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Weekend News That's News To Local Radio

DrAkbar

DrAkbar

Star Participant
Sunday afternoon Nurse Jeff and I made the mistake of listening to KTAR for an update on the Avondale miscreant who drowned her twins in a tub. The local lead story: some hard luck school district in Pennsylvania couldn't afford to pay their teachers. That riveting story was followed by an update on heavy rains in Oregon. Then traffic and weather together.

YIKES!

Guess their News Director works only Mon-Fri. The Avondale story was hard to miss, but they did.
 
The world could be coming to an end, but if it's after normal business hours, I'm afraid it wouldn't be covered by most radio stations.
 
Reminds me of this:

"News Flash .... The internet is down. For more information, go to www-dot --------"
 
frankberry said:
Reminds me of this:

"News Flash .... The internet is down. For more information, go to www-dot --------"
Click to expand...

Or, from WKRP in Cincinnati: "How can we tell people we are off the air, when we are off the air?" :D
 
TheBigA said:
So what was on KFYI?
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Not the point. There was a live body in the newsroom and this story was being reported by AZ Central, FOX10 & ABC15 on their apps. Shirley you'd think the KTAR newsroom would be monitoring all news sources and social media.
 
DrAkbar said:
Not the point. There was a live body in the newsroom and this story was being reported by AZ Central, FOX10 & ABC15 on their apps. Shirley you'd think the KTAR newsroom would be monitoring all news sources and social media.
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Don't call me Shirley!!!
 
TheBigA said:
But it was my question.
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Dunno about KFYI...but if they had a warm body in the newsroom Sunday afternoon, this story was far more important (and relevant) than a PA school district running out of money. Because of the size and reputation of KTAR's news dept, we instinctually tune to them for local coverage. To say they dropped the ball is putting it mildly.
 
DrAkbar said:
To say they dropped the ball is putting it mildly.
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Maybe. How long did you listen? Was it just one newscast, or did they continue to miss the story? Because covering the news is an ongoing thing, and it's always changing.

To be honest, when those kinds of stories happen about mothers killing their kids, I turn the radio off. That's not the kind of news I want to hear. So while you think it's important and relevant, I think it's awful.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe. How long did you listen? Was it just one newscast, or did they continue to miss the story?
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They continued to miss it for several hours.

TheBigA said:
To be honest, when those kinds of stories happen about mothers killing their kids, I turn the radio off. That's not the kind of news I want to hear. So while you think it's important and relevant, I think it's awful.
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Is it raining where you are?
 
Your reaction to a story has absolutely nothing to do with anything. KTAR is in the information-disseminating business, and they failed miserably.
 
KP said:
KTAR is in the information-disseminating business, and they failed miserably.
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So sue 'em.

Look...if someone is endangering the lives of other people, then we should be warned. If she's killed her own kids, then she's a nutcase. This is one of these stories where the news becomes no different from Jerry Springer. Might as well bring him back as an anchor.
 
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TheBigA said:
So sue 'em.
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The correct response would be to hit the pre-set because KTAR has ruined its credibility.

Your example of a news story being important only if it affects me is way off the mark as the vast majority of news stories have nothing to do with me. Nevertheless, if a business is in the news business and does not staff it sufficiently or with enough intelligence to tell important stories from fillers it does not deserve listeners. KTAR seems as if it has hit rock bottom.
 
landtuna said:
Your example of a news story being important only if it affects me is way off the mark as the vast majority of news stories have nothing to do with me.
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I didn't say that. I said a news story is important if it affects a lot of people. To me, this story is a tragedy of a particular family. It only affects anybody else in that they can express relief that they're not related. At least she didn't drown my kid! I understand that emotion, and there's nothing wrong with it. But I simply wouldn't place this kind of story in the same category with a local shooting or some kind of terrorist attack.

