KABC AM outsourcing local news and traffic to Dallas

[radiocph]

Sell it to the Armenians, I tell you!

 

[davideduardo]

Sell it to the Armenians, I tell you!

It doesn't have a good enough signal in Glendale...

 

[radio-darn]

Until brushfire season comes or a big quake hits, does it make a difference whether someone is reading the online news and traffic info from a studio in LA or Texas? It's not like radio has street reporters calling in the news or actual journalists working beats, contacting sources to find our what's going. When cable internet connections became a reality, I started doing news and traffic from my home office, saving me the daily 90-mile round trip to the 103.7 studios in San Diego. At the studio I got news and traffic through the old Shadow system: what I got at home online (even in 1999) was a lot whole better than what I got at the studios. And I just as well could have been 450 miles from the studio instead of 45 and it would have made no difference. Because of the way the system was set up, I actually had better communications with the jocks at the station than I did when I was separated from them by just a studio window.

I am so glad I got to do radio news in the days when even rock stations would have 2-6 people in the news department, when we had radio cars and got to go do live reports from the scene of breaking news, spent time in courtrooms waiting for verdicts and otherwise got to be real reporters of news.

Now "newscasters" are what the British rightfully call "presenters," people selected for their ability to read out loud. If you can read out loud and not require much money, all the better it seems.

Now, again, the question is "What do you do the the s... hits the fan?" These days the trend seems to be to use reports from local TV news operations, which still can go on the scene and sometimes - rarely - have something of genuine interest to report.

KOGO here in San Diego has been using KFI for its news and now has a new partnership with the only daily newspaper here, the former San Diego Union Tribune. KOGO used to be the go-to station for the fires, quakes, etc., but now I guess I can go straight to KFI or the UT's website and just bypass the middleman.

 

[michael hagerty]

Until brushfire season comes or a big quake hits, does it make a difference whether someone is reading the online news and traffic info from a studio in LA or Texas? It's not like radio has street reporters calling in the news or actual journalists working beats, contacting sources to find our what's going. When cable internet connections became a reality, I started doing news and traffic from my home office, saving me the daily 90-mile round trip to the 103.7 studios in San Diego. At the studio I got news and traffic through the old Shadow system: what I got at home online (even in 1999) was a lot whole better than what I got at the studios. And I just as well could have been 450 miles from the studio instead of 45 and it would have made no difference. Because of the way the system was set up, I actually had better communications with the jocks at the station than I did when I was separated from them by just a studio window.

I am so glad I got to do radio news in the days when even rock stations would have 2-6 people in the news department, when we had radio cars and got to go do live reports from the scene of breaking news, spent time in courtrooms waiting for verdicts and otherwise got to be real reporters of news.

Now "newscasters" are what the British rightfully call "presenters," people selected for their ability to read out loud. If you can read out loud and not require much money, all the better it seems.

Now, again, the question is "What do you do the the s... hits the fan?" These days the trend seems to be to use reports from local TV news operations, which still can go on the scene and sometimes - rarely - have something of genuine interest to report.

KOGO here in San Diego has been using KFI for its news and now has a new partnership with the only daily newspaper here, the former San Diego Union Tribune. KOGO used to be the go-to station for the fires, quakes, etc., but now I guess I can go straight to KFI or the UT's website and just bypass the middleman.

Amen. I produce and anchor traffic in six markets (Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City) from Total Traffic's new news and traffic center in Phoenix. The technology used by all parties is such that there's no longer an advantage to physically being in a certain city. They'd be getting the same information we do.

 

[jonbruce]

KMIR-TV in Palm Springs has thier weather people at the Journal station in Las Vegas. Actually someone anywhere on earth could do the same local newscasts for our stations; KPSI A/F, KDES, KWXY and KPTR simply by subscribing to Metro source, City News service and check the websites of the local paper and tv stations the same as we do.

 

[david]

I heard a traffic report this week on 790 and it was literally phoned in. I am dumbfounded that KABC would accept such horrible quality for its traffic report. KABC claims of legendary status are valid for many reasons, one of which is its committment to local traffic over the years with Captain Jorge along with other notable locals who lived here and drove the LA freeways. An example is the late David Courtney, who just passed away and was known for his announcer work with several local teams (including the Angels and Kings) as well as his mid-day traffic reports weekdays on KABC.

