KFI stuck with Handel on the Law until 1130AM, when the extent of the Sylmar fire was pretty clear early in the morning. In past Saturday fires, Handel has gone all-coverage much sooner. They must have standby reels (banked prerecorded hours) to feed affiliates when they need to go local in situations like this - and they had reporters on scene early on. So why did they wait so long to go full coverage when such a large story was unfolding?
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KFI waits until 1130AM to go all-fire coverage
- Thread starter gcreedle239
- Start date
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
Why would anyone listen to the radio in L.A. for fire coverage or even news? The local tv stations did a great job covering the fires especially CBS 2/KCAL 9. Between the two of them, they've been on since the beginning of the fire at 10:30 PM last night non-stop, commercial free and still are. My only beef with CBS 2/KCAL 9 was when they were simulcasting today, the KCAL 9 graphics were on CBS 2 and the anchors, Laura Diaz and Paul Magers tonight, were calling it CBS 2 News when it was CBS 2 & KCAL 9 News. Not until after 8 PM tonight did the graphics become specific for each station (they are currently simulcasting).
Most idiotic mistakes: NBC 4 goes into the Tonight Show at 11:35 PM last night while both CBS 2 and ABC 7 dump network programming. My 13 News was on as well but that was a regularly scheduled newscast (11 PM-Midnight). At 1 AM, Fox 11 starts to run a rerun of their 10 PM news while their sister station My 13 still has live commercial free fire coverage. After about 10 minutes, Fox 11 begins to run a simulcast of My 13 News with My 13's graphics. At 2 AM, mid-sentance for Rick Garcia, BOTH Fox 11 and My 13 switch to infomercials. Fox 11 did not come back during that hour but within a few seconds My 13 was back with live coverage all night. So much for Fox 11 News credibility. ABC 7 joined Jimmy Kimmel in progress at about 12:15 AM but after NBC 4 came back with live coverage with Paul Moyer and Colleen Williams about 12:30 AM, so did ABC 7 with Mark Brown and Michelle Tuzee. Both stations were live all night.
KTLA had no coverge late night last night or overnight. Pathetic.
www.cbs2.com www.abc7.com and www.myfoxla.com provided live streaming coverage early on and all night. www.cbs2.com still is. I checked the new NBC 4 website www.nbclosangeles.com but found no live streaming coverage last night. I can't even find a link to their "News Raw" anymore. KTLA, of course, had no streaming coverage overnight.
I checked out KFI, KABC, KRLA, KNX and KFWB overnight. KFI was in "Coast to Coast" except at the top and bottom. KABC had NOTHING (Curtis Sliwa repeat) nor did KRLA (which I didn't expect). I actually thought KFWB was doing a better job than KNX. KNX is the home of old and boring coverage.
Most idiotic mistakes: NBC 4 goes into the Tonight Show at 11:35 PM last night while both CBS 2 and ABC 7 dump network programming. My 13 News was on as well but that was a regularly scheduled newscast (11 PM-Midnight). At 1 AM, Fox 11 starts to run a rerun of their 10 PM news while their sister station My 13 still has live commercial free fire coverage. After about 10 minutes, Fox 11 begins to run a simulcast of My 13 News with My 13's graphics. At 2 AM, mid-sentance for Rick Garcia, BOTH Fox 11 and My 13 switch to infomercials. Fox 11 did not come back during that hour but within a few seconds My 13 was back with live coverage all night. So much for Fox 11 News credibility. ABC 7 joined Jimmy Kimmel in progress at about 12:15 AM but after NBC 4 came back with live coverage with Paul Moyer and Colleen Williams about 12:30 AM, so did ABC 7 with Mark Brown and Michelle Tuzee. Both stations were live all night.
KTLA had no coverge late night last night or overnight. Pathetic.
www.cbs2.com www.abc7.com and www.myfoxla.com provided live streaming coverage early on and all night. www.cbs2.com still is. I checked the new NBC 4 website www.nbclosangeles.com but found no live streaming coverage last night. I can't even find a link to their "News Raw" anymore. KTLA, of course, had no streaming coverage overnight.