From what I can see in this thread, staffing wasn't the issue. Just news judgment. That tends to be a subjective kind of thing. I also wouldn't judge an entire station by the news judgment of one part time employee. If you find out that person has been promoted, or now has some kind of responsibility, I will agree. But right now, I would expect that employee got a memo from the boss. That's why I asked how long until they reported it. Because once the shift changed, it's possible the story got picked up. It was certainly reported in drive time the next morning.
 
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TheBigA said:
I said a news story is important if it affects a lot of people.
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Let me give you an example. Every morning and evening we get a story about the rush hour delays on I-10. It affects a ton of people and it happens every day. Is that story really important or is it a normal and regular occurrence? I'm opining the second, but even so it is reported multiple times each newscast and every morning and afternoon.

Now, compare the above to the drowning story. How many times does that happen - fortunately not often. Granted, it does not affect anywhere near the same number of people (directly, anyway) but is it more or less newsworthy? Again, I'm opining for the second. I'm willing to bet a number of listeners went home that night and hugged their kids a little tighter but never gave a second thought to their heavy traffic commute.

One of Doc's points was that KTAR had failed in their news dissemination responsibility. I agree with him. If KTAR had a junior news director on duty in the off hours, or worse yet, an intern who cannot tell the difference between stories they are not serving their employer, market and function. Either they are in the business or they are not. News does happen on weekends and overnights.

I am not judging the KTAR staff on the fact that one story or another is prioritized above another but rather than it is covered at all. That seems to be the major omission here. Even Yahoo picked it up and we all know what a pinnacle of journalistic perfection that organization is.
 
This story affects so much more than you're willing to give it credit for, Big A. Beyond the fact that it is important and decent to memoralize two young children, this story is about mental health, and from what I've read further about this tragic story, it's more about the failings of the mental health system in our world. (And I suspect that it's important, as well, because there's a stigma in the Hispanic community with being considered mentally ill.)

Perhaps you need to consider that every news story is important in some way, to somebody.
 
landtuna said:
I am not judging the KTAR staff on the fact that one story or another is prioritized above another but rather than it is covered at all.
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Everybody makes mistakes every now and then. Except if you work in radio, everyone hears your mistake. And they don't get to find out the consequences. That's what's going on here. This is a radio station that makes lots of news decisions a day. Here's one you think they missed. How many does that make this month?

KP said:
Perhaps you need to consider that every news story is important in some way, to somebody.
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That's great, but even the New York Times doesn't publish every news story. Only those fit to print.
 
DrAkbar said:
Not the point. There was a live body in the newsroom and this story was being reported by AZ Central, FOX10 & ABC15 on their apps. Shirley you'd think the KTAR newsroom would be monitoring all news sources and social media.
Click to expand...

But...but...but...I thought KTAR wanted to re-brand as NEWS source "KTAR NEWS", going so far as to putting 92.3 at the very end of the branding. Wow, that brand new again (yet again) ended very quickly. There's very little actual news on their web site - only 2 or 3 per day - a ton of click bait, including the former governor - and their broadcast day still ends at 7:00pm Friday with no news on weekends. Because, hey, that's NEWS the Bonneville Way.
 
landtuna said:



One of Doc's points was that KTAR had failed in their news dissemination responsibility. I agree with him. If KTAR had a junior news director on duty in the off hours, or worse yet, an intern who cannot tell the difference between stories they are not serving their employer, market and function. Either they are in the business or they are not. News does happen on weekends and overnights.
Click to expand...

"News dissemination responsibility"? You're joking, right? KTAR has made it abundantly clear that once their broadcast day ends at 7:00pm and they turn the station over to Ramsey, they're no longer "KTAR NEWS" as a reasonable listener would expect. They already cancelled their Saturday morning news. They have practically no news coverage whatsoever on Sundays since Femino's always pre-empted for Cardinals. I hear more current and timely news on KJZZ and KWSS-LP than I ever do on KTAR anymore. Did "KTAR NEWS" even mention any of the significant passings of the past weekend (Wes Craven, Wayne Dyer, Oliver Sacks)? Nope. But a ton of stupid "soccer mom" softball stories. Way to keep dumbing down your audience, Bonneville.
 
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