How Buffalo FM Stations Cover The News

[Jay_Surly]

The gang of radio malcontents gathered last night at our favorite lakeside restaurant and spent a lot of time talking about Katrina’s effect on the people of New Orleans, Mississippi and the Gulf coast. Many of us have been trying to listen to WWL and reading the New Orleans message board as well.

We also talked about how well or poorly radio stations have in Buffalo and have been covering the story. The general consensus is that WBEN has done a good job news-wise, and we agreed that no station has offered better reporting than NPR which is heard on WNED-AM and WBFO.

Ironically, somebody mentioned that Howard Stern has spent a surprising amount of time talking about the human side of the Katrina story and that he’d done a good job of it. This lead us into a discussion of how poorly most commercial FM stations cover local and national news, especially stories of epic proportion, such as Katrina and 9-11.

The consensus was WTSS and WKSE are the few FM stations that have the capability to offer strong, detailed newscasts. This, not necessarily because of their own staffs, but because WBEN, their AM news-talk sister station has a fully-staffed news department, whereas the other FM’s rely on Metro News, if anything else.

It was agreed that WTSS relates news much better than WKSE, because the WTSS air staff is more mature and better relates to an adult (25-54) audience. Could also be that because we're in the 45-54 demo, we don't LISTEN to WKSE that much (well, except for the Entercom members of the group.) Aside from the few seasoned staff members, most Buffalo FM stations aren’t equipped and staffed by personnel who are sufficiently knowledgeable to interpret, write and report accurate, detailed information in an adult manner.

Most of the members of our group conceded the other Buffalo FM’s, largely being "music machines," would be in serious trouble if they had to cover a news story the magnitude of hurricane Katrina. Aside from those of us who listen to WBFO and WNED for local and national news, we agreed that much like the Blizzard of ’77, “average” listeners would turn to the market’s news talk AM for news, weather and emergency information and since WBEN is the sole owner of the news brand, it would likely win by default.

Discussion?

Best regards,

Janos Surlikevich

 

[SirRoxalot]

In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> Aside from those of us who listen to WBFO
> and WNED for local and national news, we agreed that much
> like the Blizzard of ’77, “average” listeners would turn to
> the market’s news talk AM for news, weather and emergency
> information and since WBEN is the sole owner of the news
> brand, it would likely win by default.

I believe that WWL is winning be default in New Orleans. In fact, aren't they being rebroadcast on several local frequencies? Aren't Clear Channel and Entercom pooling resources at the moment?

In the event of a real emergency, WBEN would indeed be the default winner. FM music stations that were still on the air with LIVE BODIES would go wall-to-wall with whatever information they could beg, borrow, or (more likely) steal from WBEN, WBFO, WNED, local TV, and the cable news channels. That would last for a couple of days before they went back to entertainment programming with interruptions in regular programming as necessary, and perhaps an hourly update to reinterate emergency information.

People who are in the midst of a disaster sometime need a break from reality, and a semblance of normalcy. Music stations provide that alternative once the threat is no longer imminent.

 

[Element9]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

>
> People who are in the midst of a disaster sometime need a
> break from reality, and a semblance of normalcy. Music
> stations provide that alternative once the threat is no
> longer imminent.
>

Most of the people we hear on FM music stations have been doing radio for a number of years. They're also college graduates. Some jocks teach or have taught at the high school and college level. Val Thompson and Jay Moran come to mind. Jocks may not be "NEWS" people, but most likely, they know how to write, assemble a newscast and present it just as well, if not better than some of the people we hear on WBEN (or, with all due respect, WBFO and WNED-AM, since the original poster mentioned them.)

Are the news people who we normally hear on WBEN any more authoritative than somebody like Bill Lacy, who sounds authoritative and knowldegeable when discussing serious issues?

This will probably draw howls of protest from the news people who read this board, but for the most part, the only thing that makes them any more believable than an experienced, mature jock who reads the news is the jock works at a music station and the news person works in a NEWS format.

OK, that's harsh. The NEWS people are steeped in the NEWS culture and better focused and more knowledgeable by virtue of dealing with the NEWS. But are they REALLY more knwledgeable and aware? That's debatable. I expect Bob Smith, PhD will weigh in on this from the news perspective.

Putting together a good story requires objectivity (check your opinions at the door), clarity with writing, the ablity to edit yourself and asking questions that get to the root of the issue. "Who, what, where, when, why and how," still apply. And when using soundbites, one searches for the bites that objectively and correctly represent the opinion of the person interviewed. Yes, writing for broadcast is much different than writing for print, but let's face it, it's not brain surgery.