I checked out KFI, KABC, KRLA, KNX and KFWB overnight. KFI was in "Coast to Coast" except at the top and bottom. KABC had NOTHING (Curtis Sliwa repeat) nor did KRLA (which I didn't expect). I actually thought KFWB was doing a better job than KNX. KNX is the home of old and boring coverage.
B
Big E
Guest
What do you expect when you fire the talent and hire more sales people.
4UH8SIMBKAGN said:
Why would anyone listen to the radio in L.A. for fire coverage or even news? Hmm, let’s think, perhaps because they're in their car, or maybe, just maybe they listen to radio because they can still get something accomplished and it's easier to do when you're not sitting in front of the idiot box. That's the great thing about radio; you can have it on and not have to stare at it.
As for the radio coverage, or lack of it on many stations, it's hard to cover a news story when you've fired so many people... But really, if you're not an all-news station, does wall to wall coverage make that much sense? If KNX and KFWB are doing it, why jump on the bandwagon and blow off your regular listeners. KABC and KRLA pretty much get their news from Metro, and they're not equipped to cover a story of this duration and magnitude, they mainly rip & read. It’s a big story and few stations are equipped for it…
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
KNX or KFWB should think about simulcasting the audio from their sister tv stations CBS 2 and KCAL 9 next time and just pool their resources for one of the two all newsers. CBS 2 and KCAL 9 are going on 36 hours of continious live commercial free coverage. That's a true commitment to news and public service. They've done an excellent job in what is going to be the biggest fire home losses in Los Angeles since the 1960's. When I think of news in SoCal, I do not think of any radio station. There is too much tv news in this market both on tv and now streaming (including KNBC's "News Raw" which is much more interesting than any news radio station in this market has ever been) and on HDTV multi-channels to make me ever care about radio. Forget radio news, it's over.
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
Blow off you're regular listeners? During a disaster? Yes, lets just ignore the fact you can't breathe anywhere in the Los Angeles area. No wonder radio is in the shape it is with thoughts like that. You better rethink about what radio is or should I say WAS all about. You DO NOT need a large staff to report on news event. You do not need to be an all news station to report on any news event.calguy said:
Can't wait to see the tv numbers on Monday. I'm sure viewing levels were increased greatly.
gcreedle239 said:
They were providing news coverage with additional inserts all during "Handel On The Law". The KFI news people were all deployed so I don't see how they could have done much more. The wall to wall TV coverage with constant repeating of the same information and looped video was somehow better?
I'll still tune to KFI for local news coverage. I think the delay until 11:30 had to do with lining up the hosts to do the coverage, plus there may have been concern for Leo Laporte which is also syndicated. Leo was netcasting on his web site anyway and didn't at first seem to know that he wasn't on KFI.
Today they began local live coverage at 6am so the hosts were already lined up for all day.
If I remember correctly, during the overnight/early morning hours yesterday (Saturday) when the Sylmar fire was blazing, KNX didn't appear to have any reporters on scene and did rely on KCAL-TV's feed for much of their coverage.
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
#1 OLD SCHOOL thing you can do, TAKE CALLS. So, yes, they could have done MUCH more.nmoore6676 said:
There was no "looped" video on tv. I watched a lot of the coverage from the first minutes it appeared on local tv news and the choppers have been on non-stop since the coverage started. Best overnight Saturday morning video was Tony Valdez on My 13 News being pelted by flying buring embers live to be dramatic.
Why do have to "line-up" staff? This is a Clear Channel cluster with 8 stations. I've worked at music stations during disasters and breaking news events and we've lined up staff within an hour. You're defeating what radio is supposed to be about.
The local network owned and operated tv stations have blown off network programming during a sweeps month so who cares about Leo Laporte?
