Listening to the news breaks this morning as I sampled IQ 106.9, I noticed the news anchor saying, "FM News time is..." They also played a Lionel commentary bit. It's as if they're simulcasting from an "FM News" station from New York or Chicago. I recognized the traffic anchor, Jeff McKay, who has been with the New York "FM News" station since its inception. The traffic is local, though.
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"FM News" On IQ 106.9
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
Hearing a heavy reverb on the stream...is this reverb over air, too?
It's not like reverb isn't in the Randy Michaels playlist.
It's not like reverb isn't in the Randy Michaels playlist.
The reverb appears to be a little curbed compared to what I heard a couple of days ago... And indeed, at the top of the hour, after a local story and check on traffic and weather, Al Gardner throws it to Hilarie Barsky, who is based in New York for "national" news. I couldn't tell you if these are lifted verbatim from 101.9 in New York... She does appear to be giving real-time timechecks, though...
And did you know IQ 106.9 has a "weather geek"? I guess it's to play on the "IQ" theme... :
And did you know IQ 106.9 has a "weather geek"? I guess it's to play on the "IQ" theme... :
M
mcradiofree
Guest
weather geek is also fron NYC. They went to Kim Douglas (local) for traffic like 10 times yesterday morning and nothing but dead air. Each time they apologized for their "work in progress". If this is the best that terrestrial radio can do anymore, it deserves a quick, painless death. Rush Limbaugh's positioning is nothing short of shear ignorance of the market. "Taking on the liberals at CBS, and the fat cats in Bala." Then busting on "feminazis" from Fishtown to Feasterville. Radio folks get the inference to Clear Channel, but the average listener won't.
I've been trying to figure out if Hilarie Barsky's segments are live. I'm thinking they are not live for the following reasons:
I've heard a couple of times already when her time checks are off by a minute or two (and they're not early, rounding up to the next minute, they're late -- in other words, she says it's 8:02 when it's already 8:03 or 8:04).
There have been references elsewhere of Merlin's stations in NYC and Chicago pre-recording news segments. If they're pre-recorded where the anchors actually are, I think they may be pre-recorded for Philly, too.
She's on more than once each half hour. I can't see having someone sit in NYC and wait to go on live in Philly multiple times an hour. If not all, then some of the news segments have to be recorded.
There's no cross-talk between her and Al Gardner. She doesn't even say, "thanks Al."
If she were live, there'd be no technical reason why she wasn't dealing with the live morning drive reporter. She'd be able to take a phone report from the reporter just the same as Al Gardner would.
Signs point to news segments being pre-recorded.
I've heard a couple of times already when her time checks are off by a minute or two (and they're not early, rounding up to the next minute, they're late -- in other words, she says it's 8:02 when it's already 8:03 or 8:04).
There have been references elsewhere of Merlin's stations in NYC and Chicago pre-recording news segments. If they're pre-recorded where the anchors actually are, I think they may be pre-recorded for Philly, too.
She's on more than once each half hour. I can't see having someone sit in NYC and wait to go on live in Philly multiple times an hour. If not all, then some of the news segments have to be recorded.
There's no cross-talk between her and Al Gardner. She doesn't even say, "thanks Al."
If she were live, there'd be no technical reason why she wasn't dealing with the live morning drive reporter. She'd be able to take a phone report from the reporter just the same as Al Gardner would.
Signs point to news segments being pre-recorded.
In response to radiophiler: Whether Hilary Barksy is live or not probably should not be the point. She's awful doing the news. The traffic guy is so alive he sounds like he drank a gallon of Starbucks, and the weather geek weather guy is also a lively sounding person. She sounds like she's half-dead with no personality. You would think they could find someone who is not boring, and the news isn't even geared to Philadelphia or South Jersey. Not one South Jersey story I heard in the time I listened. At least the traffic was talking alot about Jersey which I appreciated. I have to drive to Trenton tomorrow morning so I will try them again, but so far outside of some good traffic reports (better than KYW I thought) I'm not impressed.
They may have cut back on the Reverb but I think it still sounds too heavy at least on the online stream.
Their FM news station in NY has just a touch of Reverb and it sounds better. I noticed some spots on the Stream in stereo. Is 106.9 in Stereo or did they switch to Mono as they did with 101.9 in NY.
I'm at the Jersey Shore and can only listen online which is why I am asking.
Their FM news station in NY has just a touch of Reverb and it sounds better. I noticed some spots on the Stream in stereo. Is 106.9 in Stereo or did they switch to Mono as they did with 101.9 in NY.
I'm at the Jersey Shore and can only listen online which is why I am asking.
Re: Kevin's post
Yes, I would not put Hillarie Barsky in my list of top radio news anchors either. If I remember correctly, in Philly she wasn't doing news, she was a talk host. I wonder how much news experience she had elsewhere. I listened to her online on FM News New York. Wasn't impressed with here there either. Heard her do a live interview with an ABC network correspondent. It was actually painful to listen to. Her questions to the network correspondent were not worthy of someone working in the nation's top radio market.
And maybe her newscast might be more Philly and South Jersey oriented if she were actually in the market.
IQ's morning news is interesting to listen to from a radio geek's point of view. That and listening to the reborn Larry Mendte is kinda like slowing down to look at the car crash at the side of the road: You want to see how bad it really is.
I know they're new. But I can't see making a permanent switch to their morning news. Not impressive on several fronts, IMHO.
I'll stick with KYW. With HD radio in the car, KYW is sounding better these days.
