Here's why LOCAL is needed

[johnbasalla]

The tragedy at Chardon High School illustrates why local is needed. Thanks to having a professional news staff, WTAM was able to provide live up-to-the-minute coverage and talk programming about what was clearly the most important story of the day and what was clearly the item most people wanted to talk about. The morning drive team just kept things going. Later in the day, I heard an excellent report from Reporter Colleen O'neil.

Meanwhile, "News/Talk 1420" WHK had their regular syndicated fare on, with local news updates at the top and bottom of the hour. Think about how much WHK could have increased its respectability and viability in this market if they had been able to go live too. Even if they couldn't send anybody to the scene, they could have hooked up, via phone, with any number of experts to talk about the general issue of school violence.

 

[Bongwater]

In one word: Salem

Salem has a national political/religious agenda first and foremost. Not even the most horrific LOCAL tragedy is going to deter them from it.

Sad but true. WHK is NOT a genuine local "News/Talk" station in ANY sense. It's just a local mouthpiece for a religious/political radio conglomerate. Period.

 

[wffm78]

Or at least having a news alliance with a local TV station. WNIR went live to one local TV station for what seemed like 10 minutes. Most likely nobody's in the building at HK who could do a half hour or hour special report on the fly, and they have no local TV alliances for audio when breaking news breaks.

Other stations who stepped up, at least when I was driving in to work listening on the radio: Rover on MMS (taking calls from people on the scene, most likely based on the fact that high school kids listen to the station), and 92.3 The Fan (which dropped the local sports talk, and carried news conferences, took calls, and updated the story in their 20/20 sports...all day). Also, I heard some updates on Q104 and New102 during the regular morning shows.

Meanwhile, KISS FM's cranking out Elvis Duran from NYC, the Radio One stations were stuck playing their regular syndicated morning shows (although 107.9 did have some interviews with some sort of reverend later in the day), and KNR is playing Mike and Mike. Even TAM stuck with their regular traffic and weather updates during morning drive while I was listening...in between updates from Chardon.

Proving once again (like the Whitney Houston death a few weeks back) that having local people in the building able to respond to local stories in a timely manner is what connects listeners to local stations. It's an advantage over Sirius/XM and Pandora that radio still has, and surrenders at its peril...

 

[Tim]

Local content takes effort and committment. And, providing that content takes real, live, "in the building" people every week.

But people need to be paid....and many radio companies want to eliminate as many salaries as they can...and automate whenever possible.

Many in radio believe that there are just too few local events of any magnitude that would attract a large enough local audience to justify the costs of staffing local people 52 weeks a year. Doing so, in their opinions, does not support their desired return on investment/ROI.

 

[Whkam1420]

Great thoughts. I gotta say, believe it or not, it was a sports talk station that was out in front of this in terms of getting reaction from the community. 923 was taking calls on this before WTAM was and they actually did a nicer job of being responsible than Rover (who was running with rumors all morning - as they failed to censor callers).

Now today, (a day late) WKNR is tackling this tough issue. Admirable, but a little late. They didn't want to touch this yesterday and I think they probably felt a little foolish that the new sports station sounded more in touch with the community than they did.

 

[Capulet]

In one word: Salem

Salem has a national political/religious agenda first and foremost. Not even the most horrific LOCAL tragedy is going to deter them from it.

Sad but true. WHK is NOT a genuine local "News/Talk" station in ANY sense. It's just a local mouthpiece for a religious/political radio conglomerate. Period.

True.

AND

Another word " Republican ".

Salem bought 1420 to help insure Bush's re-election in 2004.

 

[former interm]

Great thoughts. I gotta say, believe it or not, it was a sports talk station that was out in front of this in terms of getting reaction from the community. 923 was taking calls on this before WTAM was and they actually did a nicer job of being responsible than Rover (who was running with rumors all morning - as they failed to censor callers).

Now today, (a day late) WKNR is tackling this tough issue. Admirable, but a little late. They didn't want to touch this yesterday and I think they probably felt a little foolish that the new sports station sounded more in touch with the community than they did.

THe Fan did a great job yesterday and I also thought WTAM made a great call in going live with Triv starting at noon.

It's great to know we have local news that can cover this with WTAM on the radio. I am not in Cleveland and had Triv on for hours just listening to everything plus I had WKYC on the internet. I thought Jim Donovan did a greta job anchording the afternoon coverage. Robin Swoboda looked lost at times compared to Donovan. Also, good idea by WKYV having Mitchell on the ground.

 

[VODood]

WMJI was on it from jump with WTAM as well. However, WTAM went to Glenn Beck at 9am. WMJI continued with coverage. Kudos to 923 and WDOK.

 

[vjm]

WMJI was on it from jump with WTAM as well. However, WTAM went to Glenn Beck at 9am. WMJI continued with coverage. Kudos to 923 and WDOK.

Actually, TAM blew both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh off and Bill Wills went all the way till noon before Mike Trivisonno came in at noon, and he went until 6 before Bob Frantz took over going until (I believe) midnight.

 

[vjm]

Great thoughts. I gotta say, believe it or not, it was a sports talk station that was out in front of this in terms of getting reaction from the community. 923 was taking calls on this before WTAM was and they actually did a nicer job of being responsible than Rover (who was running with rumors all morning - as they failed to censor callers).

