They did this over forty years ago. In 1983 I worked until midnight. I would punch up KFWB on the way home. Bill Angel would read a news story, pause, and then a prerecorded voice would give the time check.
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KNX Los Angeles and KCBS San Francisco to Simulcast Overnight Programming
- Thread starter Joey1986
- Start date
The government already has a 24/7 service for emergencies, first called CONELRAD in the 50's and then EBS and EAS.
Airline service is something that would have to occur every day, maybe with multiple flights to a hub for example.
Emergency rqadio service would require 24/7 staffing, and in most markets additional equipment and even "fortificatioin" of studios and transmitter sites.
This is what EAS is for: authorities who actually have informatioin "at the source" can get on every radio and TV station at once as well as activating alerts on all cellular phones.
Radio, on average, is listened to by one out of every 20 persons. The EAS, when you include cellular phones, reaches nearly everyone.
Later amendment to post: "radio, on average, is listened to at any given moment, by about 5% of all persons."
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This seems very low. A 5% reach for all radio? If this was accurate, every station would be off the air and dead.
I should have said "listened to at any given time" by 5% of all adults.
Yes, radio cumes close to 90% of all persons each week. But at any given moment, such as when an emergency notice might be broadcast, only 5% of all people are listening.
I just listened a bit to the KNX / KCBS overnight news simulcast on the Audacy app. The traffic anchor almost flubbed during her lockout, stopping herself before she read the time of the next update as KNX has their traffic reports on the 5s while KCBS is on the 8s. Also, it’s weird for the simulcast to have traffic reports heard on both stations for regions hundreds of miles apart. Some in SoCal will be confused about getting traffic reports for the Bay Area and vice versa.
Both of these stations are non-directional 50kW powerhouses whose over-the-air signals can be heard in most places throughout the western U.S. The *only* reason that you would want to combine their overnight programming, as stated by @TheBigA and possibly confirmed by @davideduardo, is to save money during overnight hours. It most certainly is *not* intended to increase audience size at either outlet.
They dont even need an engineer in many cases... its so easy to do it at any level/caliber of station that most talent can do it themselves and should be able to.
(i could go live in Laramie, WY from McGrath Alaska with a browser, mic and my starlink... and there are similar set ups with even more technical gear for bigger stations)
not at night. 740 kcbs is a 4 tower directional 24/7.. hard to hear in Wyoming at night.. hardly most of the western us. KNX is a different story
I've heard KNX in the daytime in Western North Dakota a few years ago.
but its not a regular thing.
KNX tho? I could hear it some days in laramie in the day ALL winter... now, at 12-1pm, it might be barely a carrier, but it was there
That's amazing. My relative who used to live in western North Dakota said usually LA stations didn't come in there because of the Rocky Mountains.
But we no longer would have to tune to 640 or 1240 on our dial !🙃
Indeed, the KCBS facility is located up in Navato because most of its signal must be radiated to the south, away from Canada. In terms of groundwave, 50 kW KNBR 680, which is non-directional, and KGO/KSFO 810 which is directional with about 200 kW ERP to the north, are essentially local for example up in Ukiah, whereas KCBS is relatively weak.
In decades gone by, in the golden years of KGO 810, i believe I read that KGO actually showed up in the Medford, OR book!
The ionosphere is higher than the Rocky Mountains.😆
Tell those folks: "it sure is!" Way back when, people used to listen to Wolfman Jack on 1090 XERB in Minnesota at night!
Thank you for the correction.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Maybe it's time for the two stations to use identical hot clocks.
I know the overnight audience is the smallest of any daypart, but there should be consistency on where the various elements of an all-News clock fall, 24/7. If Audacy wants to save money with this move, that is their prerogative; it is unlikely that a major news story will break overnight that is specific to either region. But the programming elements should still fall at the same times as during the non-overnight hours, on both stations.
Same could go for business news and maybe sports, although KNX doesn’t have sports at regular intervals or even any reports at certain hours whereas KCBS has them at :15 and :45. Having grown up in L.A. and now living in the Bay Area, I find it interesting KCBS’ interval for sports ( :15 and :45) and business ( :25 and :55) resembles KFWB’s former all-news format. I forget KFWB’s traffic intervals though.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You make my point exactly. Thank you.