*SSDF - What an abysmal excuse for a news station...

[hail2theorange]

* Same Stuff, Different Frequency
Ok, I guess it is time for this listener's annual rant against WSB-750 AM (and now 95.5 FM)...

Why is it that a metro area the size of Atlanta does not have one decent local newscast during the morning drive? I woke up to Scott Slade and crew this morning at 5:45 and listened until 6:30, then again during my actual drive from 7:00 until 7:45 -- during that time, I swear I heard more teases and "and now 95.5 FM" taglines than I did news. I heard teases about UPS' plans to get rid of their "What can Brown do for you" probably 3 or 4 times and then finally heard the 1 minute story about their new slogan. Not that I cared, since I read it in the online AJC yesterday afternoon. I heard detailed stories about Kid Rock returning to town for a civil suit hearing stemming from an altercation he and his band had at a Waffle House three years ago -- that's the kind of stuff that got Entertainment Tonight their big ratings, I guess -- but not what I care about. Oh, I also heard about the 5 year old kid that won Alaska's Moose calling contest -- that helps me take on the day too. The one story that I was interested in -- the seemingly unprovoked shooting of the 19 year old father, his girlfriend and child at the gas station on MLK during the middle of the afternoon. How about some details -- like maybe the ethnicity of the suspect and the victim -- it might help me determine whether I ever drive on MLK again -- oh no, we mustn't do that, it might upset someone's sensitivity -- or maybe some additional news about the new Korean airline that is coming in to Atlanta -- perhaps interview someone from UPS (You know they're changing their slogan -- and happen to be based in Atlanta) to see whether they welcome this arrival or view it as competition.

It is truly sad that I can get more real news that affects me in 30 seconds looking at my smartphone at a stoplight than I can in listening to WSB for over an hour.

Now I know that "Scott Slade is a great guy" and WSB "has the best news team in Atlanta" (maybe because they're the last ones left...), but whoever is putting together that morning show is the reason they are slowly losing their market share. I really believe that if someone teamed with one of the other TV stations in town to pool news talent, and put on a real, locally skewed news show on a decent signal, they could give WSB a run for their money and we might end up with two decent stations out of the deal, since WSB would again have to compete for listeners.

Before I sign off, I will compliment whoever decided to bring in the Crane political discussion during the 7-7:30 half hour -- that was really the only thing I heard in the hour and a half of listening that was "new" and affected me.

 

[jabba17]

I was about to say an interesting experiment would be to put a network news feed (if you can find one!) on an also-ran AM station, and see what you get. But the problem would be the fact that all but a handful of AM stations (you know who they are) have a decent night signal that would be viable during winter AM and PM drive. Alternatively, you could experiment with it on a narrow-bandwidth HD-2 signal.

 

[gregg75]

Sounds like they're using the same playbook that WSB-TV uses.
Big super dooper out of this world tease-------then 15 minutes later-----the whole lame story.

 

[RTibbs]

To me it is unnlistenable. I feel like I never hear anything of value. It is one constant tease for an upcoming story and throwing around the wheel to seven traffice people Kirk Mellish and Schiavone.

 

[secondchoice]

I was about to say an interesting experiment would be to put a network news feed (if you can find one!)

IIRC when I was driving home late night last winter or the winter before, I hear what I though was the old CBS radio news on an AM station at night. Then my radio receiver locked in or a non English station right at the end of the newscast. I got mad and hit the scan button before I looked at the display.

 

[Bengalsfan]

I was about to say an interesting experiment would be to put a network news feed (if you can find one!) on an also-ran AM station, and see what you get. But the problem would be the fact that all but a handful of AM stations (you know who they are) have a decent night signal that would be viable during winter AM and PM drive. Alternatively, you could experiment with it on a narrow-bandwidth HD-2 signal.

They did that with mixed results several years ago. CNN Headline News made their news available to radio stations to air. I actually thought it was a great idea to air 30 minutes at a time. To keep it up constantly would be falling back to the redundancy you are complaining about.

FWIW, cable news does that all the time. I have stopped watching Fox News channel during the day. They have gotten to where they tease a story HOURS in advance. And everything to them in breaking news.

 

[DToTheJ]

I have stopped watching Fox News channel during the day. They have gotten to where they tease a story HOURS in advance. And everything to them [is] breaking news.

Even ESPN knew when to get off the "breaking news" pot. Remember the now-defunct "breaking news" bullet on ESPNews?

