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The Wonderful World of Local News

D

DXDXDX

Saturday afternoon those driving along 436 in the area of Hiawassee were greeted by the sites of ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles and a curious folding barrier inside which was the body of a motorcyclist who was DRT (Dead Right There). Well, I know a few guys who ride regularly and I was hoping none of them was that body. Sunday morning I checked the websites of the so-called news leaders in Orlando radio...WDBO and 540. Nothing. NOT ONE WORD. Although I have a tremendous dislike for the newspaper, I checked their website. Guess what? There's the story!

So, lets pretend I'm being visited by AE's from both stations and the newspaper. Thru experience I've discovered both electronic as well as print advertising works well for me.

It doesn't take rocket science to determine where my advertising dollars are going!

Hello WDBO??? Hello 540??? Anybody home???????

I can just hear management from both stations blaming the listeners as well as the staff now! "We can't afford to have a weekend news staff!" Why not? "People get their news from the internet!" Why?
 
Why? Because management would rather throw LOCAL SERVICE into the dumpster to do things on the cheap. "Screw" the listener...if we can get it off the satelite then that's enough!
 
It seems on weekends now WDBO gets their local news from sister TV station WFTV-9. As for WFLF, that's cheap channel, they don't do local news. And on weekends your lucky there's a live body in the building.
 
I have been saying for years Orlando should have a full-time "Around the Clock" All News radio station, complete with heavy local news, weather, and traffic. All news radio on a national level is actually booming as PPM has been very kind to this particular radio format. It will take an investment to implement an all news undertaking; However, the pay-off can be tremendous for the station and advertisers while the listeners are constantly getting their news, weather, trafiic, sports and business news updates 24/7/365.
 
Management and ownership doesn't have the guts to do it. They'd rather rely on GARBAGE RADIO. For example 810 was going to be an oldies station? Right. Sure. 24 hours a day of the same voice. Really high class there WEUS! I'm totally impressed! Or the others...their idea of "broadcasting" is this ridiculous, stupid, left versus right BS so that all you need to do is listen for five minutes and you've heard the entire broadcast day!

A couple of months ago I heard a Vietnam Veteran...a B-52 pilot...chew up and spit out this Chico Perez character on 580 who wasted and still is wasting air time like a broken record on and on and on. Garbage radio at its finest!
 
DXDXDX said:
Management and ownership doesn't have the guts to do it. They'd rather rely on GARBAGE RADIO.
Click to expand...

You may have a very valid point; However, if you are correct in your assessment, that is very short-sighted thinking on the part of management and ownership. As I had stated, PPM has been very good to All News radio formats, so the ratings will be there once an All News format is implemented which in turn will result in the ability to justify higher rates and will also attract more national agency buys in addition to additional advertising on the local and regional level. And, whomever has the b---s to do it will own the local news radio market since no one else is even within the same metaphoric ball-park! WDBO is probably the closest radio news station in the market at this time.
 
'DBO doesn't have the guts to do it. They would rather run this ridiculous left vs. right crap all day and all night and like I've said before, just listen to the first guy of the day for five minutes and you've heard the entire broadcast day. I'd also be saying that if it was wall to wall liberal garbage.

Management and ownership always blame the listeners claiming the listeners would rather get their news on the internet or tv. Of course they do...so-called local broadcasting has abandoned the market.
 
There was an all-news station in Orlando in the '90s. WWNZ, 740, modeled on 940 WINZ in Miami. It failed miserably and ended up brokering time before taking over the sports format from 540, so 540 could go Rush.
 
smedge2006 said:
There was an all-news station in Orlando in the '90s. WWNZ, 740, modeled on 940 WINZ in Miami. It failed miserably and ended up brokering time before taking over the sports format from 540, so 540 could go Rush.
Click to expand...

I remember All News 740 Winz; However, the reason it failed is because WWNZ existed nearly 20-years ago in a diary market. Historically a diary market has not been very good to All News radio formats. Times have greatly changed since then. Orlando is now a PPM market, and as I had stated in my initial comment, PPM has been extremely good to All News radio. Also All News radio is one of the highest billing radio formats today unlike 20-years ago. Just take a look at WTOP Washington as a prmie example of a very successful and profitable All News radio outlet.
 
Enjoyed this thread and as a former reporter/anchor and News Director at 740 WWNZ News(1994-7)....I like to call it the best news station that no one listened to! our peak was in the mid '90s when we carried the OJ trial...and while we won a slew of AP and Florida Press Club awards during my era...sadly none of that ever translated to ratings....Marsha Taylor, the ND at WDBO, later told me she was sorry to see us vanish because we gave 'DBO more incentive to be better. we had great people, we were respected by those both in and out of the business. It was a wonderful time in my life...but the lack of ratings showed that Orlando would not support an all news station. Shame.

Peter King
 
Forget about live local *radio* news anywhere but the Top 10. Maybe even the Top 5.

Too expensive to do it right, at least in terms of dollars, and interns just don't have the experience needed to perform in critical situations.

I'm old school, and I believe it will take a major catastrophic event to once again prove that in terms of immediacy, radio news is still king. Plenty of vets out here in an emergency.
 
Will never happen in this market. Too expensive for too few ad dollars. You need credible sounding anchors (expensive), several reporters (expensive), producers and board ops, production value, and money to market it. It's more cost effective to flip a switch on a satellite (satellites dont require health insurance). The OP compared radio to newspaper, which is ironic - newspapers are dying too. The Sentinel just got smaller -again- to save money. Their resources are going to their websites. So what can WDBO give me that I cant get on The Sentinel website? Only if I'm in the car, can radio do something the Internet can't, and even that will probably change soon. And if you have a smartphone, even that is not an advantage for radio.

How many radio stations just run Tv audio when a hurricane comes through? That's what made me give up on radio news. Just flip to TV and split. We told our listeners then that we were second class when it came to news.
 
pkingnews said:
the lack of ratings showed that Orlando would not support an all news station. Shame.
Peter King
Click to expand...

If it's any consolation, the ratings also show that Orlando doesn't support all-sports radio either.
 
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