they had content like this.

OMG I've heard pirate stations sound better.

 

[mikerock]

Don't forget, it failed in every market they tried it in. As others said, it had to be the way it was being positioned. Am I wrong, or wasn't Randy Michael's trying to program it to be female leaning, with a presentation that one would see on GMA or Today? I remember thinking of it as such. Kind of like turning on my local CBS, ABC, or NBC affiliate and getting local news for drive time, then more female leaning pop culture and entertainment pieces after.

I remember thinking bad enough we lose Alt but to lose it for news for females gave me no reason to listen. Although I am probably one of the few that still thought it was not that bad compared to WINS which I have no reason to listen to given news on my cell phone and desktop PC unless it is in my car but only for a couple minutes only.

I had hoped it would be a mix of news and talk rather than trying to be WINS for females. NYC could still use a mix of news talk and one that is not overly one sided political either way.

 

[gr8oldies]

Read my post above. They were still stunting. The format had not officially launched at the point where that was recorded. They did several practice newscasts during the stunting, this one failed.

Still, stunting or not, that never should have aired in market #3. I can remember hearing about formats that were practiced for 30 days. This should have been one of them.

 

[Marcos_C]

NYC could still use a mix of news talk and one that is not overly one sided political either way.

WOR was such a talk station during the 1970s and the 1980s. However, that changed in 1988, when they hired conservative talk show host Mark Scott in an effort to attract a younger audience.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

Still, stunting or not, that never should have aired in market #3. I can remember hearing about formats that were practiced for 30 days. This should have been one of them.

They did practice, I believe it was a hotel somewhere. The first day there were about 10 people gathered in the studio reading scripts. Was still in the stunt phase. Wasn't ready to go. The design was to have the anchors in the studio and the reporters recording their stories from the newsroom. Wasn't setup when they went on. Was running on the Scott Studios system. The new system was NexGen. They did several practice reports during the stunting which went fine. This one obviously didn't.

 

[Kent]

Many markets got their heritage all news AM on to FM over the past decade. Why did nobody listen to the news on 101.9 rather than 880 or 1010. They were blessed with Hurricane Irene and Occupy Wall Street increasing listener’s appetite for news.

Merlin did a poor job with the all news format. Plus, all news, in general, takes time to grow while startup costs are high. I can’t think of a single all news station launched from scratch in the last 25 years that has been successful.

 

[wadio]

Why they wanted to skew female in the first place is a bit of a mystery. Why they thought they could pull of such a feat is a bigger mystery. The content, if anything, was condescending toward the audience they were hoping to attract.

That's exactly how I saw it. A very bad attempt at pandering.

 

[semoochie]

Merlin did a poor job with the all news format. Plus, all news, in general, takes time to grow while startup costs are high. I can’t think of a single all news station launched from scratch in the last 25 years that has been successful.

KOMO, now KNWN switched to All News in 2002. The FM simulcast began in 2009.

 

[nd2023]

In Chicago, they had content like this.

Wow! Perhaps Randy Michaels should have hired students from my former high school station 😂
So why did it get more expensive to drive in Illinois? I guess we’ll never know

 

[Kent]

KOMO, now KNWN switched to All News in 2002. The FM simulcast began in 2009.

I would argue it wasn’t started from scratch. If I remember correctly, it has had news blocks in the morning and afternoon drive slots since at least 1990. Plus, it had the backing of the news department of Channel 4 until recently. KRLD in Dallas is similar. It has run all news in the daytime and been successful with it, but it expanded its news block from drive times to include the middays in the late 90’s.

When I think of a news operation that started from scratch, I think of those that had a completely different format when they switched, like KEWS 94.9 in Dallas, the Merlin news stations, 92.1 in Houston, and 106.7 in Atlanta. Most talk stations tend to slowly expand the news blocks. Actually, most have been scaling back their news, but those that do expand news tend to do so gradually.

 

[MVB13]

Stunting is done for several reasonable reasons. For technical reasons (You can't always just up and change format without making technical adjustments. A lot of that is done during stunting) In the case of FM News, they were building a newsroom where the reporters could record their reports and have them sent to the computer so only the anchors needed to be in the studio. When it launched, they had all of the anchors and reporters in the room at the same time taking turns. The studio was not ready. They should have stunted longer.

