Melissa Block to Leave ATC

http://wowway.net/news/read/categor...block_to_step_down_from_npr_all_things_con-ap

I doubt this will impact what IMO is a very poor broadcast one way or the other. It's at least an opportunity for improvement.

You don't like ATC? Really?

I think Morning Edition is the trainwreck, and ATC is a far superior broadcast. And it got better when Michelle Norris was swapped out for Audie Cornish. I think Melissa Block is okay, but not great. I'm not sure its going to be a huge loss to the program.

Note that for many years, with three anchors assigned to the program, it would occasionally be solo hosted when only one anchor was available. It was very rare to hear a different NPR voice work as a "fill-in" on ATC. The last few months, however, there have been quite a few different voices on the program (including Weekend Edition's Rachel Martin). I wonder how long they've known Melissa was leaving.

There's little if anything I like on NPR, but yes, I think ATC is pretty lukewarm, even for them.

Here's the thing to understand about ATC: It's not built around the host. The host is the continuity. The show is a community project, and the host (whoever it is that day) gets you from one story to the next. But that's about it. Morning Edition is more of a host show, but even then, the producer determines the content, not the host. As opposed to commercial talk shows that are all built around the single host, and he controls most of the content and the direction of the show. NPR doesn't really have an in-house show like that. So having Melissa leave the show isn't a big deal, and most listeners won't even notice a difference.

I agree, a host that is marginal, at best, leaving a show that at it's very best is marginal on a network that rarely even reaches marginal quality will hardly cause a stir. It's just something that occured in radio so I posted it.

NPR makes a practice of sending its high profile anchors and hosts out to "meet and greets" at local affiliate stations around the country. Over the 17 years I worked at the Houston affiliate, KUHF Houston Public Media, we had periodic visits like that from Bob Edwards, Steve Inskeep, Rene Montagne and Melissa Block.

They were the guest of honor and guest speaker for a big luncheon with the station staff and donors and everybody had a good time posing for photos with them. I can tell you that Rene and Melissa are genuinely nice people, approachable, very friendly and unpretentious. The other two, well....they were polite.

umfan said:

I agree, a host that is marginal, at best, leaving a show that at it's very best is marginal on a network that rarely even reaches marginal quality will hardly cause a stir. It's just something that occured in radio so I posted it.

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Thanks again, Captain Cheapshot...

http://wowway.net/news/read/categor...hange_lineup_of_anchors_for_all_things_con-ap

The changes planned for ATC are further defined in the linked article.

Seems to me that Martin had been WATC host before. No surprise that they're basing one host in LA. They've been wanting to broaden the focus beyond the beltway for a long time.

A couple of thoughts regarding the posts above this one...

TheBigA - I don't know what you mean by "ATC is a community project." Yeah, the host is there to get you from story to story, but I view them as anchors, just like on any other news program. There are correspondents filing stories, interviews conducted by the anchors, etc. Your phrasing makes it seem like the reporters are out covering what they want, and if they submit it, it will get on the air.

Of course the ATC anchors aren't executive producers or managing editors with final say for the show makeup. But I'm sure they attend editorial meetings and voice their opinions regarding where the show needs to go, that evening. I tend to think ATC sounds much more "put together" than Morning Edition, which is why I prefer it.

I noted above that ATC has had lots of odd voices filling in this summer. This is very rare for ATC, usually one of the trio will just solo host. Obviously this has been a trial for potential new hosts. Kelly McEvers (who sounds very good as a host) has been on this week with Robert Shapiro.

This then begs the question of why NPR needs so many hosts for their programs. They have 3 for Morning Edition, one each for Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday, and another for ATC Weekend. The weekend hosts are rarely heard during the week - are they getting a full time salary for one broadcast a week? Meanwhile, with three hosts for ATC, they were on air seemingly randomly. No patterns or rhyme or reason to the days they are on air. How is the division of labor going to work with four hosts?

Finally, in regards to Michel Martin taking over weekend ATC, well, the life expectancy of hosts on that program is very short. Usually less than two years. Don't know why it can't keep someone in that spot. Arun Rath seemingly just took over the position, and a quick google does not reveal what is going to happen to him.

KMan said:

A couple of thoughts regarding the posts above this one...

TheBigA - I don't know what you mean by "ATC is a community project."

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A group of people are involved in the program. Not just one person. So yes the host has input, as does everyone else on the staff. Thus when a host gets replaced, it's not a big deal. The show is more important than any specific person.

KMan said:

This then begs the question of why NPR needs so many hosts for their programs.

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As you said, they all get out of the studio and do reporting from time to time. But they believe in a "diversity of voices" at NPR, so that means having a diversity of hosts to draw from. More voices from more places. That's evident in this latest announcement.

KMan said:

The weekend hosts are rarely heard during the week - are they getting a full time salary for one broadcast a week?

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They do, but with a much smaller staff, and they're expected to contribute more to the show. Rather than getting days off to report stories, they do their reporting on weekdays, and those stories air on the weekend. No rotating hosts on the weekend shows.

