I recall reading a post somewhere on Radio-Info some time ago that seemed to suggest that "news segments" were being recorded at WEMP.
Down here in Philly, I think I've picked up on enough clues to show that the morning drive news segments on WEMP's sister station, IQ 106.9, with Hilarie Barsky are recorded and not live. Included in the evidence: time checks that are off. Not early as if the anchor is rounding up to the next minute, but late, as in the NYC based newscaster recorded the segment, but it was delayed in being played in Philly, thus the time checks were one or two minutes late.
In fairness, WEMP is not the originator of recorded news at an all-news station. Years ago, KYW in Philadelphia used to play back entire half hours in the middle of the overnight ... from 3:00 to 4:30 a.m., I think. These days, starting sometime late in the evening (10:30?), segments at KYW are pre-recorded. They are live for five minutes at the top and bottom of the hour, traffic reports on the 2s, and sometime sports. From :05-:29 and :35-:59, with those exceptions, they're recorded. Allows them to have only one anchor on duty instead of two rotating.
I can understand cutting back on costs late at night. Everyone knows 24/7 all news is very expensive to produce. But no one seems to have a good opinion of the way WEMP and its sister news and talk FMs are trying to do this. Just doesn't seem they're executing for what would be expected for full-market, major market stations.
Note: Another interesting option: News 92 in Houston is all news from 5 a.m. to midnight with the syndicated Jim Bohannon show in the overnights. A part of me actually likes this approach better than the recorded news option. Bohannon's show is a good overnight fit for a news station.
