KFI Los Angeles Fire Coverage

[sdwulfdawg]

The current on air folks in KFI are doing a pretty good job covering the Los Angeles fire.

But compared to the KFI of recent yore, they are sounding really, really very flat without their recently laid off corps of journalists like Steve Gregory and Corbin Carson providing on scene coverage. The on air hosts are doing a lot of "telling," but they are lacking "showing" as they would have done in the past.

 

[Karl]

Yes, that is what happens when you lay off your reporters. Isn't the news written in Phoenix now?

 

[TheBigA]

Inside Radio did a story about KFI

KFI Los Angeles Provides 'Round The Clock' Coverage Of Wildfire Battle.

KFI Los Angeles’s coverage of the raging wildfires in the Los Angeles suburbs is another example of the power of AM radio. The station had one of the very first

www.insideradio.com

Radio Ink did an interview with KNX News Director Alex Silverman

KNX’s Alex Silverman On Radio's Immediacy To The Rescue In LA - Radio Ink

Radio Ink talked to KNX Director of News and Programming Alex Silverman about the importance of radio in the Los Angeles wildfires.

radioink.com

The on air hosts are doing a lot of "telling," but they are lacking "showing" as they would have done in the past.

They're instead relying on the listeners to do a lot of that. User-based content. What a concept. Just like RadioDiscussions.

 

[sdwulfdawg]

Las

Inside Radio did a story about KFI

KFI Los Angeles Provides 'Round The Clock' Coverage Of Wildfire Battle.

KFI Los Angeles’s coverage of the raging wildfires in the Los Angeles suburbs is another example of the power of AM radio. The station had one of the very first

www.insideradio.com

Radio Ink did an interview with KNX News Director Alex Silverman

KNX’s Alex Silverman On Radio's Immediacy To The Rescue In LA - Radio Ink

Radio Ink talked to KNX Director of News and Programming Alex Silverman about the importance of radio in the Los Angeles wildfires.

radioink.com

They're instead relying on the listeners to do a lot of that. User-based content. What a concept. Just like RadioDiscussions.

Last night, they weirdly dumped out at midnight with Mo Kelly and went into Coast to Coast AM.

 

[henry]

I know Wed 11:59 - Thu 12:01 even the TV stations dropped 24/7 coverage. Hopefully a sign that the disaster is calming down some and we can return to some normalcy. Though seeing the fire jump the hill toward Encino/Tarzana, that ain't great.

If Bill Handel still owned the Persian Palace, he'd be evacuated right now.

In fairness to KFI's coverage, John Kobylt's Mid-3a A bit early Wednesday morning mostly consisted of him playing his earlier interview with Rick Caruso. It was a billionaire and a millionaire complaining about the city of Los Angeles. Not nearly as helpful as the other hosts, who seem more focused on the fire and less on the politics of the fire.

It's 11:30 PM Thursday, and KFI is talking about alien shapeshifters. So I guess wall-to-wall coverage is over. Thankfully KNX are still on it.

 

[leethalweapon]

It’s interesting being on the other side of the world. Our TV news is dominated by the LA fires. Mostly because it is summer down here, and in any normal season, if something major happened we could rely on US firefighters to back up local teams.

I’m curious though, the station I work for is the offical emergency services broadcaster IN Melbourne, a role also given to the ABC, the national broadcaster. Is there such a role for stations in US?

 

[radiofan2023]

I’m curious though, the station I work for is the offical emergency services broadcaster IN Melbourne, a role also given to the ABC, the national broadcaster. Is there such a role for stations in US?

No single station is "the official emergency services broadcaster" here in the US, unless you live in a city/town that only has one radio or TV station. Then they would be by default, but the government wouldn't call them that.

 

[xmtrland]

We do have PEP stations here in the USA but that is more related to EAS/FEMA.

 

[Weiserguy]

We do have PEP stations here in the USA but that is more related to EAS/FEMA.

