NBC hourlies are great idea, although they have a weird infrastructure. They are often anchored by NBC correspondents such as Lester Holt, Kelly O'Donnell and Tom Costello with no apparent fixed schedule. They are written and produced by CBS Radio staffers, many of whom are holdovers from Mutual. While some of the anchors do an excellent job, others are obviously not used to demands of radio: proper inflection and hit-the-mark-or-you-get-dumped timing. (BTW: When NBC isn't available, I think they get CNN hourlies.)
While having a good network newscast is important, listeners know what happens in Washington or Baghdad does not affect them as much ws what happens in Tempe or Phoenix. Jeffry's quote to the paper, "If there's breaking news, we're not children, we'll cover it, but on a day-to-day basis, isn't there enough of that?," does not engendaer confidence.
The best alternative would be to get Metro to send them local newscasts, as KXAM once did. The Metro newsroom is a mere shadow of the original Skyview local news operation, but it's better than nothing.
While having a good network newscast is important, listeners know what happens in Washington or Baghdad does not affect them as much ws what happens in Tempe or Phoenix. Jeffry's quote to the paper, "If there's breaking news, we're not children, we'll cover it, but on a day-to-day basis, isn't there enough of that?," does not engendaer confidence.
The best alternative would be to get Metro to send them local newscasts, as KXAM once did. The Metro newsroom is a mere shadow of the original Skyview local news operation, but it's better than nothing.
