With the demise last year of KFWB Los Angeles, it looks like WINS NYC is the only all-news station using a 20 minute cycle. They were both originally Westinghouse all-news stations so they shared a lot of formatics, along with KYW Philadelphia and WMAQ Chicago (which gave up all-news about 10-15 years ago).
All other all-news stations in the U.S. and Canada use the 30 minute cycle. But I think that doesn't make much sense. In this fast paced world, wouldn't you want to run your top stories every 20 minutes? If you have a reporter live on the scene of a breaking news story, wouldn't you want to go to him/her every 20 minutes? If someone gets in their car at 10 minutes or 40 minutes past the hour, they'll likely arrive at their destination before you hit the top stories again. And by the time you're at 20 or 50 minutes past the hour, you're likely reading some news stories that either are a bit dated or not really that important.
I guess there are some advantages to a 30 min. cycle. Many features (sports, business) only air every half-hour. If you do sports at :15 and :45, there really is only time for three top stories when you begin a new cycle at :40. And maybe you think that listeners have been conditioned through decades of radio to expect the top stories at the top and bottom of the hour.
Even though it's an original Group W station, even KYW runs in a 30 min. cycle. Like WINS, KYW is the only other all-news station to keep using the sound effect of a tele-type machine in the background. I think the tele-type sound is good because it tells the listener right away that this is an all-news station. (WCBS used to use a tele-type sound effect but gave it up about 20 years ago.) OK, I know that newsrooms don't have tele-type machines anymore, but most listeners don't know that.
Never the less, all the new all-news stations, the ones in Canada and KOMO Seattle, use the 30 min. cycle and no tele-type machine.
Gregg
[email protected]
All other all-news stations in the U.S. and Canada use the 30 minute cycle. But I think that doesn't make much sense. In this fast paced world, wouldn't you want to run your top stories every 20 minutes? If you have a reporter live on the scene of a breaking news story, wouldn't you want to go to him/her every 20 minutes? If someone gets in their car at 10 minutes or 40 minutes past the hour, they'll likely arrive at their destination before you hit the top stories again. And by the time you're at 20 or 50 minutes past the hour, you're likely reading some news stories that either are a bit dated or not really that important.
I guess there are some advantages to a 30 min. cycle. Many features (sports, business) only air every half-hour. If you do sports at :15 and :45, there really is only time for three top stories when you begin a new cycle at :40. And maybe you think that listeners have been conditioned through decades of radio to expect the top stories at the top and bottom of the hour.
Even though it's an original Group W station, even KYW runs in a 30 min. cycle. Like WINS, KYW is the only other all-news station to keep using the sound effect of a tele-type machine in the background. I think the tele-type sound is good because it tells the listener right away that this is an all-news station. (WCBS used to use a tele-type sound effect but gave it up about 20 years ago.) OK, I know that newsrooms don't have tele-type machines anymore, but most listeners don't know that.
Never the less, all the new all-news stations, the ones in Canada and KOMO Seattle, use the 30 min. cycle and no tele-type machine.
Gregg
[email protected]