Now today, (a day late) WKNR is tackling this tough issue. Admirable, but a little late. They didn't want to touch this yesterday and I think they probably felt a little foolish that the new sports station sounded more in touch with the community than they did.

THe Fan did a great job yesterday and I also thought WTAM made a great call in going live with Triv starting at noon.

It's great to know we have local news that can cover this with WTAM on the radio. I am not in Cleveland and had Triv on for hours just listening to everything plus I had WKYC on the internet. I thought Jim Donovan did a greta job anchording the afternoon coverage. Robin Swoboda looked lost at times compared to Donovan. Also, good idea by WKYV having Mitchell on the ground.

Gotta give some props to WKYC morning anchors Chris Tye and Erin Kennedy. They did their usual 4:30-7 a.m. show, broke in with the breaking news at 7:45-ish, and stayed on the air all the way until 6:30 p.m. (with Donovan and Swoboda giving them a brief breather in the afternoon).

Jim and Robin were at the desk long enough for Tye and Kennedy to get a 2nd wind, and were then dispatched to the field.

Robin has been doing fluff for so long, that she did look a little out of her element covering serious breaking news.

 

[Bongwater]

In one word: Salem

Salem has a national political/religious agenda first and foremost. Not even the most horrific LOCAL tragedy is going to deter them from it.

Sad but true. WHK is NOT a genuine local "News/Talk" station in ANY sense. It's just a local mouthpiece for a religious/political radio conglomerate. Period.

True.

AND

Another word " Republican ".

Salem bought 1420 to help insure Bush's re-election in 2004.

I knew that. But some people get uptight when you call it as it is on these boards......

 

[Capulet]

In one word: Salem

Salem has a national political/religious agenda first and foremost. Not even the most horrific LOCAL tragedy is going to deter them from it.

Sad but true. WHK is NOT a genuine local "News/Talk" station in ANY sense. It's just a local mouthpiece for a religious/political radio conglomerate. Period.

True.

AND

Another word " Republican ".

Salem bought 1420 to help insure Bush's re-election in 2004.

I knew that. But some people get uptight when you call it as it is on these boards......

That is so true.........

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

Wow. Salem sure convinces people in Cleveland to vote Republican. Seeing as how Cuyahoga County Government and Cleveland are run by Republicans. Unbelievable how clueless some are. LOL ;D

 

[Capulet]

Wow. Salem sure convinces people in Cleveland to vote Republican. Seeing as how Cuyahoga County Government and Cleveland are run by Republicans. Unbelievable how clueless some are. LOL ;D

Clueless for sure! That is a poignant observation. You would think Ed Atsinger would have done his due dilligence!

 

[johnbasalla]

I don't think Salem Communications bought any radio station just to help President Bush win re-election. They do have a corporate message, which they have a right to. They would have enhanced themselves, and gotten more people to listen to their programming if they could have jumped on this. I guess I can see how, viewing this from a ROI angle, a company can decide its not something they can do. Major breaking news events of this magnitude just don't happen enough. To view it another way would be to view it as a long term investment. In other words, the connection the station would make with the community and the "go-to" respectability that covering such events live and local would help build, will pay off in the long run.

 

[HHH]

Wow. Salem sure convinces people in Cleveland to vote Republican. Seeing as how Cuyahoga County Government and Cleveland are run by Republicans. Unbelievable how clueless some are. LOL ;D

Ever seen WHK's ratings? That might explain why they can't convince anyone.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

Ever take a look at Cleveland? No matter how conservative the talk shows on the air might be nothing will ever convince the majority of dopes in this area to vote anything other than Democrat. So rest assured you could have 100% right wing radio on in these markets and Democrats will still run this area no matter how many are indicted.

 

[HHH]

Ever take a look at Cleveland? No matter how conservative the talk shows on the air might be nothing will ever convince the majority of dopes in this area to vote anything other than Democrat. So rest assured you could have 100% right wing radio on in these markets and Democrats will still run this area no matter how many are indicted.

You are a bit ambiguous when you say "Cleveland"

While the city itself and most of Cuyahoga county is heavily Democratic, this is not the case in the entire metro. There are a considerable amount of registered Republicans (and Independents) in Lorain, Medina, Lake and Geauga counties, all well within WHK's coverage area.

I will point out again, that the Salem talk stations do not pull ratings ANYWHERE. Not even in Orange County California, probably the single most Republican county in the USA!

I think it boils down to the "entertainment factor". The Salem crew plays it pretty straight. Not a lot of red meat thrown, especially by people like Dennis Prager. Seems that most people who listen to talk radio want "entertaining" red meat.....affirmation of their biases and stereotypes presented simplistically, not an actual dialog or measured analysis. I really don't have to listen to Hannity or Shultz....I know what they are going to say: "every problem in this country is caused by the (fill in the party)".

If only life were that simple.

 

[CleveRadioInsider]

So then by your estimation WHK should do well in the ratings. Prager, Hewitt and Medved have opposing views on their shows and are level headed conservatives. Is that not what people want?

 

[johnbasalla]

Well, this conservative wants that. It's why I listen. Their syndicated fare could do so much better, ratings wise, if the station had a strong local presence, such as a local morning show and a local news gathering team. All of that costs oodles of money and is apparently not part of the business plan. People like Dennis Prager are not trying to "preach to the choir". They actively work to change people's minds, which is the main reason to avoid being a verbal "bomb thrower".