Shadow traffic gone from WPLJ/WABC

[sidchase]

What kind of audio are they using for the reports? It sounds like the same technology used in the Progresso soup ads.

 

[Shredder]

I kind of think it sounds like the audio you hear when going through the tunnel to NY. only not as good ;o).


Well, it's been a month. I've adjusted to the new guy. Short traffic reports, Hardly ever mentioning NJ unless it's the turnpike or parkway, injecting sponsors into the traffic report like a sell out..annoying tag lines. makes the traffic almost useless for NJ listeners.

anyone hear any updates on the negotiations for joe's side of things? been rather quiet online..

 

[Shredder]

edit - couldn't edit the previous post...dang i wish we had that option
i was driving home from work, as soon as I hit 287, people start slowing down and there is this HUGE accident with a truck that did a 180, and was missing it's entire front half. Fire Engine, emergency vehicles, and a backup as far as Hawthorne at least.

I tune in to PLJ, it's obviously been there for at least 30 minutes. nope. Mckay didn't have it and was still doing 20 second traffic reports mostly mentioning things near NY. Tuned in to 98.7? Yep, Nolan had it. Just playing devils advocate here, but they do have access to the same traffic camera's, don't they? Or is Mckay told to 'keep 'em short' and not be as informative?

If I was stuck in that for an hour looking for updates from a major station on the dial, i'd be annoyed too ;o)

 

[Kevin TRC]

Hey Shredder or Neal, I beg to differ with you. I was listening in before 5pm that day and heading to Route 208 when I heard the report on WPLJ talking about a bad accident on 208 and traffic jammed for miles. I specifically avoided 208 because I was listening to WPLJ, and I heard the reporter talking about 208 again in the next report I heard around 5:15pm saying it was jammed nearly back to Fair Lawn. Are you sure you were listening to WPLJ, because if you were you are not being honest.

 

[OC3]

With smart phone apps, listening to radio traffic is a thing of the past. Lets face it, traffic is there to have another sponsorable element!

 

[Shredder]

Hey Shredder or Neal, I beg to differ with you. I was listening in before 5pm that day and heading to Route 208 when I heard the report on WPLJ talking about a bad accident on 208 and traffic jammed for miles. I specifically avoided 208 because I was listening to WPLJ, and I heard the reporter talking about 208 again in the next report I heard around 5:15pm saying it was jammed nearly back to Fair Lawn. Are you sure you were listening to WPLJ, because if you were you are not being honest.

I was driving along route 208 about a half hour after it must have happened. I tuned in immediately to PLJ just to see if it was covered. The 3:30 report didn't have it. I turned in to hear Joe, and he covered it from 3:40 on. Turned back to PLJ and the 4:50 report didn't have it either. Just the same NY roadways he usually covers in a very breif report. So both times I tuned in, almost an hour apart, no mention at all. Traffic that backed up on a semi major roadway you think he'd mention it during all the reports.

With smart phone apps, listening to radio traffic is a thing of the past. Lets face it, traffic is there to have another sponsorable element!

No doubt about that... but it's still nice to keep it local...just so long as the reports are up to date and useful. I'm looking at you NJ101.5 ;o).

 

[secondchoice]

With smart phone apps, listening to radio traffic is a thing of the past. Lets face it, traffic is there to have another sponsorable element!

I hope someone (or a computer voice) was reading the traffic report on your app. Reading texts or watching traffic cameras on your phone while driving will kill you.

 

[Shredder]

With smart phone apps, listening to radio traffic is a thing of the past. Lets face it, traffic is there to have another sponsorable element!

I hope someone (or a computer voice) was reading the traffic report on your app. Reading texts or watching traffic cameras on your phone while driving will kill you.

too true ..

Well, the topic was updated tonight. The On Air Story is that Joe was first in contract negotiations to come back. Now it's he was offered a big amount of money to stay at cumulus, and decided to do afternoon traffic on ABC instead.

Something about that doesn't add up though. If it was JUST Joe, why get rid of Heather and Metro in general? Joe is not a controlling officer at Metro anymore (if he ever got that high), so it's not like he's the guy who deals with Metro Traffic contracts and tells the company what to do and where to renew.

stories arn't adding up here...although if my theory is correct, I can understand why PLJ wouldn't want to say on air that it WAS cumulus who made the decision, they'd have a loyal listener riot.

 

[Kevin TRC]

With smart phone apps, listening to radio traffic is a thing of the past. Lets face it, traffic is there to have another sponsorable element!

