How so? Doesn't KUOW have actual reporters? I checked, last Friday KUOW was doing local news reports around NPR just as with any weekday.
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Lotus
- Thread starter bossbill
- Start date
It depends. The foundation is NPR News.
I don't know about you, but Friday was a holiday for me. I had the day off. I doubt I was the only one.
Let me repeat: This station is NEVER going to be what it was under Sinclair or Fisher. Those days are over. But that doesn't mean they have to completely give up on some form of news and go to brokered religion. There's a middle ground.
BTW I found the ABC News special you apparently heard on Friday:
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Yes, riveting programming... No not really.
Granted it was Friday after Thanksgiving, but if Lotus plans to air a lot of this kind of network pablum to save money by calling it news, the future for KNWS has already come into view. Paid block religious, sports gambling or gardening programming will be the only alternatives when spring rolls around. But likely they're fine with that option because it is cheap.
After all, as I mentioned; in spite of being considered an extended holiday, their competitors in KUOW and KIRO were sounding like news stations.
This was happening on Friday morning? Yikes! If we were talking Thursday or Friday evening, this would be standard for 1000 to run on holidays. I've tuned that station in at 11:00 P.M. on many holidays since before I left the market only to find them in an ABC special rather than running their normal format, but at least when in the market, my radio was set to them in the mornings, and they had at least some form of a news presence. As for the FM, I haven't liked the audio on that for a few years now, I think that changed maybe a year or so before I left the market.
Could be, but Bustos is already entrenched in the market with FM stations. And, as with the upcoming loss of Univision programming on local TV, one has to ask whether the Hispanic population in Seattle/Tacoma is large enough to support multiple Hispanic-programmed radio stations. But you're right that going to Spanish language would be a logical assumption given Lotus has had reasonable success in NoCal. Seattle isn't NoCal.
Of course, but what I heard on KIRO and KUOW was local and NPR news programming just as with most Fridays. Even you, Mr. Contrarian, would have to agree that the ABC food programming didn't match as some sort of actual news.
Not all news HAS to be local. A well produced informational program can be just fine for a day off. Most of the NPR programs are filled with feature stories, and people seem to enjoy them. The endless rehash of local headlines can be tiring and hurts TSL. If someone was desperate for local, options exist.
Sure, and not all food has to taste good either. But if you run a restaurant, success comes easier if more people like your menu items than don't. Besides, wasn't it you that claimed up-thread that news radio stations aren't concerned with TSL?
Not everyone likes the same food. Some people like sushi, but not me. Not all news stations in Seattle have to do the exact same thing.
Absolutely, but we're talking about a holiday weekend when most people are off from work and looking for some long form talk that isn't political. This fits the bill just fine. ABC wouldn't offer such shows if they weren't getting used.
Absolutely that news stations don't care about TSL, or that people don't care about tuning into a station that bills itself as news, but instead is playing generic network programming about food?
News stations don't care about TSL on work days. The Friday after t-giving is not a typical work day. Lots of companies offer holiday weekend programming. ABC is just one. And absolutely, I'm sure some people enjoyed a light and happy talk show while eating their leftovers. There will be more of this on Christmas.
Once again, these companies like ABC and CBS wouldn't offer these shows if stations didn't use them. Also this wasn't done for TSL or ratings. It was done to give the staff some time off. If listeners switched to KIRO for more of the same headlines repeated every ten minutes, no problem. That was factored into the decision to give people the day off.
It would be interesting to know what times of the day other affiliated stations used the ABC food programming. Unless they were already primarily syndicated N/T, my bet would be nights or weekends, because I can't see the value in running it in a morning slot after 8AM on a Friday. Again, the competition thought it would be worthwhile to have some form of national and local news. KNWS choosing to take the cheap and unappealing route still speaks volumes.
In my example, I thought the story on KIRO about the invasive crabs invading the Pacific waters being read by someone local more interesting than South Carolina 'dry rub' barbecue examples. Neither were headlines, but one was Northwest-focused.
And because it was, say it together now: cheap.