KFI continues to have local traffic, including the well known and respected Mike Nolan.

While I continue to hope that KABC finds a way to revive its fortunes somewhat, there is no way that phoned in traffic from out of state is the on-ramp to a pathway to success.

 

[Thomps2525]

While we're discussing traffic reporters, I have to mention who I think was the bestest: Bruce Wayne (real name Bruce Talford; why he chose Batman's real name I'll never know!). Wayne flew a plane and did traffic for KFI ("K-F-Eye In The Sky)" and KOST from 1968 until 1986. On June 4 of that year, he died when his plane crashed shortly after taking off from Fullerton Airport. Mike Nolan, who was working at KOY in Phoenix, applied to take Wayne's place and has been with KFI/KOST ever since.

 

[michael hagerty]

While we're discussing traffic reporters, I have to mention who I think was the bestest: Bruce Wayne (real name Bruce Talford; why he chose Batman's real name I'll never know!). Wayne flew a plane and did traffic for KFI ("K-F-Eye In The Sky)" and KOST from 1968 until 1986. On June 4 of that year, he died when his plane crashed shortly after taking off from Fullerton Airport. Mike Nolan, who was working at KOY in Phoenix, applied to take Wayne's place and has been with KFI/KOST ever since.

Bruce was tremendous and so is Mike.

Other giants: KMPC's Captain Max Schumacher, Jim Hicklin, Big John McIlhenny, Herb Green, Dave DeSoto, Gene Brodeur and Donn Reed. As well as KIIS-FM's Commander Chuck Street.

 

[Thomps2525]

Mister hagerty, at least you'll never have to worry about your job being eliminated or replaced or "outsourced."

Oh...wait.....

http://www.az511.com/adot/files/

 

[michael hagerty]

Mister hagerty, at least you'll never have to worry about your job being eliminated or replaced or "outsourced."

Oh...wait.....

http://www.az511.com/adot/files/

Cute, Steve...but that's just one of several sources we use and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we have a producer stationed at the ADOT traffic control center where that data is generated.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

I'm wondering how a station like KABC, that claims to have a local news image, can cover ANY breaking news when their broadcaster is a shared resource who isn't 100% dedicated to KABC. I can hear it now...the broadcaster begging off a live update about a fire or quake to hit the required updates for WJR or WBAP or WLS...

 

[OC3]

Welcome to 2013 my friends!

 

[rbrown]

This pretty much shows that Cumulus somehow has no means to care about its programming on KABC. It shocks me how a great radio station that led audience figures for years could be dumbed down to barely anything at all.

I hold a somewhat different view on the McIntyre situation. All three are good people in radio, but putting all three of them on at once is not the right move. Make this McIntyre's show, have him talk all the time (instead of the constant T-Rae news), and their audience would at least have something to listen to in the morning.

With the traffic situation, make it a local-based traffic report. As much respect as I have to conglomerates giving traffic reports, locally-based is the best option. Make AM 790 a dominant local news presence again. Local news is key for any station. Also, they should have traffic on the 2s during all local show hours, not use in the mornings. It evens it out for the listeners on the road.

Cumulus has dumbed this station down to the brink of nothing. They already own several successful talk stations like, WLS, WJR, WBAP, WAPI, WMAL, KLIF, KSFO, and KCMO. They also started up TWO all news stations (KGO and WYAY). Unfortunately, they have failed to focus on two of their biggest talk stations, WABC and KABC. Both have fallen in the tank.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm wondering how a station like KABC, that claims to have a local news image, can cover ANY breaking news ...

Let's put that question into context.

KABC is an AM station.

In LA, there is only one AM station in the top 20 stations in 25-54.

The #2 AM in 25-54 is below #20.

Both of those stations, which have less than 6% of all 35-54 listening, are 50 kw clear channel stations.

KABC is a 5 kw AM station, located to the far west side of the market and rather directional at night. It puts a usable signal over less than 60% of the market in the daytime and less than half of it at night.

Worries about where their news comes from in the event of "The Big One" is the least of their problems.

 

[davideduardo]

This pretty much shows that Cumulus somehow has no means to care about its programming on KABC. It shocks me how a great radio station that led audience figures for years could be dumbed down to barely anything at all.

The market significantly outgrew the KABC signal, and the inadequate signal predominantly covers ethnic groups that traditionally either don't use or under-index against traditional news / talk formats.