As far as national news is concerned, ABC, CBS, CNN Radio & NPR are better equipped and staffed to handle news regarding the Supreme Court (Nina Totenberg, for example, would be more believable than Barbara Burns) than a local news person. This would apply to most people on music stations as well.

One thing most music format stations have going against them is they're not equipped or set up to handle the needs of a full-fledged news department.

 

[dj_niceshot]

The problem with emergencies...

Is that they catch us off their guard. Two emergencies come to mind where radio shines:

1: Sept 11
2: Aug 14

The latter date was the nationwide (or at least northeast USA) blackout, where nearly 50 million americans lost power. One could say that essentially life stopped for a second. No internet, no lights, no working gas pumps, no traffic lights,no elevators, no subways....and even no water.

Cell phones worked, but didnt dial for some. Newspapers didnt have the news, TV did, but it's hard to watch without power. Radio worked just fine. It's where I learned who could make a phone call, who had gasoline (i ironically waited to get gas that day and had the "low fuel" light goin....)

In another incident, I remember an infamous snowstorm, on Christmas Eve, dumping several feet of snow on the city, resulting in whiteout conditions.
I actually heard Christmas music on BEN....whoops

To the topic at hand.... yes, Radio still carries some credibility, regardless of the talent. If Shreed and Ragan were in the middle of "hot counter help" contests and Lake Erie froze completely solid, I'm sure I'll hear about it from them..


Any other memories?



> > People who are in the midst of a disaster sometime need a
> > break from reality, and a semblance of normalcy. Music
> > stations provide that alternative once the threat is no
> > longer imminent.
> >
>
> Most of the people we hear on FM music stations have been
> doing radio for a number of years. They're also college
> graduates. Some jocks teach or have taught at the high
> school and college level. Val Thompson and Jay Moran come to
> mind. Jocks may not be "NEWS" people, but most likely, they
> know how to write, assemble a newscast and present it just
> as well, if not better than some of the people we hear on
> WBEN (or, with all due respect, WBFO and WNED-AM, since the
> original poster mentioned them.)
>
> Are the news people who we normally hear on WBEN any more
> authoritative than somebody like Bill Lacy, who sounds
> authoritative and knowldegeable when discussing serious
> issues?
>
> This will probably draw howls of protest from the news
> people who read this board, but for the most part, the only
> thing that makes them any more believable than an
> experienced, mature jock who reads the news is the jock
> works at a music station and the news person works in a NEWS
> format.
>
> OK, that's harsh. The NEWS people are steeped in the NEWS
> culture and better focused and more knowledgeable by virtue
> of dealing with the NEWS. But are they REALLY more
> knwledgeable and aware? That's debatable. I expect Bob
> Smith, PhD will weigh in on this from the news perspective.
>
>
> Putting together a good story requires objectivity (check
> your opinions at the door), clarity with writing, the ablity
> to edit yourself and asking questions that get to the root
> of the issue. "Who, what, where, when, why and how," still
> apply. And when using soundbites, one searches for the bites
> that objectively and correctly represent the opinion of the
> person interviewed. Yes, writing for broadcast is much
> different than writing for print, but let's face it, it's
> not brain surgery.
>
> As far as national news is concerned, ABC, CBS, CNN Radio &
> NPR are better equipped and staffed to handle news regarding
> the Supreme Court (Nina Totenberg, for example, would be
> more believable than Barbara Burns) than a local news
> person. This would apply to most people on music stations as
> well.
>
> One thing most music format stations have going against them
> is they're not equipped or set up to handle the needs of a
> full-fledged news department.
>

 

[Bob1370]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> Jocks may not be "NEWS" people, but most likely, they
> know how to write, assemble a newscast and present it just
> as well, if not better than some of the people we hear on
> WBEN (or, with all due respect, WBFO and WNED-AM, since the
> original poster mentioned them.)

This was true 'back in the day'; how true it is now, we'll have to wait for an emergency to find out.

> Are the news people who we normally hear on WBEN any more
> authoritative than somebody like Bill Lacy, who sounds
> authoritative and knowldegeable when discussing serious
> issues?