Yes, I would not put Hillarie Barsky in my list of top radio news anchors either. If I remember correctly, in Philly she wasn't doing news, she was a talk host. I wonder how much news experience she had elsewhere. I listened to her online on FM News New York. Wasn't impressed with here there either. Heard her do a live interview with an ABC network correspondent. It was actually painful to listen to. Her questions to the network correspondent were not worthy of someone working in the nation's top radio market.
And maybe her newscast might be more Philly and South Jersey oriented if she were actually in the market.
IQ's morning news is interesting to listen to from a radio geek's point of view. That and listening to the reborn Larry Mendte is kinda like slowing down to look at the car crash at the side of the road: You want to see how bad it really is.
I know they're new. But I can't see making a permanent switch to their morning news. Not impressive on several fronts, IMHO.
I'll stick with KYW. With HD radio in the car, KYW is sounding better these days.
Maybe it's me, but I think part of the reason why some of the folks on this board are piling on Hilarie Barsky is because there's been another person named Barsky who's been held in high regard in this market... :
Incidentally, good to see Kim Douglas involved with 106.9 doing traffic. Who knew she'd be heard on Philly radio sharing the same space with a different Barsky?
Incidentally, good to see Kim Douglas involved with 106.9 doing traffic. Who knew she'd be heard on Philly radio sharing the same space with a different Barsky?
Didn't Hilarie Barsky do news on the old Barsky show on WCAU-FM. The news person on that Barsky show was named Hilarie and they didn't use her last name b/c she has the same last name as Paul Barsky. (I don't think that they are related).DToTheJ said:Maybe it's me, but I think part of the reason why some of the folks on this board are piling on Hilarie Barsky is because there's been another person named Barsky who's been held in high regard in this market... :
Incidentally, good to see Kim Douglas involved with 106.9 doing traffic. Who knew she'd be heard on Philly radio sharing the same space with a different Barsky?
M
mcradiofree
Guest
Listened again this morning...Note to Al Gardner: Instead of apologizing every time you open the mic, for the "mis-cues" and other errors, how bout just fixing the problem. This station sounds so small market it doesn't stand a chance. The few weeks that this station has been on the air should have been plenty of time to iron out the kinks. Good topical radio banter this morning,"favorite burger joint"? Really? I also liked the accidental on air temper tantrum. I lost count of all the mis-steps that have already ocurred since the launch, and I only listened about 10 minutes for about 4 days since the inception.
So this morning, I heard a reference to "news director Bill Fantini," certainly a Philadelphia name that should be recognizable to anyone who has listened over the years since the 70s. It was reported elsewhere that he was going to be IQ 106.9's ND.
Uh, why is he not on the air? And instead, using talent based in NYC?
Heard one of those late time checks again this morning.
And why was the morning reporter phone quality while the actualities in his piece were studio quality? (story on fans' reaction to Sixers)
You've got to give Merlin one thing: They're reinventing news/talk radio. Whether the way they're doing is a good or bad thing, I guess only time will tell.
Uh, why is he not on the air? And instead, using talent based in NYC?
Heard one of those late time checks again this morning.
And why was the morning reporter phone quality while the actualities in his piece were studio quality? (story on fans' reaction to Sixers)
You've got to give Merlin one thing: They're reinventing news/talk radio. Whether the way they're doing is a good or bad thing, I guess only time will tell.
Kim Douglas has been on almost every station in this market, so I guess it isn't surprising she would be on this one. I guess if IQ gets really desperate they can have her recount lesbians stories like she did on free-fm.DToTheJ said:Incidentally, good to see Kim Douglas involved with 106.9 doing traffic. Who knew she'd be heard on Philly radio sharing the same space with a different Barsky?
I thought this was going to get better. I have to admit unfortunately I was wrong.
When the absolute strength is your traffic reports you're in deep trouble. All I heard all morning was Al Gardner apologizing for the mistakes he was making, the weather guy talking way too fast, and Larry Mendte is opinionated, but even his opinions didn't get a rise out of me. The entire show sounds disjointed and lacks any discernable direction. The news person it seems is the worst of all. I would think they could find someone better. The dead air during the news at one point was a joke. Very sad. I expected more.
The traffic was the best part by far. I like the combo of Jeff McKay and Kim Douglas. McKay was a star on WKXW for so many years and it was great to hear him talking about the roads I was on, and BTW he was dead-on about 42 and 295 and the delay on Route 29 when I got to Trenton and since nobody (even 101.5 at times) ever talk about Trenton I was hooked. Nobody does traffic like him. Kim I heard before and she's great too. Maybe they should host the show together? They're both very entertaining.
When the absolute strength is your traffic reports you're in deep trouble. All I heard all morning was Al Gardner apologizing for the mistakes he was making, the weather guy talking way too fast, and Larry Mendte is opinionated, but even his opinions didn't get a rise out of me. The entire show sounds disjointed and lacks any discernable direction. The news person it seems is the worst of all. I would think they could find someone better. The dead air during the news at one point was a joke. Very sad. I expected more.
The traffic was the best part by far. I like the combo of Jeff McKay and Kim Douglas. McKay was a star on WKXW for so many years and it was great to hear him talking about the roads I was on, and BTW he was dead-on about 42 and 295 and the delay on Route 29 when I got to Trenton and since nobody (even 101.5 at times) ever talk about Trenton I was hooked. Nobody does traffic like him. Kim I heard before and she's great too. Maybe they should host the show together? They're both very entertaining.
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