KFWB Earthquake Coverage. NONE!

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Pathetic. KCAL 9, KFI and KNX are doing a great job talking with listeners/viewers. It isn't even being mentioned on KFWB. A 5.0 earthquake in San Bernardino and they aren't even reporting it.

Update: Finally 20 minutes after the quake they are talking about it. Why is it that both of their sister stations were right on it and it took them 20 minutes?

 

[nmoore6676]

This is not your Dad's KFWB. I can remember that for years I had an A/C Battery combo radio permanently set to 980 because they had the first and most comprehensive coverage whenever I felt shaking. Now I go to KFI.

I recall that when they were in the Hollywood studios the people commenting on how much they felt the tremors because their studios were on a kind of a stilt construction where the floors were elevated to allow for wiring runs underneath. That brought back memories of when I was young and stupid and had started working for a station in Ohio and I noticed a plumber's plunger in the corner of master control. I made some half witted comment about clogs and the engineer then demonstrated how it was used to pull up the floor to access the wire trough underneath.

 

[jvparent]

I remember in the Northridge earthquake, Ken Jeffries had the news alert alarm (that high pitched tone burst) going as the quake was STILL going at 4.31am...reporting the information as it was happening. KFWB was indispensable that day...it seems CBS has made it disposable now. Not just because of this, but for a lot of other reasons.

 

[observer8057]

KFWB's coverage of the earthquake was, indeed, pathetic. KNX (10 feet away from KFWB) was really on top of it, while KFWB was asleep.

As has been said, just another shovelfull of dirt from the grave of KFWB. I would like to hear KFWB's excuse for failing to serve the public while others were doing a fine job.

Sad to say, but maybe it really is time to put KFWB out of its misery. (And this market DOES need the service KFWB should provide, even with KNX. They are different animals. And this time out, KFWB was the sleeping sloth.

Heads should roll!

 

[vsa]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

 

[nmoore6676]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

People in the KFWB listening area could feel the shaker, even though not very strongly. In the old days like I said above any shaking would have them covering it wall to wall, which is why I always went to them to know what was happening. They had listeners calling and their off duty reporters from wherever they were as well.

Point taken about KFI though they do have major listenership in the IE. KNX also though not as strong as KFI, maybe that would be a reason to put the all news only on 1070 and reprogram 980. If they put all available news resources into the one station it might be best considering the budget trimming going on.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

 

[robnokshus06]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

Nonetheless, an earthquake in So Cal is still news, no matter where it hits. KFWB would be pretty slim on programming if the only news they covered was that which fell within their coverage area.

 

[ercjncpr]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

So what??? I felt it pretty good here in south OC. It's a good thing I turned to KNX first!

 

[allvetsnv]

KFWB is now better at live coverage of Bald Men products NOT News. If you want live earthquake coverage on KFWB show up with some cash and you can do a 1/2 hour earthquake infomercial.

 

[vsa]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

Staff levels at KFWB, and radio in general, were much higher in 1987 and 1994. It takes lots of bodies to run a news operation and the number of bodies keeps shrinking. Didn't infomercially-challenged KFWB have a larger staff during the Montecito fire? I'm not saying KFWB shouldn't be covering a moderate earthquake in San Bernanrdino. I'm lamenting the fact that adequate resources are long gone and radio stations are, too often these days, fighting to remain solvent.

 

[Kabrich]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

From the post here, people would say that KFWB did a good job during the Jan 1994 Northridge Quake.

So, how did the numbers shake out, 12+ starting from Fall 1993 - Fall 1994?

KFI #4, #4, #6, #4, #3
KNX #16, #17, #18, #14 , #19tie
KFWB #15, #13, #14tie ,#19, #16tie

So, tell me again about how "radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake". The funny thing is I HAVE seen where a station had positive growth in News images and others fell apart because of coverage of a critical News event (Hurricane Elana in Tampa/1985 cemented Q105's news and information image over WFLA at the time which stayed with college football broadcasts). However, clearly, there was no effect here for a station that the posters state did such a great job in 1994.

