KCBS layoffs

[Mark Roberts]

Apologies in advance for the following very awkward lede but it's unavoidable.

RAMP and RadioInsight (link to general Audacy layoff story, go to 12th paragraph) are quoting Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman as reporting that Audacy's all-news KCBS has laid off three staffers:

• Fill-in anchor Dan Mitchinson. Mitchinson has been on just about every shift on KCBS at one time or another. He also does business-news reports for KOGO in San Diego, and contributes to radio news operations in London and New Zealand. He is an active Twitter/X user, but I checked this morning and he has not mentioned the layoff there. On the other hand, he doesn't mention KCBS on his profile.
• Reporter Alice Wertz, who was heard mainly on weekends. She also has been working as a fill-in reporter for KTVU. She's also a Twitter/X user, but posts only occasionally, and has not mentioned KCBS either on her profile or in her posts.
• Traffic reporter Frank Munich, a longtime presence at the station.

This likely means that the remaining anchors will be asked to fill more shifts, or more reporters will be anchoring on the weekends as well. This had been occurring for some time anyway; it does mean fewer reporting resources, particularly on weekends. I imagine the weekend news product will become more repetitive as a result.

Mitchinson's departure is truly a loss: he was one of the better anchors on the station and really should have had a full-time slot.

More Names From This Round Of Audacy Layoffs

Original Report 4/24: A round of layoffs is ongoing today at Audacy. Sources indicate approximately just under 100 employees were

radioinsight.com

 

[TheBigA]

This likely means that the remaining anchors will be asked to fill more shifts, or more reporters will be anchoring on the weekends as well. This had been occurring for some time anyway; it does mean fewer reporting resources, particularly on weekends. I imagine the weekend news product will become more repetitive as a result.

Another way to handle reporting is to use stringers. That way you just pay for the story, not the salary + benefits.

News stations work on a short clock, regularly repeating the current stories, so repetition is also nothing new.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Another way to handle reporting is to use stringers. That way you just pay for the story, not the salary + benefits.

Actually, I believe Alice Wertz was working on a per-diem basis. This would have been how she could have been working both for KCBS and KTVU, which are entirely separate operations - even housed on opposite sides of the Bay.

News stations work on a short clock, regularly repeating the current stories, so repetition is also nothing new.

Repetition is a known challenge, particularly on weekends when businesses and government agencies/boards aren't conducting activity. It's hard to strike the right balance between newness and repetition (the antithesis of newness) when that's the case. It's tension that's built into the format. Having fewer resources on the street means more reliance on network feeds and wire copy, which can make a station sound dull.

 

[TheBigA]

Having fewer resources on the street means more reliance on network feeds and wire copy, which can make a station sound dull.

News itself is generally dull. The desire to turn news into entertainment is what's hurting the format. At times when there's less news to report, you still have to fill the time with something. The old Westinghouse line was 'You give us 22 minutes, we give you the world.' That was a using a 22 minute clock, so the stories were repeated three times an hour. Which explains low TSL at news stations, and why they added talk shows to the format in some markets. Talk fills the time.

 

[KMan]

As I noted over in the Los Angelus board, KNX laid off evening/overnight traffic anchor Tanya Compos, and last night took traffic reports from KCBS' Claire Beverly who I believe works from her home in Salem OR.

Could be moving to a model where evening/overnight traffic anchors are shared between KCBS/KNX in the same way WINS/WCBS have done it in NYC.

We've been getting broader California interest stories from KCBS reporters on KNX (with a KNX lock out) for about a year and a half.

 

[TheBigA]

As I noted over in the Los Angelus board, KNX laid off evening/overnight traffic anchor Tanya Compos, and last night took traffic reports from KCBS' Claire Beverly who I believe works from her home in Salem OR.

Traffic and weather doesn't require a local anchor. The information comes from various online sources including DOT cameras.

 

[Mark Roberts]

News itself is generally dull. The desire to turn news into entertainment is what's hurting the format. At times when there's less news to report, you still have to fill the time with something. The old Westinghouse line was 'You give us 22 minutes, we give you the world.' That was a using a 22 minute clock, so the stories were repeated three times an hour. Which explains low TSL at news stations, and why they added talk shows to the format in some markets. Talk fills the time.

First, the KCBS news wheel is an hour, with a minor amount of repetition at the bottom of the hour, including the one-minute CBS news update that comes in addition to the top-of-hour newscast. The same news wheel is used by WBBM. In its all-news days, KTRH went to the same wheel late in 1985 after trying a couple of years of mostly news, but with 15-minute talk segments outside peak listening times.