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
Could have been. But not during the 1 AM hour when I was checking out radio stations. Radio coverage was poor, at best. I don't understand why they were not taking more listener calls. That is what they always do during the moments post earthquakes.Shoot From Hip said:
4UH8SIMBKAGN said:
Perhaps it's been a while since you were on the air, but most stations really aren't staffed for the kind of coverage you obviously expect EVERY station in the market to go to. Besides, not every deejay is qualified to handle news stories or callers. Most talk stations have screeners and producers to help experienced talk hosts and anchors, most music stations aren't staffed for it and even if you wanted to scare up enough staff, call after call from people going, "...gee it sure smells bad out here." and "...wow I can almost see the flames from my rooftop." isn't very compelling. It makes no sense for everyone in the market to go to wall to wall coverage. Hell, even the all news stations are having a hard time covering all of these fires. Yes, the CC Cluster has 8 stations but they really don't have very large staffs anymore so getting people in to work isn't much of an option, and who are you kidding, do you really think they should all just simulcast with KFI and blow off their regular formats?
The other side of the coin is that stations that provide short updates and continue with regular format are giving people an alternative to the news. Say you live in Southgate. No fires there and while it's a big story, it may not be very important to you. If you're a music station you may just be setting your listeners up to go to an ipod to "escape" all the bad news. Oh and what about all that overnight coverage on KCAL & KCBS. I watched it for a while, great if you're a pyromaniac, nothing but pictures of flames and anchors repeating themselves for hours on end. It was BORING!
4UH8SIMBKAGN said:
There is and always will be looped video however even more annoying is the use of multiple images and graphics blobs. They make watching the TV coverage nearly impossible. At least radio still provides or can provide good narrative coverage.
Apparently for whatever reason KFI elected to do their coverage but did not have hosts lined up, so they extended Handel until 11:30 possibly to avoid cutting into Leo Laporte in progress. I never meant that his computer show was more important, but the fact that he is syndicated live to some markets makes it a bigger logistical challenge plus he does not ever do best of. I think Handel on The Law is edited for the syndicated stations and he does stockpile calls as does Leo for vacations. In any event they could have switched Handel to fire coverage but did not so that would have been a programming call. Handel does use repeats as the last part of this week's show becomes the first part of next week for the KFI five hour version.
However all of that notwithstanding I got better fresher coverage on KFI. I did not even check KNX or KFWB, though so can not comment there however I did check TV on 11 and 9. I usually turn off the audio and keep the picture on thus my annoyance with the video clutter. By the way most scheduled football was broadcast. This is one advantage for the two CBS stations because KCAL-9 is mostly infomercials Saturday so they can put on continuous coverage for the weekend.
I too recall music stations going all news in events, such as snow storms in Ohio as well as floods; I also can remember even competing stations joining to bring such coverage to an area. How many in this market, even the clusters, even put on any fire coverage?
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
You'll find in the overnights (tv ratings), you are the exception and ratings will be through the roof for the weekend fire coverage (already seen the Thursday night overnights for the Santa Barbara coverage which wasn't even impacting the Los Angeles Metro). The Sylmar and OC fires impacted MOST of Los Angeles and Orange County and continue to do so. South Gate was and continues to be impacted by the fires (South Gate is two words, btw). The fire coverage was quite compelling.calguy said:
If you are on the air in Los Angeles, you better be qualified to go live and take callers. I've done it many times at MUSIC stations starting with the release of the hostages in Iran which happened during the midnight hour on a Sunday night in Los Angeles (and did it without managments approval), during the riots in L.A., at the time war started in the Middle East and plenty of fires and earthquakes. What kind of nonsense are you trying to make us believe?
The tv stations in L.A. are having no problem "filling" time for fire coverage. In fact, quite often they have too much to report and have to cut off reporters or others for the next story or shot.
I would not take me 1 hour in today's radio atmosphere to put together a staff to go on the air all night to report on fires at a news/talk station. KFI has a news person and engineer 24/7 at the very least. Many of those in management and other support positions have been on-air so you don't need just current d.j.'s or talk hosts. Screeners and producers? Anyone who has been in radio can do those jobs. Excuses, excuses.
