You folks wanted constructive criticism, so let's have a serious talk about the WSYR News Department.
First of all, what happened to everyone? Sure, it's normal for folks to leave a medium-market for larger markets. But it seems like nearly the entire newsroom staff has turned over in just the past year or less. Eric Reinhardt, Maria Leaf, Jason Smith, Caroline Tucker and probably a few other folks all disappeared right around the same time. Were they fired, or did something "behind the scenes" change, driving them all away? I know for a fact that Dave Bullard and Jules Thompson were fired, and everyone else seemed to follow very soon after. Chris Weidman -- who I had always figured would be a lifer -- is heard rarely anymore. I'm not trying to spread dirt, but I'm seriously asking... what's the deal? Is management at CC that oppressive to people these days? When you have a primary reporter/anchor leave Syracuse to do news updates between the pledge drives at WRVO in Oswego... I think it's safe to assume something's not right.
Next, let's talk about some of the replacements for these folks. I'm not saying the outgoing crew was perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed like it was at least somewhat stable, and well-staffed for awhile. These days, all I hear in the midday shift is Nia Carter anchoring, and either Tiffany Latino, Sara Carmichael or some new girl reporting. At night, it's Michelle Clark anchoring, and occasionally one the aforementioned reporters, obviously pre-recorded hours earlier.
Nia Carter middays: Not a horrible-sounding anchoring voice. But half the time, she seems to be missing her cues. I can't tell you how many times, especially in the past few days, I've heard the bottom-of-hour news sounder fire... the music bed rolls... and rolls... and no Nia. It's almost like a dream come true for anyone out there who collects news music, because on any given weekday afternoon, you've got a pretty decent shot of getting at least 15 seconds of music without any voice. If I had the time and the right kind of gear it would be tempting to produce my own parody newscasts, complete with the authentic open and music.
Michelle Clark at night: She sounds like she's 12 years old. Actually, she sounds a little better than when she first started anchoring, but she still sounds a little whiny.
Reporters: Can't really complain, other than the fact they rarely seem to contribute much anymore. Since WSYR started using Fox to fill the first 2 minutes of the local news window, the local side is shorter, and therefore, reporters are forced to do much shorter pieces. And since I only hear 3 reporters on-air, I would imagine those 3 are being stretched pretty thin these days.
Overall: I don't like the format changes that have come into place over the past year or so. I liked it better when the entire top-of-hour window was produced by WSYR.
Newsradio casts should always begin with local headlines instead of making listeners ait through 2 minutes of national stuff. Sure, they do the little pre-Fox tease of the top story, which is good... but I'd much rather just hear the ID and get right into the full story. Chances are, if there's a big national story happening, whatever talk show is currently on-air is going to talk about it right after the news anyway. Gotta remember, anyone can get national headlines anywhere. National headlines can also be busted down into a quick 30-second wrap if need be. But only a local station can provide local news, and that should be the #1 priority of WSYR, WIBX or any other news/talk station.
I also don't like how they lately seem to end the TOH news with "Recapping our top story this hour," with a one-sentence summary. The top-story recap might work on TV when the news is 90 minutes long, but it's just a waste of time when you're recapping a story I just heard 2 minutes ago. My attention span isn't THAT short. Besides, the recap is usually just a crappy sentence that doesn't even tell the story for anyone who missed it anyway. The time could be better spent on extra details of actual substance from another story.
Finally, the staffing issue. At night, Fox News isn't just the first 2 minutes of the TOH window, but it runs the next 1 or 2 minutes as well. That leaves local with just a 1-minute window to rattle off a bunch of stories -- including weather -- like an auctioneer. What happened to having the newsroom staffed and doing full newscasts 24/7? It's amazing when the 11pm TV newscasts lead off with breaking news like a fire or a fatal accident, but WSYR doesn't have it because their news was obviously pre-recorded hours earlier. You can also tell because the stories include references to "Saturday night" or "Sunday morning" instead of the more conversational (and current) "last night" or "this morning." Of course, they have to do that because some of these pre-recorded casts run before midnight, and the same ones repeat again after midnight. References to "today" don't work so well in that case. This is a major mistake on WSYR's part.
I see job postings for reporters and anchors posted at www.cybercuse.com but they've been there for months. (One of the announcements is so old, it still lists Bullard as the ND.) Why aren't people applying? Has word of the internal working conditions spread far enough to keep people away? Are people turning down job offers because of low pay?
Some folks have been saying it for years... radio has been shooting itself in the foot. There was a time when you could treat workers like slaves, with salaries to match. But it seems there's now a much smaller pool of people willing to get into radio. Time to improve the working conditions and the salaries or else there will be nobody left.
