WIBC

[RDO]

You can now hear the work of the new PD. Fox News at the top of the hour. New intro and ID. New wx and traffic beds.

 

[flip23]

Sounds like the underlying melody may be the same as the WIBC jingles from the 60s-70s-80s.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I like the news tease that airs before Fox News...has a professional ring to it.

 

[flip23]

It's been somewhat hit and miss though as far as them talking up the net.

 

[mobilene]

Oh lord, Fox News. Not a fan of their radio product. Not sure what the advantage is of running it anyway -- WIBC always did fine having the local anchor read the story with actualities from the network.

 

[flip23]

A smaller news department has less time. Leaving national stories to the net frees up the people to concentrate on local. It does however push local news to the back of the cast.

 

[RDO]

Why do they promote their traffic reports so much?

 

[flip23]

Traffic is an image thing. Much of the time when they report a wreck is at 10th and whatever, it's actually gone or out of the way. I've witnessed that on many occasions, unless they're now predicting upcoming crashes. Major crashes and interstate situations usually are accurate, although they often seem to fail to talk about the one you're in. Traffic is also another feature to sell.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I am a fan of FOX News Radio, mostly because ABC News Radio has gotten worse and worse since ABC divested its radio assets to Citadel. These days, the Information Network cast has two minutes of news and two minutes of "Tree Stuck in Cat", and the Entertainment network 'cast has five stories in two minutes: 3 top headlines, a 35 second feature, and usually a sports or pop culture story. Almost no stories from correspondents.

FOX News Radio still offers a real four minute newscast with its own (not shared with TV) correspondents in New York, Washington, Chicago, LA and London.

The only other respectable option for national radio news is CBS.

 

[WBDG]

WIBC used to be much more of a must-listen for me. Now, I only listen if something is going on. As I said on another thread, I think the station is in need of a complete overhaul. I'd keep Steve Simpson and move him back to the afternoons. I liked Terri Stacy doing more than just traffic. They have to be able to pair her with someone better in the morning. If that doesn't work, give Abdul that slot and make it local politics. Abdul and I don't always agree on almost anything, but he would cover local issues...which is more than I can say for Garrison.

Garrison needs a reboot. His show hasn't changed in years. Same guests all the time. He might as well be a nationally-syndicated show because other than the fact he may talk to the Mayor or local Congressional Reps/Senators, he's usually focusing on some Breitbart story or whatever. Usually, it's a national focus. They've got Rush for that. Dana's just hard to listen to for me. I would rather see an expanded p.m. drive show with a local show after. Denny Smith's show was excellent.

I like some of the weekend programming on WIBC. Kim Komando's show is excellent. I like Kudlow (again, don't agree but he's very accessible), the home & garden show is a lot of fun, First Day is good, Pete the Planner is good. I just think they need to evaluate what they want to do. It seems like after Steve Simpson is done and until afternoon drive, everything is just so negative.

 

[flip23]

The station used to have a certain spirit or "soul" about it, a cohesiveness throughout the day and night. Now it's individuals who do what they do but don't seem to relate to any of the other people on the station. Of course the out of town hosts can't, but even the imaging pieces don't ring true. Hearing one "listener" talk about going to the beach makes it very obvious to even a casual listener that that person is not a real WIBC listener. Indiana is not a "beach" state. Just about the only time that "spirit" feel comes though now is when they run Terri Stacey and Jeff Pidgeon teaming up on painting spots. Dana Lash is ok, ok for St. Louis, with lots of St Louis politics and location references. They do now run a disclaimer about Garrison being a rerun at night, but they don't ever seem to do anything to indicate the Dana show is from hours earlier. Their "24 hour news center" line applies if you consider the network as the 24 news source. There are times now at night or on the weekend a major local story will be missed until the next day. Like Dana, the "chicks on the right" seem to be a blatant attempt to draw in a younger, more female audience. It doesn't sound like it really works to that end. The other weekend the "chicks on the right" spent 15 minutes promoting some event at which they were appearing, an event that 99% of the audience didn't care about. Dana does on-air call in contests for tickets to events in St Louis. Garrison beats the same dead horse on a regular basis. Other talkers do the same though. Even those who agree with them have to get tired of hearing how bad things are in DC. Most of the country feels that way, but after a while, when talk does do no good to fix things, it makes for a boring topic. Despite all that, I'm sure they are trying to do a good job with what's probably a too small budget.

 

[Drucifer]

I wish Garrison would stop talking through his nose and sniffling all the time. It's gross. His show is redundant and boring. Bash Obama, talk about the latest from the Breitbart Report and then bring on some guest to drop a few lines between his nasal-induced rants and nonsense. Tuning OUT!

 

[skippertthomas]

The GHOST OF FREEEED HICKKKKMAAAAN! Boo!

 

[flip23]

Fred Heckman walked out of WIBC in '93 because the station's management didn't meet his standards. The station's current owners brought him back the next year.