I also think you're conflating dullness with routine. A lot of news is routine, or at least incremental in nature, but it's not necessarily dull. What has become dull is presentation and writing...especially writing. It feels like no one knows how to write an attention-getting lede any more. The same is true for TV news. This could be a consequence of reduced resources resulting in less time to think. Or it could be that producers aren't rewriting wire copy any more. I say this because I remember how bad the writing was on the AP's purported broadcast wire. UPI was a little better, but could veer to the sensational. Again, the absence of rewrites is probably the result of not having as many resources available. So instead you hear phrases such as "authorities identified the suspect as....", phrases that no living human being says in conversation. Broadcast news writing is supposed to be conversational, but that ain't it.

In any event, the black hole of news, particularly at an all-news radio station, is always there. It's gotta be fed. Even if the food is below fast-food in quality. Service elements such as weather and traffic and stock-market reports and possibly even sports help. But they can't carry the load on their own.

I do agree with you that trying to turn news into entertainment is not such a great idea. For the most part, and I can say this from having listened to KCBS for 24 years before I moved to Colorado last year, KCBS is straight-ahead, no-nonsense in content and in presentation.

One problem I see with some other stations is that gimmicks and chit-chat are being used as a substitute for actual reporting. I hear this on KOA's morning news block all the time.

The issue at hand here is Audacy's need to reduce expenses. Doing all-news right takes resources which means it takes money. That pool is drying up. It's hurting the product. I think it's fair to say that KCBS could've made decisions that would have cut deeper but, to their credit, they avoided most of that. There will be some impact on the product, and the erosion continues, but, for now, it's not been butchered. I do feel sad that Dan Mitchinson is gone from the station.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Traffic and weather doesn't require a local anchor.

They do require local knowledge, especially regarding pronunciations. The first time a traffic reporter gets the local pronunciation of "San Rafael" wrong, that reporter loses credibility. Knowing what "South City" means is also necessary.

 

[fybush]

They do require local knowledge, especially regarding pronunciations. The first time a traffic reporter gets the local pronunciation of "San Rafael" wrong, that reporter loses credibility. Knowing what "South City" means is also necessary.

True, but these things aren't state secrets. It shouldn't take more than a few hours for a good traffic reporter to get up to speed (pun intended) on a new market.

A good PD or ND should have a guide to pronunciation and local quirks ready anyway - there's always going to be inexperienced new blood coming in these days, and if you're responsible for the sound of your station, that includes basic training like that.

 

[Mark Roberts]

True, but these things aren't state secrets. It shouldn't take more than a few hours for a good traffic reporter to get up to speed (pun intended) on a new market.

Rimshot icon, please.

A good PD or ND should have a guide to pronunciation and local quirks ready anyway - there's always going to be inexperienced new blood coming in these days, and if you're responsible for the sound of your station, that includes basic training like that.

The key there is "good". It also takes time to prepare such guides.

When I started at KTRH, the ND - the good ND, not the one from hell - gave me a binder full of local information, including an extensive pronunciation guide, because, Houston being Houston, things got weird there.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

They do require local knowledge, especially regarding pronunciations. The first time a traffic reporter gets the local pronunciation of "San Rafael" wrong, that reporter loses credibility. Knowing what "South City" means is also necessary.

Solutions | Total Traffic & Weather Network

www.ttwnetwork.com

On one hand I get where you are coming from but at the same time stations get their weather and traffic parts from Total Traffic and accuweather and the talent from there gets assigned to multiple stations at the same time voicetracked from anywhere.

 

[Signal Geek]

They do require local knowledge, especially regarding pronunciations. The first time a traffic reporter gets the local pronunciation of "San Rafael" wrong, that reporter loses credibility. Knowing what "South City" means is also necessary.

I know this will probably never happen again, because everyone nowadays gets offended so easily. But it would be fun to hear radio personalities *intentionally* mangle or make fun of city names.

50 years ago, when KFRC was Top 40, Dr. Don Rose routinely called:
San Jose = San Pantyhose-aay
Hayward = Wayward
Fremont = Flea-mont
Sacramento = Sacra-tomato
San Rafael = San Raquel (big emphasis on the Raquel)

 

[TomásEstefan]

I do agree with you that trying to turn news into entertainment is not such a great idea. For the most part, and I can say this from having listened to KCBS for 24 years before I moved to Colorado last year, KCBS is straight-ahead, no-nonsense in content and in presentation.

