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Serving the public interest - news on the radio?

M

MusicMan11

I remember being in college decades ago and my broadcast journalism prof telling me radio is there to 'serve the public interest.' That is simply not the case anymore in this era of automated stations.

My case in point, Monday's tragedy in St Petersburg. I left the house just before 8am, had seen some of what was happening on local tv, but when i went into my vehicle i couldn't find any information anywhere on the radio. I thought for sure, Todd Schnitt - in his MJ persona - would surely be gathering and giving out information on what was taking place in St. Pete, but when i tuned in he was talking about the 'Jersey Shore,' TV show.......amazing. I kept punching around and the only person that had any pertinent information on the situation was Bubba the Love Sponge.

Finally, just before noon, Clear Channel started doing updates on their stations, by that point, it was pretty much over.

Radio failed to serve the public interest on monday, except for BTLS. Everyone else should turn in their licenses. Shameful!!!!

just my two cents.
 
The AM band pretty well failed yesterday, as I scanned 820, 860 and 970, the "news" talk stations had too little too late, just brief mentions after their TOH network news.

On the FM band, WHPT(BTLS) covered it in great detail (using a police scanner for some info) and WUSF was giving constant updates; WUSF was breaking into the regular programming several times an hour giving updates, they used BayNew9 for some of the updates, but also had a reporter of their own on the scene as well.

Even WFLA TV pre-empted their regularly scheduled infomercial that airs between 11 and 12 noon for commerical free coverage of the event, but for anyone in a vehicle or outside without cable or the internet, the pickings were slim and none to get any if much coverage on this major event.

I know that if something like this happened after 7pm during the week or after 1pm on a weekend, there would be little or no coverage, but this happening on a weekday, during the work day, surprised me that the coverage was so sparse.

drt
st. pete
 
MusicMan11 said:
I remember being in college decades ago and my broadcast journalism prof telling me radio is there to 'serve the public interest.' That is simply not the case anymore in this era of automated stations.
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Just so you know, the era of "public interest" began to end in the 1950s. Automated stations became popular in the 60s. For a college project, I challenged the license of an automated station on the grounds that it didn't serve the public interest. I lost. Regulations for radio are such that the "serve the public interest" line is a myth that has never been enforced.
 
I failed to check WINK 1200 out of North Ft. Myers; although their signal is weak, they are a good solid news operation (they partner up with both the Ft. Myers News Press, the Naples Daily News and WINK Channel 11 TV).

I would be willing to bet that WINK 1200 had more coverage of yesterday's tragedy in St. Petersburg, than the local AM stations.

drt
 
drt said:
I failed to check WINK 1200 out of North Ft. Myers; although their signal is weak, they are a good solid news operation (they partner up with both the Ft. Myers News Press, the Naples Daily News and WINK Channel 11 TV).

I would be willing to bet that WINK 1200 had more coverage of yesterday's tragedy in St. Petersburg, than the local AM stations.

drt
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You'd lose that bet. I was traveling in Naples/Fort Myers yesterday, and they didn't have anything beyond the regular newscasts. It's a bit crazy to suggest that a Fort Myers station would have covered a St. Petersburg news story than the local stations did.

Which isn't to say that the local stations didn't drop the ball, because they did. The local stations were extremely disappointing.
 
You people just don't hear well. 970 WFLA's Gordon Byrd had the breaking news minutes after it began on AM Tampa Bay with Jack Harris & Tedd Webb. Though few details were known, the station detailed the location and advised listeners to avoid the area while giving a sense this was an extraordinary event. As the cop killer crisis unfolded through late morning, midday and afternoon, reporter Sharon Parker was live from the scene in nearly every newscast. News anchor Steve Hall broke in at :20 and :50, in addition to normal top and bottom of the hour updates. Now, ya'll know to hit 970 WFLA first, when you're not sponging off Bubba.
 
Radio.Rancher said:
You people just don't hear well. 970 WFLA's Gordon Byrd had the breaking news minutes after it began on AM Tampa Bay with Jack Harris & Tedd Webb. Though few details were known, the station detailed the location and advised listeners to avoid the area while giving a sense this was an extraordinary event. As the cop killer crisis unfolded through late morning, midday and afternoon, reporter Sharon Parker was live from the scene in nearly every newscast. News anchor Steve Hall broke in at :20 and :50, in addition to normal top and bottom of the hour updates. Now, ya'll know to hit 970 WFLA first, when you're not sponging off Bubba.
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Yes, 970 was on top of the story in the sense that it provided regular updates from the minute it broke. But I think most folks were hoping for more ... maybe even some wall-to-wall coverage for a little while as this very fluid, frequently changing story developed. This was something 970 once excelled at. Call us nostalgic.

Even the local TV stations -- not exactly bastions of forward thinking when it comes to news -- had the sense to blow off their syndicated programming in favor of continuing coverage to serve a very interested, very engaged audience seeking information. But 970 stuck with Glenn Beck.

The coverage could have been better, Rancher. Not a knock against 970's people -- they're the best in the business -- but the cynic in me wonders if, after so many cutbacks, there just weren't enough of them available to super-serve the story beyond 30 seconds here and 60 seconds there.
 