I hope someone (or a computer voice) was reading the traffic report on your app. Reading texts or watching traffic cameras on your phone while driving will kill you.

too true ..

Well, the topic was updated tonight. The On Air Story is that Joe was first in contract negotiations to come back. Now it's he was offered a big amount of money to stay at cumulus, and decided to do afternoon traffic on ABC instead.

Something about that doesn't add up though. If it was JUST Joe, why get rid of Heather and Metro in general? Joe is not a controlling officer at Metro anymore (if he ever got that high), so it's not like he's the guy who deals with Metro Traffic contracts and tells the company what to do and where to renew.

stories arn't adding up here...although if my theory is correct, I can understand why PLJ wouldn't want to say on air that it WAS cumulus who made the decision, they'd have a loyal listener riot.

I have to agree with Shredder when he says something doesn't add up. But I also believe someone is seriously exaggurating here. Here are the facts:

1. It is a fact that Cumulus which owns WPLJ dumped their traffic service and when with a new service, which means they dumped Joe Nolan.

2. If Joe Nolan were negotiating as has been claimed, then why did he wind up on ESPN with Michael Kay for the past 2 weeks?

3. I heard Scott and Todd proclaim on the air that they promised they would bring Mr. Nolan back. Either they have no juice to get that done, or they never tried.

4. I read that Jeff McKay, the new traffic reporter is working for Radiate Traffic which means if Joe Nolan were negotiating with anyone it would have to be with them. Do you think they'd hire Mr. McKay just to fire him 2 weeks later? If this is true, then one could surmise there likely were NO real negotiations at all, which means Scott and Todd deceived their listeners, or Joe wasn't being truthful to his many fans, me included, or a combination of both it would seem.

5. Now you have Scott and Todd dissing Joe after he posted online of his intentions to move to afternoon work, and catching Scott and Todd by surprise as it seemed happened today.

I may be wrong here, but IMHO it seems that Scott, Todd and Joe were all trying to save face because the station management made a decision they didn't like. And not being truthful to their listeners is a bad way to save their own egos IMHO.

 

[Shredder]

I have to agree with Shredder when he says something doesn't add up. But I also believe someone is seriously exaggurating here. Here are the facts:

1. It is a fact that Cumulus which owns WPLJ dumped their traffic service and when with a new service, which means they dumped Joe Nolan.

2. If Joe Nolan were negotiating as has been claimed, then why did he wind up on ESPN with Michael Kay for the past 2 weeks?

3. I heard Scott and Todd proclaim on the air that they promised they would bring Mr. Nolan back. Either they have no juice to get that done, or they never tried.

4. I read that Jeff McKay, the new traffic reporter is working for Radiate Traffic which means if Joe Nolan were negotiating with anyone it would have to be with them. Do you think they'd hire Mr. McKay just to fire him 2 weeks later? If this is true, then one could surmise there likely were NO real negotiations at all, which means Scott and Todd deceived their listeners, or Joe wasn't being truthful to his many fans, me included, or a combination of both it would seem.

5. Now you have Scott and Todd dissing Joe after he posted online of his intentions to move to afternoon work, and catching Scott and Todd by surprise as it seemed happened today.

I may be wrong here, but IMHO it seems that Scott, Todd and Joe were all trying to save face because the station management made a decision they didn't like. And not being truthful to their listeners is a bad way to save their own egos IMHO.

every now and then someone will reply to a FB thread with some new info and i'll do a search for it.
There might be a new wrinkle. Someone on a message board wrote that WABC wanted someone to do 'stand up' traffic reports. I guess this means they wanted someone to stand in front of the map, and they didn't want that person to be joe, or Joe didn't want to do it, so he decided to move to afternoons..

That might be a bit more plausible information, if a little weird of an excuse. Although on the radio side, there was talk at least 6 Months ago that Cumulus wanted to bring in it's own traffic company, so it might have been a double edged sword of doom for Joe. Got forced out of WABC in the mornings, and on PLJ at the same time. But the radio thing has been in the works for a while now, it seems. I think I first read about that here as well..

Who knows what really happened. I just wish PLJ would get someone who was as fun to listen too as Joe. Every other traffic personality they managed to incorporate into the show, except this guy (Minus Debbie D, most listeners found her annoying as well). I just turn him down if I listen live, or fast forward on tape....the reports don't cover as wide an area, are far too short, and miss big events, or cover them too late. a few reports of this on the Bring Back Joe Nolan Facebook page.

