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News at the top of the hour?
- Thread starter vchimpanzee
- Start date
Yes! We used that feature at a radio station I worked at in the early 1980's. We aired a BM/Standards format on a BE Control 16, and used the deadroll feature to join Mutual News TOH.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Did the same thing with a Schafer 903 in the 1980s. Most syndicators in those days provided reels of fixed-length instrumentals for that exact purpose (although we couldn't spare a deck just for that so we dubbed them to a size C cart, which as I recall could accommodate all of the cuts on a reel, having something like a two hour maximum length).
The Harris System 90 used a "dead-roll" deck (ITC 750) with a reel of "exactly" 3-minute instrumentals...
If another source was playing at :59:30, the deck would "cut in" with the last ~20 seconds of music....allowing :10 for a TOH ID......
Luckily, the latter didn't happen too often....only if a LONG song started VERY close to the :56:50 dead-roll....
If another source was playing at :59:30, the deck would "cut in" with the last ~20 seconds of music....allowing :10 for a TOH ID......
Luckily, the latter didn't happen too often....only if a LONG song started VERY close to the :56:50 dead-roll....
Some disclaimers here: This is the kind of topic that fascinates listeners, but annoys and bores industry professionals. The professionals' point of view is: Who cares what time the news comes on, or if there is news at all? Most listeners find the news is boring, and we have never had a phone call from a listener saying that the news is late. Maybe we don't play the news at all, if we are in the middle of a long song. So, who cares?
I think this is a valid point. This is a 5 page thread, and this is the reaction of most pros here. I understand this.
Chimp's conversation is that he was listening to a station where the anchor said, "news on the hour." But they didn't get around to the news until 4 minutes past the hour. The reaction of professionals here is: So what? What is the big deal? Anyone can read the breaking news 24/7 on his phone or device these days. No one cares if this station gets around to the news at :04, or :10, or :27, or anything else. It is irrelevant. Maybe they put the news on whenever it is convenient for them. It doesn't matter anyway.
I understand this viewpoint. Maybe radio stations are no longer required to have any news at all. (Maybe 50 years ago, they were required to play 5 minutes of news each hour? But, maybe that regulation, if it ever existed, has changed?)
There are a few geek listeners that notice these things, but most people do not. In the case of this station in the Carolinas, they could be less specific by simply saying, "News coming up soon", or "We'll try to fit the news in if we have time", or "News around the top of the hour, more or less."
Back to disclaimer: I understand that a 5 page thread on what time the news plays, is considered irrelevant and a waste of time by those in the industry. ( That's why I proposed a forum for non-industry listeners ( geeks) like me, who can chat about this without taking up bandwidth in the professional forums. -- D.
Here's an example of some stations that do the news on the hour. At 11:00 pm tonight, Ali Velshi signed off his show ( actually Lawrence O'Donnell's show) "The Last Word", and said, "Now here's Stephanie Ruhle on "The 11th Hour." That happened at 11:00 on the dot on MSNBC TV.
Another example : At 11 pm tonight, on the local NBC affiliate, KNTV - 3 San Jose, they played the NBC chimes, then the local news with Jessica Aguirre started promptly at 11 sharp.
Admittedly - these are TV broadcast stations, not radio stations. But, to listeners, they see that some news shows start on the hour ( like these NBC examples)........and some news shows start whenever they get around to it. ( like Chimp's station in the Carolinas).
If all news shows started at random times when the station felt like putting on the news, then the listeners would just be used to that happening. And the listeners --- or more precisely the geeks like us -- would be accustomed to that and would not even notice if a station that advertised "news on the hour" actually did the news on the hour, or even if they did the news at all. As you say, it doesn't make any difference any more, because everyone can get breaking news on his smart phone.
Speaking to Kelly now: Kelly, in the case of the Seattle NBC affiliate, KING, I would imagine that when they announce the NBC nightly news with Lester Holt at a certain time........ like at 6:30 pm, they actually do go to network news at 6:30 pm. - Daryl
Another example : At 11 pm tonight, on the local NBC affiliate, KNTV - 3 San Jose, they played the NBC chimes, then the local news with Jessica Aguirre started promptly at 11 sharp.
Admittedly - these are TV broadcast stations, not radio stations. But, to listeners, they see that some news shows start on the hour ( like these NBC examples)........and some news shows start whenever they get around to it. ( like Chimp's station in the Carolinas).
If all news shows started at random times when the station felt like putting on the news, then the listeners would just be used to that happening. And the listeners --- or more precisely the geeks like us -- would be accustomed to that and would not even notice if a station that advertised "news on the hour" actually did the news on the hour, or even if they did the news at all. As you say, it doesn't make any difference any more, because everyone can get breaking news on his smart phone.