Lacy's a unique example because he also has years of experience in hosting an information and interview-intensive morning show while he was with WBEN (a station which made a serious mistake in letting him go, IMHO). Danny Neaverth is one other music host I wouldn't hesitate to put out front as my station's voice in case of an emergency, for reasons I'll explain in a moment...and Larry Norton would also probably handle it well. I can't comment about the others in town, who I've only heard in context of presenting their normal formats. I think the next emergency will probably make WBLK regret its decision to go with a syndicated morning show even if the recent ratings have not, since its previous local hosts always connected well with the community whenever crises arose and that won't be available for them now.

> This will probably draw howls of protest from the news
> people who read this board, but for the most part, the only
> thing that makes them any more believable than an
> experienced, mature jock who reads the news is the jock
> works at a music station and the news person works in a NEWS
> format.

And the fact that they're used to structuring and presenting information in a cogent manner, and getting things arranged in their proper priority. That's news judgment, and it's most easily built through news experience.

> OK, that's harsh. The NEWS people are steeped in the NEWS
> culture and better focused and more knowledgeable by virtue
> of dealing with the NEWS. But are they REALLY more
> knwledgeable and aware? That's debatable. I expect Bob
> Smith, PhD will weigh in on this from the news perspective.

You called? ;-)
Actually experience in knowing what's important and what listeners need and want to know, the main building block of good editorial judgment, is something you build most readily through daily newsroom experience. That's not the ONLY way to develop that sort of judgment. A lot of veteran personalities have it too. But it's the most direct way.

> Putting together a good story requires objectivity (check
> your opinions at the door), clarity with writing, the ablity
> to edit yourself and asking questions that get to the root
> of the issue. "Who, what, where, when, why and how," still
> apply. And when using soundbites, one searches for the bites
> that objectively and correctly represent the opinion of the
> person interviewed. Yes, writing for broadcast is much
> different than writing for print, but let's face it, it's
> not brain surgery.

No, but it does require intelligence and knowledge to do really well. The good news is, there are still a lot of people in our industry who bring those qualities to the table, we haven't burned them all out quite yet.

> As far as national news is concerned, ABC, CBS, CNN Radio &
> NPR are better equipped and staffed to handle news regarding
> the Supreme Court (Nina Totenberg, for example, would be
> more believable than Barbara Burns) than a local news
> person. This would apply to most people on music stations as
> well.

Hmmm, maybe, but by the same token, I'd rather have someone local telling me what the ramifications of a lake effect storm, or even the outcome of the TUesday primary, might be.

> One thing most music format stations have going against them
> is they're not equipped or set up to handle the needs of a
> full-fledged news department.

This wasn't true 25 or 30 years ago. Back in the 70s, WBEN, WGR and WKBW were all major competitors in the music radio realm ('BEN for the 35+ crowd until 1978, 'GR for 18-49s, and 'KB skewed younger to the 12-34s). And all three had substantial news departments with regular daily newscasts not just in mornings, but in middays, afternoons and evenings. So when emergencies like the Blizzard of '77 or the shock of the Bethlehem Steel plant closing in Lackawanna struck, they were ready. And the jocks were trained to be essentially anchors for extended coverage and even (when things got really bad) wall to wall coverage. Danny Neaverth at WKBW shone most brightly of any of the local personalities who became conduits of information for a snowbound city in that last week of January 1977...and Stan Roberts in mornings at 'GR and Jeff Kaye in afternoons at 'BEN also won great praise for their work. (Conversely, Clint Buehlmann at 'BEN showed his age and chafed audibly under the pressure. That surprised and saddened many who remembered him in his prime, and probably made the decision to force his retirement and move Jeff Kaye into WBEN's morning chair that fall a lot easier than it might otherwise have been.) People who were in Western New York in January of 1977 still remember Danny's brilliant handling of the emergency in hosting 'KB's programming during those rough days...and given that he still hasn't lost a step in carrying a fast=paced morning show today, I'd bet a lot of people would turn to him again in a future emergency even if they aren't regular oldies listeners.

 

[mike704]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> > Jocks may not be "NEWS" people, but most likely, they
> > know how to write, assemble a newscast and present it just
>
> > as well, if not better than some of the people we hear on
> > WBEN (or, with all due respect, WBFO and WNED-AM, since
> the
> > original poster mentioned them.)

Personally as a jock I live for those moments when I can actually serve the public and I hope the skills I have will come though when needed.

> This was true 'back in the day'; how true it is now, we'll
> have to wait for an emergency to find out.

Hopefully there will be someone at the station to do the job. In this day of syndication and voice tracking that's not a given.

