WCBS top of the hour

[luperm]

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? 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.

WCBS management would likely be just as happy if you tuned to WINS.
Plus, if there was some sort of breaking local news story, isn't it possible that WCBS could get someone live on air in relatively short order?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

WCBS management would likely be just as happy if you tuned to WINS.
Plus, if there was some sort of breaking local news story, isn't it possible that WCBS could get someone live on air in relatively short order?

Even in the case of late night breaking news or weather, even if im not in the building.. 10 mins max to get it on air.

If i am in the building overnight, sleeping upstairs, ill have something on air in 2 to 3 minutes..

and both of these situations have come into play in 3 years here

Point is, if i can and do do it, id bet WINS/WCBS can, do and have.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

WCBS management would likely be just as happy if you tuned to WINS.

When critics of consolidation say it reduces competition and lowers the quality of products, this is exactly the sort of thing they're talking about.

 

[Weiserguy]

WCBS management would likely be just as happy if you tuned to WINS.
Plus, if there was some sort of breaking local news story, isn't it possible that WCBS could get someone live on air in relatively short order?

Is there anybody working overnight to prepare copy for WCBS's AM Drive shift? If there were to be a sudden crisis in the middle of the night, wouldn't you think there'd be a plan to initially simulcast WINS or the network over 880 until the overnight writer/editor could get on air, or if not, a designated on-call person could get into Hudson St. to go live?

This scenario played out here in the Bay Area about 8 years ago. There was a Sunday morning, 2:30 AM-ish 6.0 earthquake in the community of Napa (about 35 miles north of San Francisco), and it was felt everywhere in the Bay and Sacramento regions. Of the three San Francisco news/information stations, both KGO and KQED were on autopilot, and KCBS was running a canned week-in-review program from the network. It took the on-duty anchor about 15 minutes to pull together information, break in and start reporting events. No live body got into KQED until after 4 AM, and KGO was completely MIA. In previous years, all three stations would be staffed overnight for just such a contingency, and they would have considered it worth the money to avoid reputational and competitive damage. But we're living in different times, ain't we?

New York just experienced a minor quake a few days ago, right? Should there be a bigger one in the wee hours of some future night, probably don't waste your time punching up 880.

 

[TheBigA]

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 same company owns WINS. Just tune over there. They're in the same building. Their new union contract allows them to be heard on either station. It's not the big problem you think it is. It's not the 1970s where Westinghouse still owns WINS.

When critics of consolidation say it reduces competition and lowers the quality of products, this is exactly the sort of thing they're talking about.

Except the consolidation of these two stations happened 25 years ago. So what's happening now has absolutely nothing to do with consolidation. You can't keep blaming the same thing over and over when it's not related. For 25 years these stations competed against each other as though they were still owned by different companies. At some point, it's no longer relevant.

 

[davideduardo]

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!

With my first station, after a couple of incidents where the transmitter would not turn on at 6 AM, I decided to go 24/7. I could do maintenance every two to four weeks on the transmitter and other failures were so uncommon that it was better than losing a couple of hours of the breakfast shift.

Overnighters were employed based on not going to sleep, not drinking on the job and knowing not to talk a lot. Interestingly, we deviated from our Top 40 format after midnight and did 6 hours of cumbia, the equivalent of country. It got so much commentary that within 18 months I bought a bankrupt station and did that format 24/7. So overnights gave the discovery of a whole new format!

 

[TheBigA]

I'm talking more about music oriented stations, I would expect news stations to have someone on overnights in case something major happened.

I addressed that in post #15. It doesn't matter. Just because we work in an industry that's 100 years old doesn't mean we have to operate like its 1924.

 

[davideduardo]

I addressed that in post #15. It doesn't matter. Just because we work in an industry that's 100 years old doesn't mean we have to operate like its 1924.

I'm reminded of when TV stations that covered spot news would film an accident or event in the afternon, then take the film to the station in a vehicle. It would then be developed and edited and, maybe, ready for the 11 PM newscast.

Overall, it took a dozen or so people to get that on-site report to the air. Today, it takes just three: reporter, cameraperson, editor. And the report can air live or in the next newscast or bulletin.

 

[TheBigA]

Today, it takes just three: reporter, cameraperson, editor. And the report can air live or in the next newscast or bulletin.

Depends on the market size and the union rules. In some places, you have videojournalists who set up the camera, become the talent, then edit the story for air. That's how ALL of the online reporters work. They shoot & edit their own video.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

Depends on the market size and the union rules. In some places, you have videojournalists who set up the camera, become the talent, then edit the story for air. That's how ALL of the online reporters work. They shoot & edit their own video.