Speaking to Kelly now: Kelly, in the case of the Seattle NBC affiliate, KING, I would imagine that when they announce the NBC nightly news with Lester Holt at a certain time........ like at 6:30 pm, they actually do go to network news at 6:30 pm. - Daryl
( Sorry for the doubt post). **
The facts are that over many decades, media consumers who want to hear music from a radio station, don't want to be interrupted by news. And, since advertisers aren't interested in sponsoring something most consumers don't want, what would be the point?
I can't recall the exact requirement or when it went away, but during the license renewal window the licensee/owner had to include an affidavit stating that the station would provide so many minutes of news per hour, public affairs programming including several local issues 'ascertained' by meeting with members of the community, etc. At the station I worked at several of us were on a rotation who had to attend the local "Ascertainment Meeting" where you'd have to listen to boring and sometimes tinfoil-hat-wearing advocates talk about things like the need for children to avoid cosmic rays through school classroom windows.
There was no requirement for news per se, but committing to a certain amount was hedging against the license renewal being challenged or potentially denied (which I don't think ever happened).
Most modern stations, especially in smaller markets that run a syndicated 'satellite' format like Westwood One, have a window available for news around the TOH. Because most of the remaining radio news services went away from using expensive satellite delivery, most newscasts are now delivered in an audio file over the public Internet or a live stream over the Internet. Based on the program log, this allows the station autonomy on when, or if, to air that newscast and for how long. When satellite delivery went away, there was no need for the automation to 'hit' the top of the hour to join delivered news.
OK, then let's discuss which songs sound best coming out of the news (or TOH ID on stations with no news) and which you'd never use. That might be something that would interest both serious industry pros (from music stations, at least) and us obsessive radio geeks out here on the spectrum.
But there are local newscasts that start a minute (or so) early. I’ve seen late afternoon/early evening newscasts start at 4:59 PM or 5:59 PM.
Common practice, even when I was still in TV news (12+ years ago). The commercial break between the last primetime show and the late news was abandoned, so shows started at 10:58:30.
Originally, that was just for a "Coming up on (whatever) news...." with 30 seconds of video and "we'll tell you more", and a 60-second spot break before the news actually began.
But---it didn't take long for someone in the market to ditch the spot break altogether, do the breathless tease, followed by "(Whatever) news starts---right now."
Something I just remembered. The classic country station does the news sometime around 30 minutes after the hour, but I don't know if it's a specific time.
And the America's Best Music affiliate switched to Good Time Oldies in 2015 and started doing news sometime around 10 minutes before the hour. Then they went back to doing news exactly at the top of the hour.
And the America's Best Music affiliate switched to Good Time Oldies in 2015 and started doing news sometime around 10 minutes before the hour. Then they went back to doing news exactly at the top of the hour.
I'm on a station that has news at about 5 after the hour. wether its abc news or local news.. and its been that way for years. when our competitors are running network news and commercials, we're playing music...... and our network news is only 75 secs and our local news is kept short sweet and to the point. works well for us.
And here's a great example of that, IMO, with a slightly longer interval: this late edition from KPRC Channel 2 (NBC in Houston, TX), for Friday, May 10, 1985-- it starts with the end titles of Miami Vice (in a window on the left side of the screen, and anchors Jan Carson and Bill Balleza with headlines in the right-hand window), a couple of NBC commercials, and a couple of national commercials for Pepsi and AT&T (w/a Kroger ad between them), before the Channel 2 News late edition starts (the whole package runs 2 min. and 20 sec.):
You never knew they did it then, did you? That's how it used to be, before we started going direct from the last prime show to the top headlines in a cold open.
Actually, it's because I don't care about what happened on some TV station in 1985. After all, it was thirty-nine years ago.
You are absolutely right-- misread that; I put it up here to try to illustrate another post (I didn't know how to interpret what you said, so that's why I responded as I did).
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
We aren't, and that changed over a decade ago.
It's a good idea on its face, Daryl Lynn, but having been around here for quite a while (even when those suspensions mentioned in my post in the "Honoring The Past" thread were in force, I was still wandering in occasionally just to read) I can practically guarantee that the non-industry members would not be content with discussing topics amongst themselves when they know the industry members weren't reading their comments ...
... and they would come right back here as a result, because they somehow still think that posting on a message board is going to make us change how we program. (Hint: It doesn't.)
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
OK, then let's discuss which songs sound best coming out of the news (or TOH ID on stations with no news) and which you'd never use. That might be something that would interest both serious industry pros (from music stations, at least) and us obsessive radio geeks out here on the spectrum.
Start the thread. I'm sure there would be plenty of opinions and suggestions! 🙂
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