Radio-Info.com said:
In fact many of the views expressed here are just plain wrong.
Maybe they didn't realize it at the time, but when management posted that they were talking about this thread.
Julius May said:
For some reason since KYW 1060 has moved, the station hasn't broadcasted any press conferences or statements live for some reason. 2 Examples, 1. the station didn't broadcast the statement by President Bush about the US attorneys being fired and today, John Edwards held a press conference with his wife to announce that his wife's cancer has returned and the campaign to continue. I would like to know did the station forget to install equipment to broadcast live feeds for PC's etc. and thus can't broadcast the PC's live. Every other news stations aired these events, but not KYW. The same thing also is happening to WPHT, WIP in their new studios. CBS Radio really messed up I think with their Philadelphia cluster. They better get this fixed now
The past tense of broadcast is "broadcast," not "broadcasted."
KYW continues to take wraps, voicers and sound-bites from CBS Radio, which are fed by the network on different satellite channels - just like live feeds. KYW can get network sound, so they do have equipment installed.
Julius' standard in the past has been if the terrestrial TV networks carry it, it should be on the radio. The terrestrial networks did not pre-empt programming for these "events" either.
PSULuis said:
That's a good question, Julius. Although I doubt that they just "forgot" to install equipment, both examples you give are certainly worthy of being carried live and in line with other live broadcasts in the past. Could it be a shift in policy at KYW??
Julius has complained before about KYW not broadcasting live events. However, now he assumes it is because of the move and because they "forgot to install equipment." Yes, KYW has been backing away from live coverage for a long time - way before the move, when they did have the equipment installed at the old building. And Julius has been making this same complaint for a long time.
Instead of breaking format (and dropping spots), they have been posting "raw feeds" on their website. The Bush statement is posted on KYW website, so apparently they do have the equipment.
Julius May said:
I think its really time to let CBS Radio know what is really going on with 1060 AM because I have had enough with this radio station. The entire format is bad, really bad even though the ratings don't show it.
It's naive to think that major group owners don't "know what is really going on." Julius, you have said before that you have written and told them. Corporate managers keep a close eye on major properties. If anything, CBS' Philadelphia properties have suffered from too much corporate management.
DToTheJ said:
Translation: If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Another "just plain wrong" statement. It should head the list of "just plain wrong" statements. In threads like this - sure as death and taxes - somebody will post it like it's the most brilliant phrase ever uttered. This expression is radio's equivalent of "What, me worry?" This phrase sums up why radio is a decaying industry - in contrast to technology and new media industries which practice constant improvement and, as a result, everything keeps getting better, faster and cheaper.
And for the benefit of those who claim from time to time that KYW is at the top of the ratings: They are not. They have been slipping for years. Some people need to check Arbitron numbers more than once a decade and/or stop repeating "just plain wrong" statements posted on this board.
TheEvangelistofNews said:
Julius, with all due respect, you're showing a lack of understanding about how this business works. You obviously have a vendetta against KYW Newsradio, which has done a good job for a long time. Moving stations is no small task. There are always bugs to iron out after such a move.
Well, true enough. He doesn't understand how this business work. He's a listener. He doesn't have to. He's entitled to like what he likes and dislike what he doesn't like. If I go to a restaurant and I don't like the meal or the service, I don't care what problems they have in the kitchen.
This thread also demonstrates that most people on this board don't really understand how the business works either, including some who claim to be smarter or more informed than Julius. And this thread illustrates how quick many people are to post guesses as "facts" (often "just plain wrong" guesses); for that we can blame the school system, which has encouraged that sort of thing for the last 30 years. Again, KYW has been moving away from live event feeds for years but a bunch of people jump on here talking about technical problems the station could be having.
"Vendetta?" Here again, the speak-no-evil, if-you-can't-say-anything-nice crowd labels criticism a "vendetta" (or words which Roget's links to "vendetta"). If this were somebody other than Julius, somebody would be saying the poster must be "a bitter ex-employee." I checked the TOS. Criticism of radio and of specific stations is allowed.
LocalRadio said:
WTUX said:
And finally, as a person who tunes in KYW several times every day, 7 days a week, I get truely sick and tired of your constant ravings about KYW being a bad station. They are popular because they do a GOOD job. They have evolved with the times to be what listeners want from a news station in the 21st century. They are a good station! If I were ever to write to CBS, it would be to congratulate them on the fine job done by KYW and WINS.
I couldn't agree more. I have lived in cities with no all news station. I think KYW does a great job. Why don't take some time to "call out" the good things they do? They do a fine job, and that's the opinion of a professional broadcaster.
Beyond having very thin skins, some in radio seem disposed to idle flattery. Public discussion among radio people is mostly built on reciprocal flattery. People in radio give unwarranted compliments to each other and bestow meaningless awards on each other. Shrinks will tell you this is a sign of basic insecurity.
KYW, like the other Group W-format all news stations (and like CNN Headline News much of the day), operates on a news cycle. The concept is when a listener tunes in, he/she gets a complete news broadcast including key information (traffic and weather) at set times. This is their format. Their format is based on predictability. KYW is like the light switch. You turn it on and you know what you will get. When they break format to carry some speech, press conference, funeral or to read school closing numbers, they are not providing a complete news summary and they are not providing traffic and weather. If listeners hear a news item summarizing some event and want to hear the whole thing, then KYW often has it posted on their website for listeners to hear at their own convenience. This better serves both listeners who want to hear an event in total and those who want their news summary and traffic and weather on the 2's.
That's what they do right.
Their news summaries, however, suck.
- They take sound from three networks and keep playing the same few cuts over and over for the better part of the day. Tune in two, three, four times a day and you keep hearing the same network wraps. I drive to work early in the morning and I hear the same stuff I was hearing on the way home the afternoon before.
- Instead of real reporting, they send somebody out of a diner to do man-on-the-street interviews about the story - talk radio by sound-bite.
- Also instead of real reporting, they send somebody out where nothing is happening to go "live" reading wire copy.
- Instead of real reporting, they go "live" down the hall and have somebody read wire copy from the: "news center," "storm center," or "business center."
It wasn't always like that. There was a time KYW had reporters out getting stories and breaking news. But back then KYW had competition and people listened to the radio for news.
People don't listen to KYW because it's "good," but because it's there. A fewer are listening all the time (and those listening are aging way past the money demos all the time, too).