Cumulus has dumbed this station down to the brink of nothing. They already own several successful talk stations like, WLS, WJR, WBAP, WAPI, WMAL, KLIF, KSFO, and KCMO.

WLS not in top 15 25-54
WJR not in top 15 25-54
WBAP not in top 20 in 25-54
WAPI not in top 20 in 25-54
WMAL even with an FM simulcast, this defective AM signal does not get anywhere near the top 10 in 25-54.
KLIF. Averaged 38th in last three books in 25-54.
KSFO. Below 25th in 25-54
KCMO. Not averaging inside the top 20 in 25-54.

I don't see any "successful" role models here. A number of those stations are heritage billers, but all are off significantly in recent years.

They also started up TWO all news stations (KGO and WYAY).

KGO already had large news segments, and Cumulus simply reduced costs on a station that was outside the top 20 in 25-54 in the PPM era. It has not improved at all.

Unfortunately, they have failed to focus on two of their biggest talk stations, WABC and KABC. Both have fallen in the tank.

WABC is no worse ranked in 25-54 than most of those you name... in fact, it is a bit better than some.

KABC has the distinction of having the worst signal of the bunch, not fully covering the market even in the daytime.

 

[nmoore6676]

Nostalgia aside, how important is radio news now? Technology has allowed TV news to do all that once was the domain of radio, that is live as it happens from where it is happening. Listeners do not apparently want their music uninterrupted with news anymore as the top of the hour and bottom of the hour newscasts that were SOP when I was a kid are now long gone.

As for traffic, the concept of a person flying in an aircraft to supposedly actually see what they are reporting has also been out teched with traffic cams everywhere, even in little ole Ottumwa, Iowa. On top of that sensors implanted in the pavement give real time traffic flow data. All of this collected data and the ability to pull up traffic cams is on the computer screen that those reporting on traffic read from, from wherever they are sitting as they read.

For any who might have been Rip Van Winkling it for the past decade or so, we are now in 2013. As for KABC, they are a dead man walking as has been so astutely pointed out by Sr. Eduardo and others on this thread before. They are AM, lower power and subject to challenges from the bed of electronic noise generated by all of that 2013 technology all around us.

 

[henry]

This thread has been fascinating to read.

I just got off the phone. My mother in Salt Lake City heard her local Clear Channel news/talk station say there was a fire one-block away from her house. So she and a friend went for a drive, and couldn't find it. I spent 20 minutes trying to explain hub-and-spoke to her. (Told her the news was piped out of Texas, but it sounds like it's actually Phoenix).

She seems miffed about hub-and-spoke, but it's not stopping her from listening to KNRS. That's why locally-produced "local news" is doomed. The audience acts upset, but in the end they really don't care.

 

[michael hagerty]

This thread has been fascinating to read.

I just got off the phone. My mother in Salt Lake City heard her local Clear Channel news/talk station say there was a fire one-block away from her house. So she and a friend went for a drive, and couldn't find it. I spent 20 minutes trying to explain hub-and-spoke to her. (Told her the news was piped out of Texas, but it sounds like it's actually Phoenix).

She seems miffed about hub-and-spoke, but it's not stopping her from listening to KNRS. That's why locally-produced "local news" is doomed. The audience acts upset, but in the end they really don't care.

I'm going to be as clear as I can possibly be:

The markets I mentioned (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, Albuquerque, El Paso and Salt Lake City) are traffic markets. We in traffic were the first to occupy the new broadcast center and we just finished our move-in this week. The news people are beginning to arrive now. I don't know what markets or stations we serve for news.

The Clear Channel news/talk station in Phoenix has its own news staff, as does the one in Tucson. It's entirely possible that the news on the CC station in Salt Lake is done by that station's own local staff as well.

 

[Thomps2525]

You know the traffic guy is in a far-away city when he pronounces Albuquerque as "Al-buck-yoo-air-quee."

 

[LKellerIII]

You know the traffic guy is in a far-away city when he pronounces Albuquerque as "Al-buck-yoo-air-quee."

That's not limited to out of town broadcasters. I remember when KGO-TV hired a Canadian anchor for their weekday news. The otherwise totally competent guy kept mangling Spanish city names and words. After a week or so, he suddenly improved, so I figure somebody sat him down and gave him some Spanish pronunciation lessons.