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Where would you tune for huge breaking news information? (9/11 or storm type)

Other ways to get news now incl. what you and I are both on. Incl. via smartphones (and w/ reg. WRKO, etc.,
"there's an app for that"). Maybe fewer news reports especially local on air but people can get it online.
 
Norm Rosen said:
What people forget is that you can't even get a time check on WBZ during their weekend infomercials.
WTKK at least has weather and traffic every 15 minutes, and updated around the clock.
Does WRKO even have a local newscast at night ? I can only hear them on the internet along 495 at night, and they run ABC news on the hour with no local news
Click to expand...

I have to say that I have been tuning into WTKK a lot more since they changed their focus to News/Talk. The news around the clock on the hour and half hour with traffic & weather every 15 minutes is a great addition. Even if the newsroom isn't staffed by WTKK (except for Hank Morse IIRC), I can get local news around the clock with updated traffic reports.

IMHO, if anyone decides to challenge WBZ, our pseudo all news station, I think it may be Greater Media if the expanded news presence brings in more listeners. Plus they have the advantage of being on FM.
 
Here on the South Coast, the default choice would be WPRO-AM 630/99.7, unless you lived in the immediate Fall River/New Bedford area, in which case one might prefer 1480-WSAR.

Kinda sad that the economics of the business these days have left precious few places on the radio dial that one can turn to in times of "huge breaking news".

What a big difference from what I remember of the Blizzard of '78, when almost every station that mattered made some sort of attempt to cover the story, and, if they could, render assistance to those who needed it during the storm's aftermath.

Sadly....It's not 1978 anymore.
 
I'd have to give the edge to WBUR, mostly because like WBZ they have a warm body at the mix board 24/7/365 (WBZ *does* still have that, right?) but unlike WBZ, WBUR doesn't run any infomercials...so if news breaks, WBUR has more freedom (in theory) to cut in with local reporting.

The flip side is that outside of drive-time and early/mid-mornings on the weekends, WBUR is probably more likely to go to network feeds (NPR, BBC) for coverage of breaking news, whereas WBZ might be more likely to have a local person do it.

But really, it's kinda six to one, half dozen to the other.
 
In Boston, it would be TV not radio for huge breaking information especially storm coverage. The problem is that if you lose power, radio is the only way unless you have a battery TV, problem with that is that you need a lot of batteries. I lived in FL for 11 years and when a major storm (e.g. Hurricane) is forecast, the TV news stations all have radio partners which simulcast the TV newscasts. Something like that should be established in Boston. When TS Irene hit, we lost power for a week, and the radio stations in Boston were horrible with their storm coverage.
 
Obviously you don't want to drain a bunch of power but suppose you have a smartphone and the wifi is working. Some TV station site like Ch 7 stream their newscasts etc...but again web surfing etc drains power from your battery...though I guess you can go out to your car and recharge your phone battery etc

>>all have radio partners which simulcast the TV newscasts.
WTKK, NECN
WBZ, Ch 4 I would think etc
maybe RKO could link with 25 or whomever
 
mnw1890 said:
In Boston, it would be TV not radio for huge breaking information especially storm coverage. The problem is that if you lose power, radio is the only way unless you have a battery TV, problem with that is that you need a lot of batteries. I lived in FL for 11 years and when a major storm (e.g. Hurricane) is forecast, the TV news stations all have radio partners which simulcast the TV newscasts. Something like that should be established in Boston. When TS Irene hit, we lost power for a week, and the radio stations in Boston were horrible with their storm coverage.
Click to expand...

Did you live in the Boston metro and lose power for a week? To be fair, most didn't. If you lost power for a week, chances are you lived in the Springfield or Hartford metros like I do, and did. When big storms like that hit, all of the stations pulled in their resources and did an outstanding job covering the news and getting information out. You can bet the same thing would happen in Boston.
 
Pero transmiten en español... ;D *
----------------------------------
=-=*--"but they broadcast in Spanish..."

I was on WNSH doing fill ins for Doug Mascott's local music show, the blues show, and my own
all Kinks show. If I went there now I'd need a crash course in Spanish.

Call me "radio-mapache"...
(ha, a Costa Rican car rental company is called "mapache" and shows a raccoon driving
http://www.mapache.com/app/cms/www/index.php
 
WBUR if Sharon Brody (or NPR) covers it, if Bob 'Uh" Oakes then WGBH instead. WBZ otherwise (or for routine storm coverage).
 
I'm not saying they would, I'm just saying that he is suggesting they should cut it even though it makes no sense. Especially since they're paying him a certain salary--why get 3 hours out of him when they can get 4? Including pm drive...in the old days maybe people got home a bit quicker,
and they could put on Jerry Williams till 6 (2-6 p) then go to sports talk (which they did used to do...
Dick Lutsk etc.) I'm just saying they would have cut him to 3 hrs long ago if people tuned out/
if they couldn't get the ad dollars past 6 pm. We're talking "they should get rid of local hosts
and put on some syndicate host" suggestions, or "they should end him at 6 pm" suggestions.
Both really out of the question.

Similarly, they must find at least some value in Howie or else they would have let him go to
96.9 or wherever. (btw speaking of 96.9, the N. Andover rep who told Michael Graham to
go bleep himself was defeated in the primary, though his opposition to voter ID could have factored into it. He had to retire due to illness: The voters got sick of him.)
 
Getting back to the original question, "Where would you tune for huge breaking news information? (9/11 or storm type)
::)





raccoonradio said:
I'm not saying they would, I'm just saying that he is suggesting they should cut it even though it makes no sense. Especially since they're paying him a certain salary--why get 3 hours out of him when they can get 4? Including pm drive...in the old days maybe people got home a bit quicker,
and they could put on Jerry Williams till 6 (2-6 p) then go to sports talk (which they did used to do...
Dick Lutsk etc.) I'm just saying they would have cut him to 3 hrs long ago if people tuned out/
if they couldn't get the ad dollars past 6 pm. We're talking "they should get rid of local hosts
and put on some syndicate host" suggestions, or "they should end him at 6 pm" suggestions.
Both really out of the question.

Similarly, they must find at least some value in Howie or else they would have let him go to
96.9 or wherever. (btw speaking of 96.9, the N. Andover rep who told Michael Graham to
go bleep himself was defeated in the primary, though his opposition to voter ID could have factored into it. He had to retire due to illness: The voters got sick of him.)
Click to expand...
 
WBZ-AM is the only station you could go to in a major event. WBUR told us that Gabrielle Giffords had died back in January of 2011.

WBZ still has the Channel 4 newsroom to fall back on.

Sad commentary of the times but that is the way it is.
 
I don't think any station with a halfway decent signal in Boston has ever done news right

davalvideo said:
It would have to be WBZ, but like a previous poster, i recall with great fondness, the days of the old WEEI, Newsradio 59....
Click to expand...
 
davalvideo said:
It would have to be WBZ, but like a previous poster, i recall with great fondness, the days of the old WEEI, Newsradio 59....
Click to expand...

WEEI was good but was also hampered by not having a TV newsroom to fallback on.

In 2012 WBZ stands alone for local news because of the combined newsroom with Channel 4.
 
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