> > Are the news people who we normally hear on WBEN any more
> > authoritative than somebody like Bill Lacy, who sounds
> > authoritative and knowldegeable when discussing serious
> > issues?
>
> Lacy's a unique example because he also has years of
> experience in hosting an information and interview-intensive
> morning show while he was with WBEN (a station which made a
> serious mistake in letting him go, IMHO). Danny Neaverth is
> one other music host I wouldn't hesitate to put out front as
> my station's voice in case of an emergency, for reasons I'll
> explain in a moment...and Larry Norton would also probably
> handle it well. I can't comment about the others in town,
> who I've only heard in context of presenting their normal
> formats. I think the next emergency will probably make WBLK
> regret its decision to go with a syndicated morning show
> even if the recent ratings have not, since its previous
> local hosts always connected well with the community
> whenever crises arose and that won't be available for them
> now.

That's nice to hear about Danny Neaverth and the rest. Danny was a big influence on me growing up. I left the area in my early teens but I never forgot his wit and humor.

> > This will probably draw howls of protest from the news
> > people who read this board, but for the most part, the
> only
> > thing that makes them any more believable than an
> > experienced, mature jock who reads the news is the jock
> > works at a music station and the news person works in a
> NEWS
> > format.

Most of the old jocks had to read news at one time or another, maybe that helped?

>
> This wasn't true 25 or 30 years ago. Back in the 70s, WBEN,
> WGR and WKBW were all major competitors in the music radio
> realm ('BEN for the 35+ crowd until 1978, 'GR for 18-49s,
> and 'KB skewed younger to the 12-34s). And all three had
> substantial news departments with regular daily newscasts
> not just in mornings, but in middays, afternoons and
> evenings. So when emergencies like the Blizzard of '77 or
> the shock of the Bethlehem Steel plant closing in Lackawanna
> struck, they were ready. And the jocks were trained to be
> essentially anchors for extended coverage and even (when
> things got really bad) wall to wall coverage. Danny Neaverth
> at WKBW shone most brightly of any of the local
> personalities who became conduits of information for a
> snowbound city in that last week of January 1977...and Stan
> Roberts in mornings at 'GR and Jeff Kaye in afternoons at
> 'BEN also won great praise for their work. (Conversely,
> Clint Buehlmann at 'BEN showed his age and chafed audibly
> under the pressure. That surprised and saddened many who
> remembered him in his prime, and probably made the decision
> to force his retirement and move Jeff Kaye into WBEN's
> morning chair that fall a lot easier than it might otherwise
> have been.) People who were in Western New York in January
> of 1977 still remember Danny's brilliant handling of the
> emergency in hosting 'KB's programming during those rough
> days...and given that he still hasn't lost a step in
> carrying a fast=paced morning show today, I'd bet a lot of
> people would turn to him again in a future emergency even if
> they aren't regular oldies listeners.

That's interesting, and it shows you that the human equation is not always predictible. My own quick story is I was living in South Florida in 1976 and wanted to work as a jock in the Buffalo-Rochester area very badly. No matter how long I'm away it always feels like home to me. Anyway I had been talking with WROC radio and even did a tryout with them one weekend in September. They were not impressed enough to offer me a job and I felt I had it better where I was. The funny thing is the "Blizzard of '77" would have been my first winter in 16 years.

Bob what people might not realize is back in the day when WBEN-WGR-WKBW had great news departments they were required to carry news by the FCC. Now there is no such requirement. I never could figure out how WNIA got around that. I never heard them do news, just weather.

 

[NickGerard]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

Danny Neaverth
> at WKBW shone most brightly of any of the local
> personalities who became conduits of information for a
> snowbound city in that last week of January 1977.


I agree. I still have an aircheck of Danny with Henry Brach on-air the morning after the storm. He was authoritative, calming, and clear, all with his characteristic "kid next door" humor. KB by that time had already built a good infrastructure for dealing with snow emergency information, so even the music hosts were accustomed to reading closings and such. But that storm was a different animal, and Danny's performance was a superb example of an air personality rising to the occasion in a challenging situation.

Nick Seneca

 

[LittleRascal]

Re: The problem with emergencies...

> Is that they catch us off their guard. Two emergencies come
> to mind where radio shines:
>
> 1: Sept 11
> 2: Aug 14
>
See I think of another minor emergency where I think WBEN totally dropped the ball locally. I'm going to forget the exact year four or five years ago when we had a huge storm a few days before Thanksgiving in downtown Buffalo when everyone was stuck in traffic and had to abandon their cars. WBEN had Sandy Beach on with very little info on the storm...he was off on some random topic. Being one of the people stuck downtown, I was kinda hoping for some info and it rarely came...no coverage from the city, streets nada.

