News And Traffic In The ZONE

[mrpariot]

News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5 The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station more music intensive. The station, which last year canned morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning show.

As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can remember. He was responsible for the station's public affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one time or other).

Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter to music listeners?

 

[jammerdave]

I'll miss Marshall. Great guy. I was there when they hired him waaaaay back when. I wish him the best, wherever life leads him now...

df



> News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5
> The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station more
> music intensive. The station, which last year canned
> morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all
> traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning
> show.
>
> As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can
> remember. He was responsible for the station's public
> affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics
> for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he
> headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and
> guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one time
> or other).
>
> Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter
> to music listeners?
>

 

[FMnAM]

> News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5
> The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station more
> music intensive. The station, which last year canned
> morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all
> traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning
> show.
>
> As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can
> remember. He was responsible for the station's public
> affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics
> for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he
> headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and
> guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one time
> or other).
>
> Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter
> to music listeners?
>
According to research, the majority of listeners listen in the AM for those two things. Marshall's one of those original nice guys. Just a genuinely happy, friendly person. It's sad that all the nice people get the boot. But I heard a rumor that others there may go that way soon, so we'll just have to wait and see what's going to happen.

 

[allisonmarie]

> > News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5
>
> > The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station
> more
> > music intensive. The station, which last year canned
> > morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all
> > traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning
> > show.
> >
> > As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can
> > remember. He was responsible for the station's public
> > affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics
>
> > for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he
> > headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and
> > guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one
> time
> > or other).
> >
> > Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter
>
> > to music listeners?
> >
> According to research, the majority of listeners listen in
> the AM for those two things. Marshall's one of those
> original nice guys. Just a genuinely happy, friendly person.
> It's sad that all the nice people get the boot. But I heard
> a rumor that others there may go that way soon, so we'll
> just have to wait and see what's going to happen.
>
Format Change Maybe?

 

[kinetic]

> News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5
> The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station more
> music intensive. The station, which last year canned
> morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all
> traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning
> show.
>
> As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can
> remember. He was responsible for the station's public
> affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics
> for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he
> headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and
> guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one time
> or other).
>
> Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter
> to music listeners?
>

That depends on the listeners, the topical (as opposed to informative) nature of the news being reported and the creativity of the hosts disseminating it. Obviously, the nature of the market has to be factored in as well as the disposition of the PD (some of whom would rather have a jukebox).

More to the point, are real music listeners listening to morning radio anyway? That's a valid question considering the ever-increasing technological options available, which may be a greater threat to music radio than any crosstown rival.

 

[radiocoyote]

> News director Marshall Phillips was let go from CBS' 100.5
> The Zone on Tuesday, part of a move to make the station more
> music intensive. The station, which last year canned
> morning traffic bunny Traci Marshall, has now dropped all
> traffic and news reports in the "Shawn and Jeff" morning
> show.
>
> As for Phillips, he'd been at 100.5 as long as most can
> remember. He was responsible for the station's public
> affairs programming, and worked on ascertainment of topics
> for all of the area's radio public affairs programs (he
> headed the committee that coordinated subject matter and
> guests; most area broadcasters participate in it at one time
> or other).
>
> Does the absence of morning traffic and news REALLY matter
> to music listeners?
>

Yes, it really matters! Most people who tune into radio, including FM, outside of smaller markets expect news, traffic and weather. If you look at most successful morning shows in major to medium markets, the ones that are content driven and NOT music driven are the greatest winners. That's why the majority of syndicated show are strickly content driven. There is no great appeal anymore to a morning show playing lots of music. Those listeners who want music and don't care about content will listen to CDs, satellite or Ipods. In a town like Sacramento, traffic is very important to the listener. To dismiss it is a HUGE programming mistake. If you get a chance to look at any research project on what listeners want from a morning show and you'll see that music is WAY down on the list of why they listen.