I think the fact that Tampa-St.Pete area doesn't have all news format says a lot..I have often wondered why with a much duplicated talk formats including sportsradio that Genesis,Clear-Channel,CBS Radio have why wouldn't they take the plunge and just give us 22 minutes and we will give you the world...I guess infomerical are better during the 24/7 newscycle. That why this radio market is just plain ridiculous....
 
daw said:
I think the fact that Tampa-St.Pete area doesn't have all news format says a lot..I have often wondered why with a much duplicated talk formats including sportsradio that Genesis,Clear-Channel,CBS Radio have why wouldn't they take the plunge and just give us 22 minutes and we will give you the world...I guess infomerical are better during the 24/7 newscycle. That why this radio market is just plain ridiculous....
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Well, to be fair, most markets outside the top three or four don't have, and can't support, an all-news format, either ...
 
tampa listener, go ahead and wax nostalgic, it costs nothing. As for daw, DUH!, if you desire Tampa's first and only all-news radio station, please start one and hurry. There are a bunch of jobless "newsreaders" out there. (broadcast journalists are still employed) But until you fire up Tampa Bay's all-news monster, Newsradio 970 WFLA is a very respectable operation and I shall continue to be AM Tampa Bay's devoted "other listener." In fact, the newsroom is now pre-empting Schnitt and Hannity to cover severe weather rolling across the suncoast. Hurry, don't miss the nostalgia.
 
I imagine one thing that would help would be if CBS owned a TV station in Tampa. Typically, the all-news stations are in big markets where they also own TV and can share content.
 
Radio.Rancher said:
tampa listener, go ahead and wax nostalgic, it costs nothing. As for daw, DUH!, if you desire Tampa's first and only all-news radio station, please start one and hurry. There are a bunch of jobless "newsreaders" out there. (broadcast journalists are still employed) But until you fire up Tampa Bay's all-news monster, Newsradio 970 WFLA is a very respectable operation and I shall continue to be AM Tampa Bay's devoted "other listener." In fact, the newsroom is now pre-empting Schnitt and Hannity to cover severe weather rolling across the suncoast. Hurry, don't miss the nostalgia.
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Thanks for stopping by, Hal Lamb ... formerly known here as naughtytalker. By the way, your current radio-info profile displays your Yahoo e-mail address, and when you look at the Yahoo profile for that address, it says the user's name is Naughty Talker.

Hurry, don't miss the shill.

That aside, 970's news coverage is nowhere near as comprehensive as it once was. And anyone who has been listening to the station -- or working there, as the case may be -- for more than four or five years will know it's true.

By the way, there have been two or three half-hearted attempts at an all-news station in the Tampa Bay market over the years. None lasted very long. None was particularly good, either.
 
You are obviously very bright, you should start an all-news station or just keep waxing.
 
Indeed, Hal, I am very bright ... which is precisely why I'd never start an all-news station in this market.

And I'm also bright enough to know the difference between "waxing" and pointing out the obvious.
 
Many intelligent posts here, thank you "Big A" and "Tampa Listener" and others.

As far as an all news operation, it usually is a very expensive operation and that's why outside the top 5 markets, I can offhand only think of two stations that have an all news or mostly news format and one is WINK 1200/1460 and the other is in Pittsburgh, I'm sure there must be several more, but they are rare due to the expense.

I would be grateful just to have the gutting of what news operations are left to stop, so that in emergencies, we are able to get some , mabye not necessarily wall to wall coverage, but a bit more coverage than was offered on Monday.

The people left in the news departments are dedicated professionals that do the best they can with limited resources.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl
 
Can't stand it,,,1) Rancher, you certainly know that you can't "go out and get" a station. The present license holders won't sell because a) they want way more than the stations are worth b) they would rather not have a competitor so they hold on to the stations so no one else can get them. I know this because I have made five reasonable offers to both buy and LMA in markets from Tampa to Marco and have always been turned down,,,no offer to negotiate,,no let's sit down and talk,,,nothing just a " not interested" We never even talked price!!

You also certainly know that you can't apply for a cp without a window. When's the next window for anything? wanna flip a coin? I wouldn't bet the farm on when.

As to local news coverage yesterday,,,if you own all the stations and have no local news competition then you don't have to do a very good job which was what happened.

No WINK 1200 did not and does not cover much local news save a few, maybe four, local stories repeated over and over out of the TOH national feed then it's off to sports or National wire copy then all talk from 7pm to 5 am. They do not break format for anything. Funny how everything sinks to the lowest comin denominator when there is no competition. Did you notice six stations in the Fort Myers market dropped local news in the past six months? 770, 1350,1410, 1440, 1480, 1660? Most before 1200 1460 went all news

Ya local coverage was poor yesterday, ya I was in the truck and only had radio to keep me informed and ya they failed us again. Just my poping off.
 
"No WINK 1200 did not and does not cover much local news save a few, maybe four, local stories repeated over and over out of the TOH national feed then it's off to sports or National wire copy then all talk from 7pm to 5 am. They do not break format for anything. Funny how everything sinks to the lowest comin denominator when there is no competition. Did you notice six stations in the Fort Myers market dropped local news in the past six months? 770, 1350,1410, 1440, 1480, 1660? Most before 1200 1460 went all news"

WINK news radio does an OK job considering the small market it is in but I agree it is nothing special to write home about. Most of the local news they have is just fed out of their TV news operation and through the Naples and Fort Myers newspapers. The rest is is national feeds and wire copy. At night it is a bunch of second tier talkers. Pretty much a waste of two of the best AM signals in SW Florida.

Speaking of wasted signals these very same people still after over year and a half are feeding Beck, Rush and Hannity ECT over THREE count them THREE signals (2AM, 1FM) in the Ft Myers/Naples Market. I would have thought be now they would have found something else to do with the the 2AM's after the took the talk to the FM signal but I guess not.

To all our friends in Tampa Bay you are not alone. Radio pretty much sucks down here too.
 
Local news is really lagging around here. Too much focus on car wrecks, domestic disputes, and alot of similar topics.
 
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