The PEP stations in each market are the primary stations that originate Emergency Alert System notifications on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, or the individual state emergency management agencies (which have varying names, depending on which state it is). Or a city or county emergency management authority. Or the National Weather Service, etc. The other stations in each area are supposed to monitor the PEP in their area, and if an emergency alert is declared, they have a certain number of minutes to retransmit the alert over their own station(s). I presume the number of minutes they have to get the alert retransmitted varies by the severity of the alert, but someone else probably knows that nuance better than me. TV works similarly, and the local cable systems are also tied into the EAS and interrupt programming on the channels they carry to air the alert. Hope that helps, Lee.

 

[El Zilcho]

I know Wed 11:59 - Thu 12:01 even the TV stations dropped 24/7 coverage. Hopefully a sign that the disaster is calming down some and we can return to some normalcy. Though seeing the fire jump the hill toward Encino/Tarzana, that ain't great.

If Bill Handel still owned the Persian Palace, he'd be evacuated right now.

In fairness to KFI's coverage, John Kobylt's Mid-3a A bit early Wednesday morning mostly consisted of him playing his earlier interview with Rick Caruso. It was a billionaire and a millionaire complaining about the city of Los Angeles. Not nearly as helpful as the other hosts, who seem more focused on the fire and less on the politics of the fire.

It's 11:30 PM Thursday, and KFI is talking about alien shapeshifters. So I guess wall-to-wall coverage is over. Thankfully KNX are still on it.

790 KABC also has their local hosts talking more about the politics of the fires than reporting on the fires themselves, with Frankie (Frank Mottek) also inviting on Caruso to needle the leaders instead of reporting on the impacts of the fires themselves. Their local newsreaders have been giving some updates but not doing any field or in-depth reporting as KNX or even KFI.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

790 KABC also has their local hosts talking more about the politics of the fires than reporting on the fires themselves, with Frankie (Frank Mottek) also inviting on Caruso to needle the leaders instead of reporting on the impacts of the fires themselves. Their local newsreaders have been giving some updates but not doing any field or in-depth reporting as KNX or even KFI.

There are plenty of outlets giving excellent round-the-clock on-scene coverage, both TV and radio. Why object to one outlet choosing to cover the story from the political side?

The politics of the story are important too. For example, did you see the woman confront Newsom directly on camera (and his obviously untruthful response to her - "I am getting the President on the phone right now")? She has lost everything, yet the politics of the matter was front and center to her.

 

[TheBigA]

She has lost everything, yet the politics of the matter was front and center to her.

People are making too much of that exchange. She just wanted to be heard. That's her right. People are calling KFI in the same way, to complain about one thing or another. Doesn't mean anything will get done. But they just want to be heard. Her house is already gone. Fixing the water situation won't bring back her house. But not long after that, the governor launched an investigation into why there wasn't enough water for the fires.

 

[henry]

I'm all for stations doing whatever they think serves their audience best.

Myself, I couldn't care less about the political angle for at least another 7-8 days. Right now I want to know where the evacuation zones are and if there's anything I should be doing (or not doing) to help. Blaming politicians will be a great topic in a week or two, once the evac zones are lifted. I'm just not interested in it today.

(That said, John Kobylt and Rick Caruso sound like spoiled children.)

 

[KilowattKat]

790 KABC also has their local hosts talking more about the politics of the fires than reporting on the fires themselves, with Frankie (Frank Mottek) also inviting on Caruso to needle the leaders instead of reporting on the impacts of the fires themselves. Their local newsreaders have been giving some updates but not doing any field or in-depth reporting as KNX or even KFI.

KABC is the last News/Talk outlet you would want to turn to for fire coverage! The station is pretty much automated with no news dept. The news readers are probably WW1 staff members. And LOCAL hosts? They run an hour long brokered talk show that is syndicated statewide.

 

[tvnut]

There are plenty of outlets giving excellent round-the-clock on-scene coverage, both TV and radio. Why object to one outlet choosing to cover the story from the political side?

The politics of the story are important too. For example, did you see the woman confront Newsom directly on camera (and his obviously untruthful response to her - "I am getting the President on the phone right now")? She has lost everything, yet the politics of the matter was front and center to her.

He didn't object, he noted it.