This is why I think that KCBS is still successful. This, and the fact that I've said before is that KCBS's audio sounds GOOD !

 

[cc333]

This is why I think that KCBS is still successful. This, and the fact that I've said before is that KCBS's audio sounds GOOD !

It does sound pretty good, although their AM signal has been getting a little... creaky?

Every now and then, there will be some crackling and dropouts in the audio that sound like they're coming from the source (i. e. , it's not the radio, nor is it interference). Seems like maybe a bad connection at the transmitter maybe.

Other than that, they're one of the best sounding stations in the Bay Area, on any band (the AM sounds particularly good on my Sony CFS-6000 boombox in AM Stereo Wideband mode).

c

 

[davideduardo]

Every now and then, there will be some crackling and dropouts in the audio that sound like they're coming from the source (i. e. , it's not the radio, nor is it interference). Seems like maybe a bad connection at the transmitter maybe.

Generally, noises like that come from some kind of man-made device that emits RF. Anything from a wall wart to a high resolution TV can do it. So just create nose when their status is changed.d

 

[Weiserguy]

This is why I think that KCBS is still successful. This, and the fact that I've said before is that KCBS's audio sounds GOOD !

You are right about that, it is the one station that still sounds listenable for extended periods in my cars or home radios. (Granted, their FM sounds better, but that's true with almost any station that's simulcasting.)

 

[cc333]

You are right about that, it is the one station that still sounds listenable for extended periods in my cars or home radios

Same here.

It's pretty much the only station I listen to anymore because I don't like how most of the other stations sound (both in terms of processing and in content), with the exception of KDFC, when I'm in a clasical mood.

I'd listen to KOSF (iHeart 80s+), but with the exception of AT40 reruns during weekends, which are somewhat interesting historical pop music artifacts, they rarely play anything I like (their playlist seems kind of small, and the selection seems to lean toward faster, high energy songs, which burns me out after awhile) and their processing ranges from somewhat dull (and mono? do they still broadcast in traditional analog stereo in addition to HD?) on the analog side to overly bright and harsh on the HD side.

c

 

[Old Grey Coyote]

I know this will probably never happen again, because everyone nowadays gets offended so easily. But it would be fun to hear radio personalities *intentionally* mangle or make fun of city names.

50 years ago, when KFRC was Top 40, Dr. Don Rose routinely called:
San Jose = San Pantyhose-aay
Hayward = Wayward
Fremont = Flea-mont
Sacramento = Sacra-tomato
San Rafael = San Raquel (big emphasis on the Raquel)

I remember pranking a station in Central California where a friend of mine used to work. A new guy who had just moved from the East Coast was working the 7 to Midnight shift and was clueless to local weather conditions. On one rainy night we all called the station at different times to report that it was snowing in different parts of the valley. The first of us reported a foot of snow in Stockton, followed by another guy who said that Highway 99 was closed to Modesto due to snow. The next one reported an 18 wheeler stuck in 2 feet snow on I-5. He repeated those reports on the air in between records and asked more people to call in if they had problems driving in the snow and where they were. At one point I had called in and told him I was going to hook up my dogs to a sled and run them out to Victory Park because the roads were now cleared of cars due to the snowstorm. I think that shortly after that, an angry station manager called him to explain in no uncertain terms that it almost never snowed in Central California, it was not snowing now, and that they had never seen 2 feet of snow in that area ever. There was no mention of the weather for the rest of his shift that night.

 

[chuckmcmillan]

I know this will probably never happen again, because everyone nowadays gets offended so easily. But it would be fun to hear radio personalities *intentionally* mangle or make fun of city names.

50 years ago, when KFRC was Top 40, Dr. Don Rose routinely called:
San Jose = San Pantyhose-aay
Hayward = Wayward
Fremont = Flea-mont
Sacramento = Sacra-tomato
San Rafael = San Raquel (big emphasis on the Raquel)

Signal Geek,
Any idea when Dr. Don left the KFRC Magic 61 format?

 

[michael hagerty]

Signal Geek,
Any idea when Dr. Don left the KFRC Magic 61 format?

Chuck, DDR was under contract until the end of the year when Magic 61 debuted August 11, 1986. His contract required a full buy-out, which would have been about $80,000.

RKO didn’t want to spend that in one lump sum, so they kept Dr. Don, who expected to leave at the end of the year.

But RKO had a number they were willing to spend, and they cut him loose with no notice, but a $40,000 payout, in November.