In all due respect, a 4.5 isn't worth getting out of bed for. This was a TV event (and even TV did not cover it wall to wall).

Also,,,,I just looked at the rankings for the Rodney King riots in Spring 1992 and there is no lasting effect on the AMs there either, fwiw.

 

[BossJock1947]

Pathetic. KCAL 9, KFI and KNX are doing a great job talking with listeners/viewers. It isn't even being mentioned on KFWB. A 5.0 earthquake in San Bernardino and they aren't even reporting it.

Update: Finally 20 minutes after the quake they are talking about it. Why is it that both of their sister stations were right on it and it took them 20 minutes?

I concur what's wrong with KFWB???

 

[Shoot From Hip]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

From the post here, people would say that KFWB did a good job during the Jan 1994 Northridge Quake.

So, how did the numbers shake out, 12+ starting from Fall 1993 - Fall 1994?

KFI #4, #4, #6, #4, #3
KNX #16, #17, #18, #14 , #19tie
KFWB #15, #13, #14tie ,#19, #16tie

So, tell me again about how "radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake". The funny thing is I HAVE seen where a station had positive growth in News images and others fell apart because of coverage of a critical News event (Hurricane Elana in Tampa/1985 cemented Q105's news and information image over WFLA at the time which stayed with college football broadcasts). However, clearly, there was no effect here for a station that the posters state did such a great job in 1994.

In all due respect, a 4.5 isn't worth getting out of bed for. This was a TV event (and even TV did not cover it wall to wall).

Also,,,,I just looked at the rankings for the Rodney King riots in Spring 1992 and there is no lasting effect on the AMs there either, fwiw.

I think you actually proved my point. Based on your numbers, KFWB went from a one-position advantage over KNX before the quake to a four-position advantage for the next two books; I think that's a pretty clear indication that listening habits changed. Is it possible something else happened six months after the quake to change listening habits again?

 

[Kabrich]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

From the post here, people would say that KFWB did a good job during the Jan 1994 Northridge Quake.

So, how did the numbers shake out, 12+ starting from Fall 1993 - Fall 1994?

KFI #4, #4, #6, #4, #3
KNX #16, #17, #18, #14 , #19tie
KFWB #15, #13, #14tie ,#19, #16tie

So, tell me again about how "radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake". The funny thing is I HAVE seen where a station had positive growth in News images and others fell apart because of coverage of a critical News event (Hurricane Elana in Tampa/1985 cemented Q105's news and information image over WFLA at the time which stayed with college football broadcasts). However, clearly, there was no effect here for a station that the posters state did such a great job in 1994.

In all due respect, a 4.5 isn't worth getting out of bed for. This was a TV event (and even TV did not cover it wall to wall).

Also,,,,I just looked at the rankings for the Rodney King riots in Spring 1992 and there is no lasting effect on the AMs there either, fwiw.

I think you actually proved my point. Based on your numbers, KFWB went from a one-position advantage over KNX before the quake to a four-position advantage for the next two books; I think that's a pretty clear indication that listening habits changed. Is it possible something else happened six months after the quake to change listening habits again?

Using your logic, both stations sucked and lost audience.......KFWB just sucked less than KNX sucked, which according to everyone posting on the first page of this thread, they claim they did a wonderful job.

Bottom line....from the book with the 1994 Earthquake, KFWB lost 3 rank positions and KNX lost 2 rank positions, yet KFWB was the superstar of coverage in the 1994 Earthquake according to page one of this thread.

Again, this blows your first theory out of the water about how people remembered where the coverage came from and it had long term effects.

Dropping 3 positions for a Superstar performance? Perhaps it was better that KFWB did not cover the 4.5 hickup in San Bernadino.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

My point was simply that people who made choices for news in that period chose one news station over the other. I wasn't suggesting that KROQ listeners suddenly became KFWB P1's.