FYI, plans are pre-drawn at stations in case of disasters or did you miss the drill for the earthquake this past week? There is NO excuse for KFI. KABC or any other news or talk station in this market. There is also no reason to turn to those stations for breaking news or information. They aren't providing any.
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
Images trumph narratives. PERIOD.nmoore6676 said:
There was no "looped" video in the fire coverage. PERIOD. There was too much video to show, most of it live.
Multiple images are great especially when you have multiple images to show (including multiple fires and fire fronts which this was). I just hope in the future they make use of the 3 additional subchannels they can broadcast on for each tv station for even more coverage during breaking news events.
With the exception of pre-scheduled sports, ALL programming on Saturday was blown off by the CBS 2, KCAL 9, NBC 4 and ABC 7 (NBC 4 actually ran network programs on Digital 4.2). Only KTLA, Fox 11 and My 13 did not blow off the entire of day of programming on Saturday (although during the daylight hours on Saturday they did blow off their regular programming. My 13 until 8 PM).
You'll find in the overnights (tv ratings), you are the exception and ratings will be through the roof for the weekend fire coverage (already seen the Thursday night overnights for the Santa Barbara coverage which wasn't even impacting the Los Angeles Metro). The Sylmar and OC fires impacted MOST of Los Angeles and Orange County and continue to do so. South Gate was and continues to be impacted by the fires (South Gate is two words, btw). The fire coverage was quite compelling.
If you are on the air in Los Angeles, you better be qualified to go live and take callers. I've done it many times at MUSIC stations starting with the release of the hostages in Iran which happened during the midnight hour on a Sunday night in Los Angeles (and did it without managments approval), during the riots in L.A., at the time war started in the Middle East and plenty of fires and earthquakes. What kind of nonsense are you trying to make us believe?
The tv stations in L.A. are having no problem "filling" time for fire coverage. In fact, quite often they have too much to report and have to cut off reporters or others for the next story or shot.
I would not take me 1 hour in today's radio atmosphere to put together a staff to go on the air all night to report on fires at a news/talk station. KFI has a news person and engineer 24/7 at the very least. Many of those in management and other support positions have been on-air so you don't need just current d.j.'s or talk hosts. Screeners and producers? Anyone who has been in radio can do those jobs. Excuses, excuses.
FYI, plans are pre-drawn at stations in case of disasters or did you miss the drill for the earthquake this past week? There is NO excuse for KFI. KABC or any other news or talk station in this market. There is also no reason to turn to those stations for breaking news or information. They aren't providing any.
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You are correct that plans are drawn up at many stations, but today isn't like 25 or even 10 years ago and many of those on the air in LA would be hard pressed to do what you're asking. I'd like to think that I can, but I've worked with many who couldn't do it even on their best days. That's why most deejays aren't news anchors or reporters. I don't agree that taking listener calls is the way to go either. I've heard the news stations do it and while you may get a good call here and there it's usually a mess. You're compromising your station and format to go talk and as I've said, many on-air talent aren't up to the challenge. Heck, many talk talent aren't up to the challenge and it doesn't make sense for everyone in the market to go to fire coverage. I believe it's better to give updates and do your regular format if you're a music station. Then again you have to remember that if a PD blows his or her whole budget on overtime for a lot of people they have a serious price to pay with upper management. As for TV, I noticed no posts on the TV boards, wonder how the TV people feel about all of this?
If you are on the air in Los Angeles, you better be qualified to go live and take callers. I've done it many times at MUSIC stations starting with the release of the hostages in Iran which happened during the midnight hour on a Sunday night in Los Angeles (and did it without managments approval), during the riots in L.A., at the time war started in the Middle East and plenty of fires and earthquakes. What kind of nonsense are you trying to make us believe?
The tv stations in L.A. are having no problem "filling" time for fire coverage. In fact, quite often they have too much to report and have to cut off reporters or others for the next story or shot.
