Behind the Scenes at Merlin's FM News

[secondchoice]

that there wasn't any strategic long term plan in place for "FM News"

Yes there. The strategic long term plan was FM.

FM should win. It is hard to find any research that gives AM a chance with the under 50 audience. They just did not get the "content" part correct. CBS is making a lot of noise about putting WFAN on FM. It will be interesting if WFAN gets a "ratings bump". WEPN has not got one yet. Maybe the spoken word formats are not as dependent on "FM" as a lot of folks think. Yes there are success stories of News Talk going on FM but as in the case of DC's AM 1500 did not cover the western part of the market at night:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFED&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

Atlanta / North GA has terrible soil conductivity and the Atlanta market = Urban sprawl. Also 95.5 was not doing well. According to one of the sales folks I know (not at Cox), if Cox could raise the average commercial by $10 or $11, they would come out ahead by putting 750AM on 95.5 too. They did.

 

[scottylightning]

I was happy to hear (in Philly) that the Merlin stations had hired their own meteorologist. What are the choices most news and N/T stations have these days for on-air meteorologists? Someone in State College, PA. Someone in Atlanta. Contract with a local TV station to use their meteorologists. Best scenario: you're co-owned with and in the same building as a TV station and you share the meteorologist.
As long as you're sharing that person with other media, you can't be sure you're first on the list when severe weather happens. Tornado warning in your county? Gee, let's get the person in State College, hundreds of miles away, to comment on that. But wait, he's doing a live shot on another station, so you'll have to wait. If you're sharing a local TV person, you might be able to simulcast what the meteorologist is doing on a live TV broadcast.
The only way you know you have the absolute priority is to have the meteorologist be your own, in your own studio, or at least calling in live from another location within your market.
There's been much criticism about what Merlin did with its news stations. Hiring their own meteorologist was, IMHO, one of the smartest things they did.
And since when is "geek" a bad word? Maybe I'll change my log-in here to "radiogeek."

We had our own in-house meteorologist and in-house traffic reporter; the way it was set up where in New York we were on the 5s and in Philly it was on the 10s we didn't have too any issues unless there was an event in New York and we were the lede during the non-stop news blocks00, :20, and :40 interfered with IQ's traffic & weather on the 10s).

Geek usually means that someone's smart and excels in their field-not everyone feels the same way however.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Yes there. The strategic long term plan was FM.

FM should win. It is hard to find any research that gives AM a chance with the under 50 audience. They just did not get the "content" part correct. CBS is making a lot of noise about putting WFAN on FM. It will be interesting if WFAN gets a "ratings bump". WEPN has not got one yet. Maybe the spoken word formats are not as dependent on "FM" as a lot of folks think. Yes there are success stories of News Talk going on FM but as in the case of DC's AM 1500 did not cover the western part of the market at night:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFED&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

Atlanta / North GA has terrible soil conductivity and the Atlanta market = Urban sprawl. Also 95.5 was not doing well. According to one of the sales folks I know (not at Cox), if Cox could raise the average commercial by $10 or $11, they would come out ahead by putting 750AM on 95.5 too. They did.

What you're missing is that FM SHOULD WIN, with a SOLID PRODUCT. That's what was missing here. WCBS and WINS are both tops at what they do. Simply putting a mediocre product on FM to compete with them doesn't mean you'll win. Then tweaking that product every two weeks because you're in a panic will guarantee a loss.

WCBS and WINS are rock solid, are focused and consistent in their content and presentation. WEMP was not any of those things. It was a mess. It got even messier when they put the news on automation with wrong time checks and stories from another city playing.

 

[scottylightning]

It's not a bad word. But someone in a position of authority and credibility loses a touch when they have a goofy nickname. Imagine Brian Williams doing the news as "BW the newsgeek". Just not the same. I thought Scott was being sold short with that moniker.

Considering it came from Liz Aiello, that says it all. Liz, he wasn't doing Eric the Midget updates on Howard 100 News... But that's what happens when someone who isn't qualified gets hired to run a market #1 all news operation.

I don't think that is true-there's people out there who don't always like the "cut and dry" forecast. They want something more and I hoped that I provided some insight into the meteorology a bit. Sure, it's going to thunderstorm, but why is it happening? Not a lot of people understand the dynamics of the atmosphere so if I'm allowed to explain it I'm going to take that opportunity!

If Liz offered me another opportunity to work with her again I would.

 

[scottylightning]

The name "weather geek" sounded immature and unprofessional to me as well. Mr. Derek also often boasted that he was fresh out of college, as if that would somehow make his forecasts more trustworthy!?

And remember, FM News hilariously claimed victory over their coverage of the Northeast earthquake last year, as well as the hurricane and Halloween snowstorm. They were so convinced that those events were going to be the station's breakthrough moments... while their ratings didn't budge and everyone just kept listening to WINS and WCBS. And it's no wonder; FM News's "live on scene" hurriance coverage consisted of some reporter calling from her home, looking out her living room window, and saying that it's rainy and windy outside. No **** Sherlock, it's a hurricane!!

