KNX - Tough to Listen To

[landtuna]

Just for kicks I dialed up KNX over the Internet this morning to see what was passing for a state-of-the-art news station and was disappointed.

1. They talk too fast. It's as if they have some sort of time limit on each story. The only parts of the stories that are paced are the interviews. The traffic reports are even worse.
2. Too many commercials. I didn't count but it seems as if there are a maximum of two stories (about one minute total) between commercial blocks that last 2 minutes.
3. Streaming issue - the end of the last story is regularly cut off 1-2 seconds before the commercial spools up. Irritating.

 

[davideduardo]

Just for kicks I dialed up KNX over the Internet this morning to see what was passing for a state-of-the-art news station and was disappointed.

1. They talk too fast. It's as if they have some sort of time limit on each story. The only parts of the stories that are paced are the interviews. The traffic reports are even worse.
2. Too many commercials. I didn't count but it seems as if there are a maximum of two stories (about one minute total) between commercial blocks that last 2 minutes.
3. Streaming issue - the end of the last story is regularly cut off 1-2 seconds before the commercial spools up. Irritating.

Add to that the fact that the HD audio is not in synch with the analog audio, so when an HD radio folds back to analog, whole chunks of audio are skipped... it's impossible to listen to in fringe areas or under bridges, etc. Funny, because KFI has got that aspect done perfectly.

 

[recto101]

Just for kicks I dialed up KNX over the Internet this morning to see what was passing for a state-of-the-art news station and was disappointed.

1. They talk too fast. It's as if they have some sort of time limit on each story. The only parts of the stories that are paced are the interviews. The traffic reports are even worse.
2. Too many commercials. I didn't count but it seems as if there are a maximum of two stories (about one minute total) between commercial blocks that last 2 minutes.
3. Streaming issue - the end of the last story is regularly cut off 1-2 seconds before the commercial spools up. Irritating.

All other CBS All-news O&O's function that way too.

 

[recto101]

But if you want to listen to investigative reporting you would have to either listen to NPR via KQED feed or a Pacifica feed via KPFA during drive time.

 

[ercjncpr]

CBS Radio (all stations) have had too many commercials for years :

 

[calguy]

Just a guess here, but perhaps they are trying to match the energy of the KFI news department. KFI has always had a decent news dept, but for many years since becoming a talk station they've upped the energy. I personally feel that KFI's news sounds somewhat sloppy in presentation. Depends on who is on. To me, KNX never really recovered from the disastrous years under David G. Hall. It's never been the same since.

 

[LKellerIII]

CBS Radio (all stations) have had too many commercials for years :

After years of listening to NPR, I find commercial All News stations unlistenable. Listeners complain about the 6 minute commercial stop-sets on music stations, but the upside is that you generally get 4 to 7 songs in a row before the stop-set. But it seems like Newsradio stations run about 2 minutes of commercials for every 2 minutes of content. I know it's an expensive format to run - I get that. But short of a local tragedy of epic proportions or a natural disaster, I won't be listening.

 

[youngsag]

However, one must conclude that no non-music station is harder to listen to than "legendary" KABC. The commercial clusters are just outrageously long. The "content" is short. Ratio is, I estimate, 6-7 minutes to 5 minutes content. KABC's Morning Mess, putting aside their promotion time and "what we are getting into in the next hour" is about like this: At :23 and :53 each hour (not hard, fast time - may start a minute of two later- depends on commercial cluster), they either talk, rant or have a guest on the phone until top/bottom of the hour, so max 7 minutes. And, no, this "legendary" talk station never takes listener calls during the live 5 to 9 am Morning Mess.

That's it. And they repeat news over and over. Doug McIntrye goes off on our police chief, the mayor, city council OR they rant on about crime stories or read the newspaper. Or attack people like columnists and entertainment people. John Forgettable Name, when he has a moment of air time, just is a snide as can be and loves to attack and degrade almost any entertainment person, whether in the news of not, particularly if sex is involved.

Of course, T-Rae Elmer absolutely mumbles the news. It is just incredible. This is the #2 market in the country and even though KABC is mired well down in the ratings, how can they allow such absurd mumbling to take place.

So, KNX is tough to listen to. But nothing compares to KABC. And why, pray tell, does the KABC Morning Mess sound like the hosts are talking from inside a tunnel while the other shows do not seem to have the same problem? Technical or are the on-air and off-air people just counting down until the end of the Morning Mess when someone at Cumulus puts the few listeners left out of our misery and replaces it with something of quality?

So, what will Cumulus do with KABC's Morning Mess? Nothing. What should they do? Replace the entire Mess.