Other times if the format goes to another frequency, they stunt so people change the station.

Programming is usually scheduled ahead of time. If you just let go of the person who programs it, unless you're iHeart with generic logs, at some point you'll run out of scheduled programming. I know of one station where they relied on another station's log to operate. The other station flipped. The local PD had no clue how to program that format, and it just started playing all kinds of unusual music until they decided to flip that station too.

Which stations were this?

 

[BarryATL]

In Chicago, they had content like this.

If my memory serves, this particular piece was done while they "practiced". The station was still doing music and were trying to do some news at the top of the hour. In this recording the on air talent was hearing the delayed signal in their headphones (seven seconds later). They talent was not yet familiar enough with the controls or the sounders to pull off the headphones and "do it blind". So, they gave up and went back to music to try again another hour.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

Sometimes even when stations do stunt, it's not ready.

 

[Radi0411]

If that were not in market #3 and not 10 AM or 10 PM, it may have been a hair less awkward at say, maybe 3 AM, but none-the-less that should have never occurred. Want to know what to do with ALL of the AM's that no one is listening to? Practice there and once you get it right, take it to the FM. Yeah I know, not realistic but that was truly cringe-worthy. On top of that, the grammar was also embarrassing: "it could cost you a lotta more money..." Wow!

 

[KyleSmith1988]

I actually liked it better the when it debuted as
"FM New" right before it became "FM News."

It was actually playing some decent music for the 1st few days as "FM New" right after RXP went kaput.

I originally thought "FM New" was gonna be the final format, but it was just a big stunt for the soon to come "FM News," and that was a big turn off for me.
This was in July 2011

I really enjoyed it for it's short existence.
Reminds me of when WPUR 107.3 in Atlantic City debuted as Fun 107 (WZZP) back in the late 1990s.

 

[Gregg.]

The BIG problem with FM 101.9 News? It wasn't serious about field reporting. It didn't have people assigned to beats. No one was a regular at city hall, which WINS and WCBS had. No one was a regular in the courts as WINS and WCBS had. No one was assigned in NJ or LI or the Northern Suburbs. You CAN'T have an all-news station where almost nobody covered anything.

Too often, FM 101.9 relied on the cheapest, easiest way to do a story. Send an intern downstairs to get MOS sound (Man on the Street). "What do you think about the transit fare hike?" "What do you think of tax increase?" WINS and WCBS almost NEVER do that. FM 101.9 did that almost every day, rather than actually sending a reporter to cover a story.

FM 101.9 did hire one reporter to be a muckraker. Go out and find government corruption and waste. But he rarely came back with something good. I remember when a big snowstorm hit NYC. His story was done looking out his apartment window and describing the street. He didn't interview the guys on the snow plows. He didn't go to the sanitation garage. He didn't go to a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. WINS and WCBS went to those places every big storm.

Were the reporters lazy? Did management not budget for real news coverage? Did the consultant not think real reporting counts anymore? I never learned what the problem was. But FM 101.9 News clearly didn't do the hard work.

 

[sdwulfdawg]

In Chicago, they had content like this.

Gotta so love the mike tap to see if it is live....

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Did management not budget for real news coverage? Did the consultant not think real reporting counts anymore? I never learned what the problem was. But FM 101.9 News clearly didn't do the hard work.

Probably both of these. That's the direction news has been going for quite a long time.

Beat reporting hasn't been a thing in years. Why? Because there are a lot of days that there's not much to report on the education beat, and no one wants to pay a reporter to *not* report on a certain day. Maybe beat reporters were still was used at WINS in 2011, I don't know. But I can't imagine Merlin ever considered assigning beat reporters.

 

[Larry]

Beat reporting hasn't been a thing in years. Why? Because there are a lot of days that there's not much to report on the education beat, and no one wants to pay a reporter to *not* report on a certain day.

Best reporting still exists on radio. At Audacy’s KYW in Philly there still is a City Hall beat reporter as there is a Crime & Justice beat reporter. They might occasionally be assigned to something outside of their best, especially if there is late breaking news but I’d estimate 90% of their reporting are stories within their beat.