I would not take me 1 hour in today's radio atmosphere to put together a staff to go on the air all night to report on fires at a news/talk station. KFI has a news person and engineer 24/7 at the very least. Many of those in management and other support positions have been on-air so you don't need just current d.j.'s or talk hosts. Screeners and producers? Anyone who has been in radio can do those jobs. Excuses, excuses.
FYI, plans are pre-drawn at stations in case of disasters or did you miss the drill for the earthquake this past week? There is NO excuse for KFI. KABC or any other news or talk station in this market. There is also no reason to turn to those stations for breaking news or information. They aren't providing any.
[/quote]
You are correct that plans are drawn up at many stations, but today isn't like 25 or even 10 years ago and many of those on the air in LA would be hard pressed to do what you're asking. I'd like to think that I can, but I've worked with many who couldn't do it even on their best days. That's why most deejays aren't news anchors or reporters. I don't agree that taking listener calls is the way to go either. I've heard the news stations do it and while you may get a good call here and there it's usually a mess. You're compromising your station and format to go talk and as I've said, many on-air talent aren't up to the challenge. Heck, many talk talent aren't up to the challenge and it doesn't make sense for everyone in the market to go to fire coverage. I believe it's better to give updates and do your regular format if you're a music station. Then again you have to remember that if a PD blows his or her whole budget on overtime for a lot of people they have a serious price to pay with upper management. As for TV, I noticed no posts on the TV boards, wonder how the TV people feel about all of this?
As an outsider from the D/FW Market w/ family in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties, I always get concerned for their safety. I have to say the varied coverage was a mixed bag, Two thumbs down to ABC7 for moving coverage to their digital channel at noon to run the NASCAR race, when it should've been vice versa (race to digital subtier), as this is most certainly a public safety issue with a farther reaching impact. NBC4s web coverage wasnt too bad but they needed more field reporting, KTLA was non-existant on either their site or OTA, which is the dumbest thing ive ever seen and a total shame. I was most impressed with CBS2/KCAL9 and how they handled their wall to wall, I pick them as the winner in this situation.
Y'all are comparing apples to oranges. This is the RADIO board, not the TV board. Review the radio coverage on its own merits, not as compared to TV! Remember, not everyone can stay glued to a screen all day, and need to get information while mobile. With that in mind, I think T-Rae and the rest of the KFI staff did an excellent job.
Fact is, TV gets all the corporate resources (staff, choppers, mobile units) and radio gets few, and it's been that way since the middle '60s. Live with it.
-- Doc
Fact is, TV gets all the corporate resources (staff, choppers, mobile units) and radio gets few, and it's been that way since the middle '60s. Live with it.
-- Doc
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4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
KTLA is soon to move in with the Los Angeles Times and share resources. KNX and KFWB should move in with CBS 2 and KCAL 9 and share resources. It would be much better for cross promotion (which on a limited basis already occurs) and for the end product (especially after what I heard this past weekend). Tribune has already moved their CW station in Ft. Lauderdale in with their local newspaper. Media platforms should no longer be limited to or thought of in the the words "radio" or "tv" since both are streamed, the only area where english language radio and tv is growing. All areas of media are merging and that is only going to accelerate especially in the coming depression.DoctorWu said:
I was not at all impessed with KFI as they lacked the ability to adaquately present a breaking news story plus did not go to wall-to-wall coverage for over 13 hours after the fire in Sylmar started. They get a D- from me.
4UH8SIMBKAGN said:
You know I mentioned the TV board in an earlier post and was trying to be polite, but I agree with DrWu, you're comparing apples to oranges. Leaving TV out of this radio did a fine job. You're opinion about KFI not doing wall to wall coverage is just that, an opinion. We've all got them. From someone who works in a radio station every day I think that you're out of touch with the reality of radio today and you can't compare radio to TV. KFI gets a B+ from me. As an additional note, moving TV in with Newspaper isn't my opinion of wonderful synergy. It's just being cost effective, plus with technology being what it is today there's no need to have radio in with TV, it all flies through the air or over the internet with relative ease.
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