First of all, what happened to everyone? Sure, it's normal for folks to leave a medium-market for larger markets. But it seems like nearly the entire newsroom staff has turned over in just the past year or less. Eric Reinhardt, Maria Leaf, Jason Smith, Caroline Tucker and probably a few other folks all disappeared right around the same time. Were they fired, or did something "behind the scenes" change, driving them all away? I know for a fact that Dave Bullard and Jules Thompson were fired, and everyone else seemed to follow very soon after. Chris Weidman -- who I had always figured would be a lifer -- is heard rarely anymore. I'm not trying to spread dirt, but I'm seriously asking... what's the deal? Is management at CC that oppressive to people these days? When you have a primary reporter/anchor leave Syracuse to do news updates between the pledge drives at WRVO in Oswego... I think it's safe to assume something's not right.
Next, let's talk about some of the replacements for these folks. I'm not saying the outgoing crew was perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it seemed like it was at least somewhat stable, and well-staffed for awhile. These days, all I hear in the midday shift is Nia Carter anchoring, and either Tiffany Latino, Sara Carmichael or some new girl reporting. At night, it's Michelle Clark anchoring, and occasionally one the aforementioned reporters, obviously pre-recorded hours earlier.
Nia Carter middays: Not a horrible-sounding anchoring voice. But half the time, she seems to be missing her cues. I can't tell you how many times, especially in the past few days, I've heard the bottom-of-hour news sounder fire... the music bed rolls... and rolls... and no Nia. It's almost like a dream come true for anyone out there who collects news music, because on any given weekday afternoon, you've got a pretty decent shot of getting at least 15 seconds of music without any voice. If I had the time and the right kind of gear it would be tempting to produce my own parody newscasts, complete with the authentic open and music.
Michelle Clark at night: She sounds like she's 12 years old. Actually, she sounds a little better than when she first started anchoring, but she still sounds a little whiny.
Reporters: Can't really complain, other than the fact they rarely seem to contribute much anymore. Since WSYR started using Fox to fill the first 2 minutes of the local news window, the local side is shorter, and therefore, reporters are forced to do much shorter pieces. And since I only hear 3 reporters on-air, I would imagine those 3 are being stretched pretty thin these days.
Overall: I don't like the format changes that have come into place over the past year or so. I liked it better when the entire top-of-hour window was produced by WSYR.
Newsradio casts should always begin with local headlines instead of making listeners ait through 2 minutes of national stuff. Sure, they do the little pre-Fox tease of the top story, which is good... but I'd much rather just hear the ID and get right into the full story. Chances are, if there's a big national story happening, whatever talk show is currently on-air is going to talk about it right after the news anyway. Gotta remember, anyone can get national headlines anywhere. National headlines can also be busted down into a quick 30-second wrap if need be. But only a local station can provide local news, and that should be the #1 priority of WSYR, WIBX or any other news/talk station.
I also don't like how they lately seem to end the TOH news with "Recapping our top story this hour," with a one-sentence summary. The top-story recap might work on TV when the news is 90 minutes long, but it's just a waste of time when you're recapping a story I just heard 2 minutes ago. My attention span isn't THAT short. Besides, the recap is usually just a crappy sentence that doesn't even tell the story for anyone who missed it anyway. The time could be better spent on extra details of actual substance from another story.
Finally, the staffing issue. At night, Fox News isn't just the first 2 minutes of the TOH window, but it runs the next 1 or 2 minutes as well. That leaves local with just a 1-minute window to rattle off a bunch of stories -- including weather -- like an auctioneer. What happened to having the newsroom staffed and doing full newscasts 24/7? It's amazing when the 11pm TV newscasts lead off with breaking news like a fire or a fatal accident, but WSYR doesn't have it because their news was obviously pre-recorded hours earlier. You can also tell because the stories include references to "Saturday night" or "Sunday morning" instead of the more conversational (and current) "last night" or "this morning." Of course, they have to do that because some of these pre-recorded casts run before midnight, and the same ones repeat again after midnight. References to "today" don't work so well in that case. This is a major mistake on WSYR's part.
I see job postings for reporters and anchors posted at www.cybercuse.com but they've been there for months. (One of the announcements is so old, it still lists Bullard as the ND.) Why aren't people applying? Has word of the internal working conditions spread far enough to keep people away? Are people turning down job offers because of low pay?
Some folks have been saying it for years... radio has been shooting itself in the foot. There was a time when you could treat workers like slaves, with salaries to match. But it seems there's now a much smaller pool of people willing to get into radio. Time to improve the working conditions and the salaries or else there will be nobody left.