And by the way...if you look at LA ratings after 9-11, you'll see that both news stations shot up enormously for the first 3 months thereafter and then the boomerang effect took over in early 2002 and news listening decreased from prior to 9-11. People tend to go in to a "news overload" mentality after long periods of listening to bad news. Happens that way after fires, wars...you name it.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

It ought to be noted that it was a 4.5 earthquake.

KCAL-9, KFI and KNX all have signals with viewers/listeners in the San Bernanrdino area.
KFWB can't be heard east of Pomona/Ontario at night and has no listeners there.

The psyche of Southern California residents as it relates to earthquakes transcends signal reach. If you've worked in a radio newsroom when a medium-to-strong event happens, you might have a different perspective. People who remember the 1987 and 1994 quakes can tell you that radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake. And by the way-- you can't hear KFWB in Montecito, but they sure as heck had reporters there when the fires hit last fall.

From the post here, people would say that KFWB did a good job during the Jan 1994 Northridge Quake.

So, how did the numbers shake out, 12+ starting from Fall 1993 - Fall 1994?

KFI #4, #4, #6, #4, #3
KNX #16, #17, #18, #14 , #19tie
KFWB #15, #13, #14tie ,#19, #16tie

So, tell me again about how "radio station listening habits can be permanently affected by how the station responds to a quake". The funny thing is I HAVE seen where a station had positive growth in News images and others fell apart because of coverage of a critical News event (Hurricane Elana in Tampa/1985 cemented Q105's news and information image over WFLA at the time which stayed with college football broadcasts). However, clearly, there was no effect here for a station that the posters state did such a great job in 1994.

In all due respect, a 4.5 isn't worth getting out of bed for. This was a TV event (and even TV did not cover it wall to wall).

Also,,,,I just looked at the rankings for the Rodney King riots in Spring 1992 and there is no lasting effect on the AMs there either, fwiw.

KCAL 9 covered it for two hours STRAIGHT from 8-10 PM with no other stories and just gave a brief review of other news on the 10 PM show. As for the other local stations, it was the top story on every station. KTLA gave it nearly 15 minutes at the top of the 10 PM news. I would not make the statement that tv did not cover it wall to wall.

KFI and KNX gave it wall-to-wall coverage for hours. Period.

As for the riots, that was a wall-to-wall tv event (that's how I alerted my Op's manager of what was going down) although The Beat, of which was just a block from the Hollywood Blvd. portion of the riots on Yucca Ave ran quite a few hours of talk programming during the riots.

 

[davideduardo]

[Dropping 3 positions for a Superstar performance? Perhaps it was better that KFWB did not cover the 4.5 hickup in San Bernadino.

I can't hope to count the times that an LA station that has kept the same share has moved up or down 3 or more rank positions just because of the movement in the market and the inherent wobbles in the measurement system.

Rank in a congested market is meaningless... it's share, or rating, which determine success in both programming and sales.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Well, we just had another earthquake on the westside, and this time KFWB was the first to report it. KNX second. KFI third. KNX is sticking with it unlike KFWB.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

[Dropping 3 positions for a Superstar performance? Perhaps it was better that KFWB did not cover the 4.5 hickup in San Bernadino.

I can't hope to count the times that an LA station that has kept the same share has moved up or down 3 or more rank positions just because of the movement in the market and the inherent wobbles in the measurement system.

Rank in a congested market is meaningless... it's share, or rating, which determine success in both programming and sales.

So says the programmer. Try telling that to a sales manager who was just informed that a buyer is only going three stations deep instead of six the way she did a year ago when placing a buy, because her budget has been chopped in half. And try telling that to the sales manager of a standalone who just got closeted on a buy because a six-station cluster dropped its pants on the lower-rated stations in the cluster to scoop up the entire share. Your theory does not always work in practice...in the real world.