Now, that was sometime ago and it is very possible operations and proceedures have changed but that has always clouded my perception of their news organization (rightly or wrongly) ever since.<P ID="signature">______________
PETER
www.audioconnell.com
World Wide Audio Marketing Agency</P>

 

[Kohoutek]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> >
Jocks may not be "NEWS" people, but most likely, they
> know how to write, assemble a newscast and present it just
> as well, if not better than some of the people we hear on
> WBEN ...

>..... The NEWS people are steeped in the NEWS
> culture and better focused and more knowledgeable by virtue
> of dealing with the NEWS. But are they REALLY more
> knwledgeable and aware?


I can think of a difference in one respect. A good expereinced jock could assemble and present a newscast, but in the event of an emergency, would he or she know who to call for comment, and how to get a hold of them?

Should the s*it hit the fan, I would trust Barbara Burns would know better than "Mike Melody" just whom to call..And even if "Tom Thomas" at the music station knew he should call the County Executive, I would bet that Susan Rose, and not Tom, might actually have Joel Giambra's cell phone number in a rolodex.

 

[Bob1370]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> That's interesting, and it shows you that the human equation
> is not always predictible. My own quick story is I was
> living in South Florida in 1976 and wanted to work as a jock
> in the Buffalo-Rochester area very badly. No matter how
> long I'm away it always feels like home to me. Anyway I had
> been talking with WROC radio and even did a tryout with them
> one weekend in September. They were not impressed enough to
> offer me a job and I felt I had it better where I was. The
> funny thing is the "Blizzard of '77" would have been my
> first winter in 16 years.

Just as well you didn't end up at WROC, since in the late 1970s it was well on its way to format roulette and wouldn't have been a good place to try to establish career roots.

> Bob what people might not realize is back in the day when
> WBEN-WGR-WKBW had great news departments they were required
> to carry news by the FCC. Now there is no such requirement.
> I never could figure out how WNIA got around that. I never
> heard them do news, just weather.

WBEN, WGR and WKBW all looked on news as a lot more than just a mandate to keep the FCC off their backs. They each regarded news as strategically important. I can tell you about two of those stations from first hand experience. At 'KB the CapCities/ABC brass looked on news as a significant strategic vehicle to broaden their audience beyond the 12-24 core any big signal could count on just by playing the hits, and it worked very well for them in that context. At 'GR and 'BEN, which were more adult-skewing stations, news was considered a major profit center and an integral part of the format. This was ESPECIALLY true at Larry Levite's WBEN, where we were told an expansive 24/7 news commitment and aggressive coverage were vital to the station's overall plan for success...not to mention a reliable source for well over a million bucks in additional annual revenue. At WBEN, a quality news effort was literally money in the bank, so you'd better believe we got the resources and support we needed to do the kind of job we wanted to do. And we got a pretty decent paycheck and benefit package for our efforts. Levite believed, quite rightly, that a strong news department paid a BIG return on the investment made in building and maintaining it. IMHO, any station with full market coverage that approaches news today with the same attitude and commitment, will get the same return we did back in the day.

 

[Mark_Scott]

Re: The problem with emergencies...

> WBEN had Sandy Beach on with very little info on the
> storm...he was off on some random topic.

It wasn't a random topic. That same day was a Florida Supreme Court hearing on the outcome of the disputed 2000 presidential election. We struggled with that here at WBFO. We, and I believe WBEN and WNED, were all presenting live coverage of that Florida hearing. As important as the storm information was, so, too, was that hearing, given that the outcome would have an impact on who would be our next president. So, WBFO tried to shoe-horn in weather and traffic breaks where we could.

I can't speak for my colleagues at WBEN and WNED, but I will freely admit that it wasn't until early evening that we started getting reports on just how bad the storm was -- children stranded on school buses, downtown in literal gridlock and traffic at a standstill on the Thruway. At WBFO, we started taking calls from listeners at about 8pm. People were sending messages to loved ones. We tried to comfort those on the Thruway would be stranded until the next day. And we pieced together routes for people to get from the Northtowns to the Southtowns, since the major north-south routes were impassable. I took calls through 4am, took an hour break to re-tool and refresh, and then co-anchored our morning news broadcast. It remains one of the most incredible experiences of my 30+ years in radio.

