There are only several anchors who remain listenable. Lynda Lopez, Kevin Rincon, Lori Madden, Budd Mishkin, Monique Coppola on the overnight is great. It's pretty much drive time that's the problem. Middays, evenings and the weekends are fine.
Now in the morning, Susan Richard is quite capable of being a very competent news anchor. But after 6 mins of hard news they go off the deep end. I am surprised she is doing this and suspect she is not thrilled. Scott Stanford does not belong there at ALL. The other day he made some reference to what people pick out of their nose, and then went into a story of someone who had something up his nose for years. This was supposed to be funny, or a medical story or I don't know what, but it just wasted my time.
I am reminded of all the kudos that Lee Harris received for his sterling coverage on 9/11. Anyone think, God forbid, something like that happened again, Scott Stanford would be able to handle it??
And in afternoon drive. I'm sorry, but friend Larry Mullins sounds like a court jester. He seems to feel that every story has to have some wisecrack in front of it, or during it, or after it, and that nothing can be read, simply as it was meant to be written and delivered.
Lori Madden, on the other hand, is a major pro and always has been. For some reason she doesn't feel the need to sound like a clown on the air, and I doubt she would ever allow herself to do so.
What I don't understand is, first, we were told that the station does not appeal to younger demos. Then we're told that trying to make things more lighthearted is aimed at attracting younger demos. But then we are told that younger demos are getting their news somewhere else, like cell phones. So why is the station allowing itself to destroy its once venerable reputation with garbage? In the quest for an unattainable demo?
What we hear on the air there during drive time is an insult to the high level quality we heard on WCBS 880.
Once again, I must wonder why other stations in the group like KNX, WBBM and KYW, all major market all-news stations, have nothing but regular anchors doing regular news. No clown shows. Aren't they looking for younger demographics in those markets too? Apparently not. Apparently, they realized that lowering the standards and quality of the air product, in an effort to go after an elusive demographic, is just not worth ruining the stations' reputations.
Why is New York being allowed to do this? It leads me to wonder about the management. And from my previous experience there, this management is sorely lacking.
There's literally no decent all news station to listen to during drive time in New York. I flipped over to WOR, not bad, to WABC, OK, and a lot of the time I listen to CNN audio and I just lament the loss of 880.
Perhaps, when the first book comes out for 1010WINS that is exclusively all WINS, minus the WCBS competition, and with these ridiculous adjustments to the drive time format, they will realize it's not working, and they will go back to a more serious posture.
In the meantime, New York has become a barren market for anything that resembles a serious all new station during morning and afternoon drive.