KMan said:

well, the life expectancy of hosts on that program is very short. Usually less than two years. Don't know why it can't keep someone in that spot.

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I don't know about you, but most people like to have their weekends off.

KMan said:

This then begs the question of why NPR needs so many hosts for their programs. They have 3 for Morning Edition, one each for Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday, and another for ATC Weekend. The weekend hosts are rarely heard during the week - are they getting a full time salary for one broadcast a week? Meanwhile, with three hosts for ATC, they were on air seemingly randomly. No patterns or rhyme or reason to the days they are on air. How is the division of labor going to work with four hosts?

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At least one of the weekend hosts get an impressive salary - Scott Simon is north of $300,000 from NPR, plus his books and TV gig on PBS.

"Morning Edition" has 3 full-time hosts and an army of ringers. I think there have been 5 or 6 different substitutes in calendar 2015 on "ME". Frankly, I agree with you - NPR should not be adding a fourth host to ATC.

PTBoardOp94 said:

At least one of the weekend hosts get an impressive salary - Scott Simon is north of $300,000 from NPR, plus his books and TV gig on PBS.

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By the same token, he is the sole host of the show and has been with the show since its inception. He's also been an employee of NPR for over 30 years.

TheBigA said:

A group of people are involved in the program. Not just one person. So yes the host has input, as does everyone else on the staff. Thus when a host gets replaced, it's not a big deal. The show is more important than any specific person.

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Basically, ATC functions like nearly any other newscast, on TV or Radio. It's not a talk show ... it's a newscast, with producers and editors and all the rest. When a long time anchor changes ... the show goes on, but the listeners/viewers notice. Describing ATC as a "community project" makes it sound unique from any other news program, and its not.

TheBigA said:

They do, but with a much smaller staff, and they're expected to contribute more to the show. Rather than getting days off to report stories, they do their reporting on weekdays, and those stories air on the weekend. No rotating hosts on the weekend shows.
I don't know about you, but most people like to have their weekends off.

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I understand the prep time considerations for the Weekend Edition shows, given that many of the interviews (especially in the last twenty minutes of each block) are pretaped during the week, to be aired that Weekend. But they do a lot of current events, in the news type stuff (all of the first block), and the middle block is a mix of both. The work load still seems awfully light.

Personally, I hate weekends off. Would much rather work them than have them off. Many people, in many industries, work one or both weekend days as a matter of course - among the professions where this is standard is journalism. Scott Simon has been on Weekend Edition for an eternity, Liane Hansen was there for nearly as long. If you were to look at the time period where Scott and Liane covered weekend mornings, you'd see easily a half dozen Weekend ATC hosts ... and we're now on our third since Liane retired a few years ago!

PTBoardOp94 said:

"Morning Edition" has 3 full-time hosts and an army of ringers. I think there have been 5 or 6 different substitutes in calendar 2015 on "ME". Frankly, I agree with you - NPR should not be adding a fourth host to ATC.

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I haven't commuted by car for a while during ME hours, but recently started again. I can't keep up with who is anchoring that program ... its all over the place.

As far as listenability goes, its a bit better since the clocks were revamped a few months ago, but still, with all the optional cutaways, it can be really chopped up and awful to listen to (exacerbated by the location station's choices) ... the cacophony of voices does not help.

KMan said:

Describing ATC as a "community project" makes it sound unique from any other news program, and its not.

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That's your interpretation of what I said, and not my intent. It's very similar to shows at the CBC and BBC.

KMan said:

The work load still seems awfully light.

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Maybe...hard for someone to assess on the outside. At one time they thought about having a single pool of hosts who would be rotated over all 7 days. But the pacing of the weekend shows is different, as is the audience, so it was decided to keep them separate.

KMan said:

As far as listenability goes, its a bit better since the clocks were revamped a few months ago, but still, with all the optional cutaways, it can be really chopped up and awful to listen to (exacerbated by the location station's choices) ... the cacophony of voices does not help.

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I think the new clocks made ME harder to listen to - especially during their breaks at :18 and :41. If I ran the show, I'd make two simple tweaks to the clock:
(a) Move the :41 break up one minute to :40.
(b) Provide a national newscast option from 20:30 to 21:30 and 43:30 to 44:30 so that local stations with limited local content aren't left playing music.

Is it really a surprise that NPR isn't as conscious about efficient use of resources as their commercial counterparts are?

umfan said:

Is it really a surprise that NPR isn't as conscious about efficient use of resources as their commercial counterparts are?

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It's interesting, isn't it.

NPR has been griping of budget problems for quite some time. They've offered numerous rounds of buyouts to veteran staff members, both on-air and off-air within the last three years (the most notable was when Morning Edition newscasters Paul Brown, Jean Cochran, and long-time part-time fill in newscaster Nora Raum all took buyouts simultaneously).

This allocation of *more* hosts to the main programs, while cutting support staff and correspondents seems very similar to when CBS hired Katie Couric. In order to take on her salary, they non-renewed a bunch of reporters ...

The difference being they're not actually ADDING new people, but rather re-allocating existing staff.

Also who did they cut among support staff? I missed that announcement.