 

[mike704]

Re: In the event of a REAL EMERGENCY

> Just as well you didn't end up at WROC, since in the late
> 1970s it was well on its way to format roulette and wouldn't
> have been a good place to try to establish career roots.

I was young and wanted it very much so I was blind to alot of what was going on. After doing a couple of weekend shifts I saw some things that showed I had a better job in Florida.

> WBEN, WGR and WKBW all looked on news as a lot more than
> just a mandate to keep the FCC off their backs. They each
> regarded news as strategically important. I can tell you
> about two of those stations from first hand experience. At
> 'KB the CapCities/ABC brass looked on news as a significant
> strategic vehicle to broaden their audience beyond the 12-24
> core any big signal could count on just by playing the hits,
> and it worked very well for them in that context. At 'GR and
> 'BEN, which were more adult-skewing stations, news was
> considered a major profit center and an integral part of the
> format. This was ESPECIALLY true at Larry Levite's WBEN,
> where we were told an expansive 24/7 news commitment and
> aggressive coverage were vital to the station's overall plan
> for success...not to mention a reliable source for well over
> a million bucks in additional annual revenue. At WBEN, a
> quality news effort was literally money in the bank, so
> you'd better believe we got the resources and support we
> needed to do the kind of job we wanted to do. And we got a
> pretty decent paycheck and benefit package for our efforts.
> Levite believed, quite rightly, that a strong news
> department paid a BIG return on the investment made in
> building and maintaining it. IMHO, any station with full
> market coverage that approaches news today with the same
> attitude and commitment, will get the same return we did
> back in the day.

It makes sense to me. Those stations were the big three, if you wanted to know what was going on they were the stations to turn to. I miss the full service format with at least 5 minutes of news each hour all day and all night. It's another reason to listen to the radio rather than my CD's or iPod.

Bob thanks for your informative posts here, you really add alot to the board. One of these days I will have to catch your show on the web. They do webcast it don't they?

Mike

 

[LittleRascal]

Re: The problem with emergencies...

Struggle?

A hearing about hanging chads and an election IS important, fate of the nation and the free world et al. Wasn't the FINAL decision or announcement tho...just an important hearing.

Meanwhile, our LOCAL radio news outlets are shoe-horning weather updates while downtown and some suburbs are getting buried in snow....children, parents and the handicapped across WNY are stranded, thousands (not hundreds) but THOUSANDS of cars are stranded EVERYWHERE...but we're talking about a hearing on the radio because Buffalo's insight is going to be so valuable to the national debate (ha!). Every major network the next AM is leading with Buffalo live shots but when the breaking story hits Buffalo, our radio news outlets some how miss this as its happening? It’s SNOW...very tough NOT to see?! Great Caesar’s Ghost!

Should we assume the ACCU weather prognosticators some how didn't give the radio stations the heads up about the significance of the storm and no one at the radio stations bothered to look out a window or call their sources around the city (say, just a random hourly check of the police news, for example?)

In winter, in Buffalo...SNOW LEADS, not a hearing and any shoehorning should have involved the Florida hearing.

It was missed and mistakes happen (and we all learn from them, yours truly included) but lets not excuse it...acknowledge it, fine, but not excuse it.



> > WBEN had Sandy Beach on with very little info on the
> > storm...he was off on some random topic.
>
> It wasn't a random topic. That same day was a Florida
> Supreme Court hearing on the outcome of the disputed 2000
> presidential election. We struggled with that here at WBFO.
> We, and I believe WBEN and WNED, were all presenting live
> coverage of that Florida hearing. As important as the storm
> information was, so, too, was that hearing, given that the
> outcome would have an impact on who would be our next
> president. So, WBFO tried to shoe-horn in weather and
> traffic breaks where we could.
>
> I can't speak for my colleagues at WBEN and WNED, but I will
> freely admit that it wasn't until early evening that we
> started getting reports on just how bad the storm was --
> children stranded on school buses, downtown in literal
> gridlock and traffic at a standstill on the Thruway. At
> WBFO, we started taking calls from listeners at about 8pm.
> People were sending messages to loved ones. We tried to
> comfort those on the Thruway would be stranded until the
> next day. And we pieced together routes for people to get
> from the Northtowns to the Southtowns, since the major
> north-south routes were impassable. I took calls through
> 4am, took an hour break to re-tool and refresh, and then
> co-anchored our morning news broadcast. It remains one of
> the most incredible experiences of my 30+ years in radio.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
PETER
www.audioconnell.com
World Wide Audio Marketing Agency</P>