Thirst for local information in Atlanta

[hail2theorange]

Ok, I got in my truck this morning for the standard commute. The President gave a talk last night about his vision for how he wants government to control every aspect of our lives (sorry for the editorial comment) and was curious as to what our area congressmen/senators had to think about it -- this is the one thing that WGST used to do well, whether with Tom Hughes or even more recently with Randy -- they would talk to the local congressmen and senators about recent happenings in Washington. So my choices are -- listen to NPR and hear the left leaning slant (or a 20 minute essay about home foreclosures and the evil BofA), listen to WSB and hear Jamie Dupree's 10 second take repeated every 15 minutes, or listen to Bill Bennett's show beat the same dead horse (they're even too right for me...). Or I could listen to one of the sports shows -- and blow off politics.

Maybe I'm missing something -- is there a station that still presents the local aspects of national events in Atlanta (that has a signal)?

 

[Knowsnews2]

WSB had comments on from Saxby Chambliss, David Scott and Tom Price. Plus Jamie and Dr. Bruce Feinberg, head of Georgia Cancer Specialists, to get the perspective of a physician.

 

[hail2theorange]

WSB had comments on from Saxby Chambliss, David Scott and Tom Price. Plus Jamie and Dr. Bruce Feinberg, head of Georgia Cancer Specialists, to get the perspective of a physician.

Interesting.. and I guess I must have missed the tease. I've gotten to the point that I listen to WSB at home from 6:00-6:30, and it has generally seemed like all subsequent half-hour segments are just repeats, so I don't listen to them on the way to work. I just really dislike the general format of WSB's morning news show -- I guess I'm in the minority, based on ratings, but really get fed up with the amount of time wasted telling us what's coming up and who's reading the news (not to mention those aching toes).

 

[radioman1964]

WSB's Pete Combs also had reaction from a Marietta man and his wife who own a small business and will be effected by any changes to healthcare.

 

[noozflash]

Maybe what "hail" was referring to was longer-form local reaction. WSB does very well with local reaction to national stories, but because of the constraints of their news wheel, it obviously has to be very short. Back in the day, Tom Hughes was good at localizing national stories in a longer-form magazine format the morning after a big development. That approach is now missing on Atlanta radio with CC having gone to a syndicated morning show.

 

[hail2theorange]

Thanks nooz for stating more clearly what I was looking for...

 

[RoddyFreeman]

One exception to this is "Atlanta's Morning News - Sunday Edition" on WSB. It's prerecorded, but Scott Slade does some long interviews with newsmakers. It's on Sunday mornings from 8 to 9.

 

[trusty]

WSB does very well with local reaction to national stories, but because of the constraints of their news wheel, it obviously has to be very short.

NewsTalk750WSB has constraints on NewsTalk750WSB's news wheel because of NewsTalk750WSB's constant promoting of NewsTalk750WSB and having to say "NewsTalk750WSB" at least every 10 seconds so the people who have their dials set to NewsTalk750WSB will know they are actually listening to NewsTalk750WSB, a service provided by NewsTalk750WSB, and only NewsTalk750WSB, which they do very well.

 

[fortt3]

I agree. Well said.

 

[Knowsnews2]

Tom Hughes did long form interviews on WGST because he didn't have to worry about spots. How long should a commercial radio station play an interview? 3 minutes? 5? 20? They do need to make money as well as inform, you know. WSB does their long form segments at the quarter hours. So, the morning after the health care speech, they had Jamie Dupree on twice, for about 3 minutes each time, the head of a local surgical group on for about 3 minutes, Saxby for 3 minutes....let's see....that's 4 segments out of 5 between 6 and 830. Maybe if WSB's rating plummeted like GST and they didn't have any advertisers, they'd be able to do longer segments.

 

[hail2theorange]

Or maybe they could use the time more effectively if they didn't have to say the time twice every time (7:10am that's 10 minutes after 7) or the reporting person didn't have to identify themselves and the station at the end of every paragraph read. I really don't want to get into an argument with the employees of WSB -- I just happen to be among the few that enjoyed the Tom Hughes formula better than whoever is masterminding the Scott Slade formula.

I'm obviously in the minority, but I'm also of the belief that a city the size of Atlanta should be able to support more than one locally-oriented news/information station. As someone that does not want to listen to music during the daily commute, I'm painfully aware of the weak choices out there and I don't understand why some station owner doesn't recognize the void. If I was a music listener, I would be listening to my ipod or satellite radio, not broadcast radio -- there is no substitute or alternative for local news and information, but there are plenty of alternatives for the music stations.

 

[Knowsnews2]

You mean the Tom Hughes formula that pulled a whopping 1.4 share consistently?

 

[hail2theorange]

You mean the Tom Hughes formula that pulled a whopping 1.4 share consistently?

I understand you feel an obligation to continuously defend your employer, but if you actually read my post, you would see that I admitted that I was obviously in the minority -- I have absolutely no vested interest in the wheelings/dealings of radio - I am just a listener that is frustrated at what this city appears to be lacking.