Can anybody explain to me what's going on there? For the last two or three weeks, just before the top of the hour just a musical sounder that just plays same notes over and over [like hold music from hell] before the hit the top of the hour and come on with network news. I'm not sure if it's happening during daytime but when I can pick them up in the overnight hours, it's there.
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WCBS top of the hour
- Thread starter Yabadabado1
- Start date
It’s the CBS News sounder:
Maybe the automation is getting stuck, or the newscast file is corrupted.
The CBS News Sounder linked above is *after* the top of the hour;
the original post inquired about a music bed that plays *before* the top of the hour.
Plus, since they are running "WCBS 880 Late Night" edition, there might not be anyone on "live"
to read the headlines over that music bed (which I believe happens during the day).
the original post inquired about a music bed that plays *before* the top of the hour.
Plus, since they are running "WCBS 880 Late Night" edition, there might not be anyone on "live"
to read the headlines over that music bed (which I believe happens during the day).
More erosion of the programming and apathy by the owners for quality of the product,
Overnights have been automated for quite a while now and they have always had the announcer reading what they're covering after the top of the hour news. Usually leads right up to "it's 12 midnight" [or whatever time it is] then onto the national news break and now, as said, they're playing that annoying "hold" music for 2-3 minutes. It's not like they couldn't sell ad space to cover up that last bit before the top of the hour. Who knows, may be some affiliate related issue.
What's being discussed has nothing to do with programming or quality of the product. It's simply a production bed.
There's not much interest in ad time at that hour of the night.
Or, more evidence that, because radio revenue as an industry, is off over two-thirds since 2002 (inflation adjusted), stations can't afford to do the labor intense things they once did.
If you don't want an audience to listen, just give them more and more reasons not to. It works!
Especially after midnight when listening is WAY down from 20 years ago.
As if they'll find better overnight staffing at Spotify or Pandora? Really? You're just looking for things to complain about.
There's that problem also. Now there are no overnight guys anymore, for the most part. It was my job doing overnights [before computerization] to make sure that all carts/commercials/music were set and ready to go for the whole morning shift and the first hour of the mid-day shift that followed. And, most importantly, make sure the coffee was made before they walked in the door. If I forgot some of the carts and stuff, OK, but coffee......heads would roll!
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What do you mean? WINS has "overnight guys," don't they? Aren't they in the same building? If there's a need for overnight staff, they're right there.
I'm not sure how this matters. The point is there are staff people in the building at all times. They may be production people, engineering people, sports people from WFAN, or editorial people from WINS. If staff is needed, they're there. The use of 30-year old technologies for talent to pre-record their shifts is an accepted process that is approved by the union and anyone else. I'm sure some stations may have overnight DJs, although how would we know and what difference would it make?
Isn't Dave Stewart still holding down overnights live on CBS-FM?
I'm talking more about music oriented stations, I would expect news stations to have someone on overnights in case something major happened.
I dont believe hes live most of the time
WCBS 880 no longer has someone there overnights. They are running pre-recorded segments consisting mostly of people who were interviewed about random topics earlier in the day/week/month? That's probably why those reported filler music segments run before the top of the hour, to kill time where they didn't have interviews available in lengths to time out properly.
I don't know what happens if major news breaks overnight. I used to turn this station on every night as part of my getting ready for bed routine, but it's unlistenable at that hour now.
The long-held conventional wisdom was that radio should not do things that would cause someone to tune out at night because that means they would not be tuned into the morning show when they turned the radio back on the following day. I guess today's programmers have forgotten about the basics though, or they just don't care anymore
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