I didn't boast that I was "fresh out of college"-in fact I was out for three years and it was very hard finding a job in TV or radio as a meteorologist. I had just saved up enough money working in retail to start taking grad school classes(I was making an investment that within 2-3 years I'd have a Masters under my belt and it could open up more doors for me) when I was offered to work at Merlin. I jumped on the opportunity because I wasn't just the "new guy" coming in; we were all new. Although I was working with anchors who had 20+ years of experience and it was a bit intimidating everyone made me feel at ease as I grew into this role quickly.

The earthquake was more geological than meteorological, but I did receive a phone call from the station and went live to talk about it. I read the USGS survey(where the epicenter was in VA, its magnitude, describing a shallow vs deep earthquake, etc.) and also gave them the number for the NJ state climatologist since I don't have a vast background in geology. As for Irene that was a very interesting event for me-I was on the air for 17 hours straight(8pm Saturday night until 1pm Sunday afternoon). Numerous tornado warnings were issued across the listening area, but there were one or two funnel clouds reported that weren't warned because the radar at Ft. Dix had an equipment failure(it was the third time I believe within two months) and using nearby radars at a higher tilt doesn't always capture the returns as well.

I don't remember too much of what was going on that night with anything else as I was focused on keeping abreast on the Tropical Storm(it wasn't a hurricane when it reached us thanks to a lot of dry air working in) and getting in a lot of reports and damage via Twitter, Facebook, and a few weather boards.

 

[secondchoice]

Yes there. The strategic long term plan was FM.

FM should win. It is hard to find any research that gives AM a chance with the under 50 audience. They just did not get the "content" part correct. CBS is making a lot of noise about putting WFAN on FM. It will be interesting if WFAN gets a "ratings bump". WEPN has not got one yet. Maybe the spoken word formats are not as dependent on "FM" as a lot of folks think. Yes there are success stories of News Talk going on FM but as in the case of DC's AM 1500 did not cover the western part of the market at night:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFED&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

Atlanta / North GA has terrible soil conductivity and the Atlanta market = Urban sprawl. Also 95.5 was not doing well. According to one of the sales folks I know (not at Cox), if Cox could raise the average commercial by $10 or $11, they would come out ahead by putting 750AM on 95.5 too. They did.

What you're missing is that FM SHOULD WIN, with a SOLID PRODUCT. That's what was missing here. WCBS and WINS are both tops at what they do. Simply putting a mediocre product on FM to compete with them doesn't mean you'll win. Then tweaking that product every two weeks because you're in a panic will guarantee a loss.

WCBS and WINS are rock solid, are focused and consistent in their content and presentation. WEMP was not any of those things. It was a mess. It got even messier when they put the news on automation with wrong time checks and stories from another city playing.

I agree with you but if you check out some of the other topics there is a very large number of posters and even CBS (via press release) that believe that WFAN must have an FM signal to survive the next few years. I personally believe a Class A 50 KW (660, 880, 770, and even 710) will cover more of people in the NYC area due to Class B restrictions even with the FM's being on the ESB. CBS in Chicago even "hedged their bet" by putting WBBM on FM.

 

[recto101]

Yes there. The strategic long term plan was FM.

FM should win. It is hard to find any research that gives AM a chance with the under 50 audience. They just did not get the "content" part correct. CBS is making a lot of noise about putting WFAN on FM. It will be interesting if WFAN gets a "ratings bump". WEPN has not got one yet. Maybe the spoken word formats are not as dependent on "FM" as a lot of folks think. Yes there are success stories of News Talk going on FM but as in the case of DC's AM 1500 did not cover the western part of the market at night:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFED&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

Atlanta / North GA has terrible soil conductivity and the Atlanta market = Urban sprawl. Also 95.5 was not doing well. According to one of the sales folks I know (not at Cox), if Cox could raise the average commercial by $10 or $11, they would come out ahead by putting 750AM on 95.5 too. They did.

What you're missing is that FM SHOULD WIN, with a SOLID PRODUCT. That's what was missing here. WCBS and WINS are both tops at what they do. Simply putting a mediocre product on FM to compete with them doesn't mean you'll win. Then tweaking that product every two weeks because you're in a panic will guarantee a loss.

WCBS and WINS are rock solid, are focused and consistent in their content and presentation. WEMP was not any of those things. It was a mess. It got even messier when they put the news on automation with wrong time checks and stories from another city playing.

Look at ARNN News the all-news network by TRN they don't have field reporters on the scene of an event the way CBS News, WINS, WCBS, KCBS does and present them well. ARNN News steal lines from WINS too! "Listen to US 2,3,4 times a day" But the anchors are former Talk Radio hosts like Rick Roberts. He used to fill in for Michael Savage. They are just rehashing a political point that was on CNN, Fox News (Fox Propaganda), (MSNBC) NBC Propaganda. TRN ARNN service claims they're based in Washington DC. But they don't talk about the DC suburbs the way WTOP-FM and WNEW-FM of DC does.