Yep, they are called "multimedia journalists" in the TV world. They do 3 jobs in one, and make less money than one job used to pay (inflation adjusted) in the "good old days."

 

[Yabadabado1]

Overall, it took a dozen or so people to get that on-site report to the air. Today, it takes just three: reporter, cameraperson, editor. And the report can air live or in the next newscast or bulletin.

Not any more. I know some friends that are/were reporters at small/medium market TV stations and they had to drive to the scene, set up the camera, record the segment, take it back to the station, edit it themselves and then turn it over to whomever was running the news that day for broadcast. ONE guy did it all. The best was when he sent me what would basically be a blooper reel today of his camera falling over, people walking up to him and ask "Whatcha doin'?" so he had to start over, flubbing his line, lots of swearing, forgetting to white balance his camera and lots of other mishaps that probably would have made me quit on the spot. And, what was even more disconcerting, ran the spot and threw it back to himself in the studio when the regular anchor called off and they had no one to replace him......plus he had to do sports and weather also. I probably would have been trying to get out of there as fast as possible.

 

[davideduardo]

Depends on the market size and the union rules. In some places, you have videojournalists who set up the camera, become the talent, then edit the story for air. That's how ALL of the online reporters work. They shoot & edit their own video.

Here in Palm Springs, a sub-100 market, both major operators that do local news (Entravisioin and Times-Gazette) use a driver/cameraperson plus editors back at the station. Only if a reporter has time to get back to the studios, can they assist in editing if there is no other assignment. Some also do the writing of the item for the anchors to read.

 

[xkxrx]

Yep, they are called "multimedia journalists" in the TV world. They do 3 jobs in one, and make less money than one job used to pay (inflation adjusted) in the "good old days."

The original term was "one man band," of course today that would be "one person band."

 

[Yabadabado1]

Wanting to check and see if this was a company-wide issue, I tuned into all-news WBBM out of Chicago and instead here an old-timey radio program. I gather that this is something they still do as "When Radio Was" feature so I'll try a little later on around 2 or 3 AM and see if it happens there.

 

[Gregg.]

Who is live overnight in New York radio?

--WINS-AM-FM All-News - Anchors are live 24/7.
--WFAN-AM-FM Sports - Sports shows are live around the clock except for a few weekend hours.
--WLTW AC - Victor Sosa is live, last time I checked.
--WCBS-FM Classic Hits - Dave Stewart is live, if he's not filling in on another shift someplace else.
--WABC Talk - Frank Marino is live overnight M-F. And I think even on weekends, there are live shows overnight.

WCBS has some live hours overnight, or at least that was the case last time I checked. Levon Putney anchors from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., the first few hours live, then a mix of prerecorded and some live segments. So I assume he's in the building until the morning crew arrives to start writing their news.

 

[Kelly A]

As has been mentioned on this board many times; nights, overnights, and weekends represent no unique revenue. For decades, diminishing advertisers have been interested in reaching a radio audience during those times. All those times/days are just filler for AM/PM drive times. So, why would a music station pay live jocks when there's no revenue to support those costs? 99.9% of listeners don't know anything about voicetracking, so the whole 'live jocks on overnights' means only needless costs for no benefit. Sure, you can come back and say; what about an emergency? Broadcasters aren't obligated to lose money on the chance something might happen after business hours. EAS is supposed to solve that issue, but more often than not, local emergency services forget-how, or are too busy to activate EAS.

 

[Larry]

Wanting to check and see if this was a company-wide issue, I tuned into all-news WBBM out of Chicago and instead here an old-timey radio program. I gather that this is something they still do as "When Radio Was" feature so I'll try a little later on around 2 or 3 AM and see if it happens there.

Happens in Philly with KYW occasionally. I believe they are running a prerecorded hour of news (with live traffic updates) from 2 AM to 5 AM.

 

[luperm]

I‘m pretty sure Dave Stewart is tracked overnight on CBS-FM.

 

[Loverofradio]

Overall, it took a dozen or so people to get that on-site report to the air. Today, it takes just three: reporter, cameraperson, editor. And the report can air live or in the next newscast or bulletin.

In today’s tv, one person is responsible for those three duties. I’m not sure if it’s like that in top 10 markets. I’ve covered college football playoff games serving as all three 🤣🤣

 

[Always interested]

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

The fact that the same Traffic anchor is doing reports On Both 880 WCBS and 1010 WINS After 7:00P.M. Should tell you everything you need to know right there. WCBS is no longer a Major News Radio Station in The New York Metropolitan area. They are a Dump Only in existence now to play commercials