The competition also has much different resources and a different budget. And once again, the public is free to choose. Two hours of syndication isn't going to kill them. You should be used to this listening to news radio in Phoenix.
Of course it's cheap! Who said it wasn't? ABC is barter. And everyone knows that Lotus is operating with lower budgets. That's why they fired all their reporters. As I said much earlier, this station isn't operating as it did when it was under previous ownership.
But just like the competition, KNWS isn't owned and operated by some local ma and pa. Lotus is a pretty decent sized radio group. I get it; they've done an admirable job of playing Hispanic and other music in Nevada and NoCal on the cheap. Suspect they've learned their lesson that the same result isn't attainable with all-news.
It won't kill them literally, but the recent cuts it's pretty clear they're not looking at any long game with the station(s).
I've heard N/T stations on occasional trips through Phoenix. Not sure why you'd think I'd be used to it.
On that point, we agree. The question remains how long will they be able to continue calling themselves news before completely throwing in the towel and going Spanish, brokered, or paid?
Not to visit Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine; but back in the late 80's, KING 1090 in Seattle said no mas to doing AC and went "all news 24/7". They had only anchors that covered AM and PM drive, very few reporters, and all other times were (at the time) AP Newsradio.
This move by Lotus reminds me of a very similar situation. Once syndicated talk became more of a thing, 1090 picked up what national talk shows Clear Channel stations hadn't. But that was a different time too. AM was still a major player in news and sports. Not the case now.
I don't expect them to throw in the towel, just cut back on expenses. Even the Audacy stations have had to do that. Some of them are repeating hours of news coverage in overnight hours. Lots of options for them.
And Arizona and Idaho and, in the past, Texas. And the formats range from Farsi and Spanish to Classic rock, all sports, classic hits, rock, hot AC, new rock, sports, talk to several varieties of Spanish language formats.
They won't do Spanish on an AM. They know that will not work as a stand-alone.
Just throwing this out there, I don’t see it being a huge issue if 1000 forges on without real reporters and a full newsroom. As long as they’ve got a decent lineup of anchors, news can still be reported. I’d still tune in for the ease of having someone else read the news to you en route to your destination over having to read about each story yourself. It still wouldn’t hurt if the station sounded a bit more authoritative, like KCBS 740 or KNX 1070 though.
Perhaps I can be if some assistance. First I assume we are talking about KNWN (formally KOMO.) Secondly in full disclosure I was one of the 8 newsroom employees shown the door on October 30. The group included anchors, reporters and editors.
The reason you heard BBQ stories from ABC all Thanksgiving instead of local news is simple: No One was in the building.
Normally on a holiday, except Christmas, we would have a skeleton crew of 2 editors and 3 to 4 anchors working. Plus what we could harvest from Komo-TV. But with roughly half the newsroom staff kicked to the curb, the decision was made at local level to put the station on automation for the entire holiday. That meant ABC and in house produced in advanced programming only.
You can expect more of the same on New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day.....
The reason you heard BBQ stories from ABC all Thanksgiving instead of local news is simple: No One was in the building.
Normally on a holiday, except Christmas, we would have a skeleton crew of 2 editors and 3 to 4 anchors working. Plus what we could harvest from Komo-TV. But with roughly half the newsroom staff kicked to the curb, the decision was made at local level to put the station on automation for the entire holiday. That meant ABC and in house produced in advanced programming only.
You can expect more of the same on New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day.....
I had Thanksgiving off. I'm sure a lot of radio people had the day off. When I did have to work holidays, I got paid a minimum of double time. We often talked about Golden time, which was double time & a half. We w ere owned by a TV company. Clearly this company doesn't have that kind of money. It costs a lot of money to do 24/7 local news without access to TV or other staff. When iHeart bought WBZ Boston, they let a lot of people go and there was a lot of squawking. Same thing happened when Audacy bought CBS Radio. Huge cutbacks taking place at WCBS-AM. But that's what happens when a radio station gets spun off a TV company.
As I said, the reason ABC produces those specials is so stations can give their staff the day off. I bet a lot of stations ran that special.
As I said, the reason ABC produces those specials is so stations can give their staff the day off. I bet a lot of stations ran that special.
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