 

[Knowsnews2]

(The one story that I was interested in -- the seemingly unprovoked shooting of the 19 year old father, his girlfriend and child at the gas station on MLK during the middle of the afternoon. How about some details -- like maybe the ethnicity of the suspect and the victim -- it might help me determine whether I ever drive on MLK again -- oh no, we mustn't do that, it might upset someone's sensitivity)

Actually the police did not have a description of the shooter yet, just a description of the car.

"or maybe some additional news about the new Korean airline that is coming in to Atlanta"

There was a 1:40 piece that ran three times during the morning show the detailed the new air line and had sound from the interim GM of the airport, explaining what it meant in terms of jobs, economic impact, etc.

Guess you missed those. You were probably too busy looking at your smartphone while driving.

 

[hail2theorange]

(The one story that I was interested in -- the seemingly unprovoked shooting of the 19 year old father, his girlfriend and child at the gas station on MLK during the middle of the afternoon. How about some details -- like maybe the ethnicity of the suspect and the victim -- it might help me determine whether I ever drive on MLK again -- oh no, we mustn't do that, it might upset someone's sensitivity)

Actually the police did not have a description of the shooter yet, just a description of the car.

"or maybe some additional news about the new Korean airline that is coming in to Atlanta"

There was a 1:40 piece that ran three times during the morning show the detailed the new air line and had sound from the interim GM of the airport, explaining what it meant in terms of jobs, economic impact, etc.

Guess you missed those. You were probably too busy looking at your smartphone while driving.

Wondered how long it was going to take for you to chime in to defend your beloved employer... maybe you should have read the rest of my comment -- since the Korean airline seemed to be focusing on freight and UPS is based in Atlanta, I thought it might be interesting to hear their take on whether this is competition for them, or if it opens up new potential business for them.

The shooting took place early afternoon on Monday -- even if the police hadn't had a press conference after viewing the security video yet, I would think that a crack news team could find out some of that info in the 18 hours that followed.

I don't want to get into a shouting match over what you do -- I'm just letting you know what I (and obviously a few others) would like to see in a local radio news show. I was exceptionally frustrated with yesterday's show, hence the post -- if you look back, you'll see this happens occasionally.

Just a few questions for you, since you seem to have your finger on the pulse of the WSB decision makers:
1) Do we really need to be reminded that 40 minutes after the hour is the same as 20 minutes before the next one?
2) Do we really need to be reminded that the signal is "Now on 95.5 FM" 10 times an hour?
3) What's the fascination with Alaska? I know its not talked about every day, but between the Moose Calling contest and I tend to recall a house fire story as well. Not that the house fire isn't news, but I'm sure there were a lot of house fires all over the country that day, yet the one we heard about was in Alaska?
4) Do teases really work? I listen to the station from when I get into the car until I get to the office -- if you've teased something and it doesn't play by the time I get to work, I generally just miss it and get ticked off at WSB. If I happen to be interested enough to sit in the parking deck to wait for it, and it ends up being insignificant, I still get ticked off at WSB. It just seems to me that you are not being very good stewards of "our" time... you could provide more information in the same amount of time if you got rid of the redundancy and teases and gave us more news.

Yes, I still listen for at least a half hour or so every day -- mainly because there is no local news alternative. But I would listen significantly more if you showed me that you value my time.

 

[nightmanager]

2) Do we really need to be reminded that the signal is "Now on 95.5 FM" 10 times an hour?

Yes, I still listen for at least a half hour or so every day -- mainly because there is no local news alternative. But I would listen significantly more if you showed me that you value my time.

Well, get used to the "Now on 95.5" tag because they're probably going to use that for at least a year, according to people who have heard them flip other similar stations. It might even run longer. They don't want anyone breathing with at least one working ear to miss hearing about it.

The listening half an hour (or more) is where you go wrong. WSB AMN is clearly programmed with 10 or 15 minute listeners in mind. They don't cater to or perhaps even want people who actually listen for hours at a time. If you do listen that long, yeah it's going to be boring and repetitive and you'll hear five teases for a story that actually gets two sentences and less than 30 seconds of air.

This is not their fault. They gotta do what Cox traffic demands.

Somebody correct me, but was it WSB or GST who used to do their morning news for a couple hours and toward the end of the drivetime, they'd just repeat a whole half hour or hour of it right off tape?

 

[DToTheJ]

... Do we really need to be reminded that the signal is "Now on 95.5 FM" 10 times an hour?

... get used to the "Now on 95.5" tag because they're probably going to use that for at least a year, according to people who have heard them flip other similar stations. It might even run longer...

Hey, it's either that or "The New WSB 95.5 FM" for ten years...

 

[DashRiprock]

Why the hate for SB? I listen for a half hour or so every morning for news, weather, and traffic. If I’m out during the day I might tune in for some talk. They have a solid operation that works great for me.