Certainly not trying to bash the guy, just pointing out opinions.. Even the people who hated joe don't seem to care for him :/...ahh well...corporate politics...should make a tv show out of it.

 

[Kevin TRC]

It would seem that the "WPLJ won't survive without Joe Nolan" rumors were effectively shot down by the latest ratings for January released yesterday for New York City. WPLJ gained a full half point in the ratings, and that was without Joe Nolan on the air. One would have to surmise the changeover from Metro Traffic and Joe Nolan to Cumulus Traffic was a smarter move than some would have given Cumulus and WPLJ credit for. Overall, IMHO the traffic reports are better and more comprehensive with alternate routes, and as for the morning show with Scott and Todd, I believe it sounds better too. There's a lot less chatter and more music and the constant bashing of Joe by Scott and Todd got old. Maybe Cumulus figured that out and that's why they severed ties with Joe Nolan. Anyway, cudos to Cumulus for the better ratings.

 

[Shredder]

It would seem that the "WPLJ won't survive without Joe Nolan" rumors were effectively shot down by the latest ratings for January released yesterday for New York City. WPLJ gained a full half point in the ratings, and that was without Joe Nolan on the air. One would have to surmise the changeover from Metro Traffic and Joe Nolan to Cumulus Traffic was a smarter move than some would have given Cumulus and WPLJ credit for. Overall, IMHO the traffic reports are better and more comprehensive with alternate routes, and as for the morning show with Scott and Todd, I believe it sounds better too. There's a lot less chatter and more music and the constant bashing of Joe by Scott and Todd got old. Maybe Cumulus figured that out and that's why they severed ties with Joe Nolan. Anyway, cudos to Cumulus for the better ratings.

I think the ratings might have more to do with Dish Nation gaining top ratings, rather than one month of a missing Joe Nolan.
Things I do agree with : The Bashing of Joe did get old even from an attempted humor standpoint. and you know nolan didn't appreciate most of it with forced laughter...

As for traffic: The reports I hear are way too short. They don't cover major area's outside of New York unless it's something big that's been there for an hour...and I just don't trust them to cover my area the way Joe did. I sat in an hour of 287 traffic a few days ago that cleared up on it's own after bumper to bumper from 39B to 52. I didn't bother to turn to PLJ, because they didn't cover the last few big ones in a timely manner. I didn't tune to ESPN either, because Nolan is only on maybe 3 times in the shows three hours. Last time there was a jam, I sat through an hour of sports talk I cared nothing about, just to find out what was going on. with nolan fans tuning to espn to hear traffic only, you'd think they'd have him on more.


As for the music, My musical tastes lean toward what CBS FM would play, so I don't tune in to PLJ for that. I tune in for the on air personalities. The Music breaks ARE getting longer and that's cutting in to show time. A normal break with music and commercials used to be 8 minutes.. now it's gaining to 13 and even 16 minutes... When PLJ plays the same 30 or so songs over and over again, that you can easily hear on 3 or more other stations, it gets real old real quick. especially when most songs are geared toward soccer moms and are about break ups, divorces, and bad relationships. Yawn. Taylor swift made a career out of that...

I still listen to and enjoy the big show, but I turn the traffic guy and his yelling delivery off when he comes on..and a month or two of looking at the PLJ Big Show Page with the 'Loyal Friend and True' listeners shows people doing the same thing. The new guy is just terrible. Not bashing, just opinion, based on who he followed .

 

[Kevin TRC]

I can agree with some of your points very easily. Music is music and if I'm not listening to WPLJ or WCBS when I travel into New York I have Pandora. For traffic I listen to WKXW (although lately they're more wrong than right) and 1010, but I have found lately the new guy on WPLJ is very accurate with the tunnels and I personally like the way he does the traffic because he gets my attention and he's easy to understand. Sometimes other people doing traffic talk in such a way that I can't understand them. I don't think the new guy's reports are short. They seem to be about a minute or more, which is probably the norm for most stations I would think. I don't depend on WPLJ for traffic but I'm glad they have it and I've found it pretty accurate lately. I also read that Joe Nolan decided to make the move to afternoon work on his own according to his Facebook page. That makes it his decision. It seems like he's been around awhile so maybe there were other factors like health or lifestyle in his decision. Either way, it works out for him and the radio station because their ratings are up without him.