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WSJS transfer is beginning!

WSJS News did a hour-long news magazine as late as the 90's, from 5 to 6. It was fairly successful, and sold well. If I'm not mistaken, it was dropped because the afternoon ego thought it interfered with his show.

I think it COULD be successful, if there was enough staff to do it, and a sufficient amount of marketing. The problem with doing such a program, is usually there is NO staff added, so it dilutes the strength of the news product throughout the day. You end up with less news gathering, less new material and more reliance on wire stories. Part of WSJS's longevity (despite attempts to sink it, through design or ignorance!) has to do with the fact that it has always had consistently good, local news. Messing with that is a tradeoff that I wouldn't take.

Also, you have to let new audience know such a show is there. Sure, you'll get some recycling, but it takes tv, billboard and print to get some new sampling that'll stay.

Some of you Raleigh-ites weigh in, has WPTF seen staff growth or marketing? Do you see CMG doing that here?
 
The so called news hour of the late 90s was not really a news hour. The news department did ten minutes at the top of the hour and a couple at the bottom. There were a handfull of traffic reports, a Wall Street Journal report and some ferature fillins. Problem was it was billed as a talk show, and the so-called ego had to fill about 25 minutes of time between all the elements. Was not enough time to develop talk topics and not enough flow and continuity to be a real news hour. It was really about the same as the current 6-7PM hour on the station.

ZTK tried a news hour from 5-6PM for it's first year or so on the air. That didn't work either - although their local news product was not as good as WSJS.

Can it work, maybe. It would, as allnews suggests, take more resources than anyone has devoted to it in this market. Things like - an anchor to give the hour continuity. I always thought you could do longer versions of the stories the station had been covering all day - but it takes time to put that more in depth report together.

As allnews says, that takes time away from the normal routine of news gathering and management actually wants to cut expenses rather than add to them (even though it might develop a more salable product).

It would seem that combining the news operations of WSJS and WPTF with WZTK in the middle would give them new resources for such a product. I do believe each station needs to retain its own identity, and would not favor the "SJS News" network approach. There certainly can be sharing of stories and audio. It should not be an excuse to reduce the resources.
 
I'm not saying reduce them, but combine them under the SJS name. Sure you might have to do a little trimming, but as you say, if they put the effort that something like this deserves into it, it should pay off.

Again, though, the question is would they?
 
ZTK has not taken advantage of the synergy with the WPTF news operation, so one might suspect they will not in this case either.

I think the SJS news thing is wrong. Each station should really have it's own, clear identity. Sure, share resources, stories, even voices, but I feel they should keep the call letters and other identification unique, IMHO.
 
I'd tend to agree with XTalker on these points.

WZTK has never really done much news gathering (ex: no local tape), and they haven't even taken advantage of the news gathering abilities of WPTF.

THE "SJS" name is just lame and it detracts from both WSJS and WMFR. You could have simulcast WSJS news on WMFR, kept the content transparent (call letter free), and done the branding with sounders in and out of the newscasts. Or you could have used another name alltgether, Triad News Network or Piedmont News or something like that.
 
WZTK is designed more as a TALK station than a News station.
The local hosts TALK about news worthy events rather than in formal in-depth
local newscasts.
 
WSJS and WZTK need to retain their separate indentities - even to the point that ZTK should continue to dig at the AM with the Little Rush Update and all the promo digs at AM. SJS should continue to ignore ZTK as it has done since the beginning.

I would make any synergy as transparent as possible.

Good competition can make both stations better.
 
True... I've just never thought of that. I'm a big advocate of competition between different companies, but in all the time I've been a radio geek, I've never thought of improving co-owned stations by having them compete with each other.

Sounds good to me!
 
I heard through the grapevine that they let someone go in the business office last week and there's some feeling that none of them may be needed.

Do you need two GM's in a market this size? Especially when one's ratings have dipped and another's have spiked?
 
My understanding is that the business office person was a relative new hire, and either already had a job and resigned (knowing the ax was going to fall) or found a job very quickly after the move.

I suspect there will be others, higher on the ladder, in that department that will make a career change in the not to distant future. You have to remember that in any ownership change, there are two people who are safe for the short term - and often have deals to help keep things together - the GM and the Business Manager.
 
Word is transfer happens Wednesday. And that WZTK will relocate to WS.
 
allnews said:
Word is transfer happens Wednesday. And that WZTK will relocate to WS.
Click to expand...
Well, that's just crazy. What will WIFM do to their signal there? I personally have more trouble with WIFM in Winston-Salem than WZTK, but then WBRF almosts blocks out WIST at times on my radio.
 
Hey, V, moving the studio will have no impact on the signal!

Transfer is taking place on Valentines day. Two SJS staffers are not being retaind - business manager (Wanda) and promotions director (Marty). Marty is a good guy if anyone needs someone to be an APD or promotions director.
 
XTalker said:
Hey, V, moving the studio will have no impact on the signal!

Transfer is taking place on Valentines day. Two SJS staffers are not being retaind - business manager (Wanda) and promotions director (Marty). Marty is a good guy if anyone needs someone to be an APD or promotions director.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it's a little weird to have a studio where a lot of people can't even pick up the signal. I remember this happened to 93.5 Asylum, an active rock station in Myrtle Beach.
 
The ZTK signal is pretty good in Winston-Salem - there are a few spots where they come and go, but in general, the signal is ok.

Frankly, listeners could care less where the studio is. ZTK does a good job of "being where the listener is". Few people know where they are currently located, and there is little clue given on the air! That's the way it should be, and honestly, a bit of a problem with WSJS!
 
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