This has got to be the oddest network newscast on radio. The syndicator is Westwood One but the owner is Cumulus, which had been running mostly ABC news on its stations. Now WABC, KABC, WLS, KSFO, KGO, etc. are all Westwood One affiliates.
Because the network allows stations to break away at :01, :02 and :04, no story can run for more than a few seconds. Other networks like CBS, ABC and Fox give you options to take a full newscast or a different brief report. But Westwood One wants to cover it all in one service. So every newscast is made up of only two and three sentence stories.
Even when they have a report from the field, that report can't run more than a few sentences. And I don't think they have more than a few of their own reporters in the field. I've never heard a live field report. Most of the time, they've simply lifted a CNN report from TV and isolated a few sentences from that report. So if CNN's John Smith is in Rome, reporting on the Pope, or in Baghdad, reporting on the war in Iraq, we only hear him say a few sentences. And he's never identified as being with CNN. Other than the noise in the background, he might as well be in a New York studio reading a few sentences into a microphone. There's no time for him to include a clip from a newsmaker. That would take too long.
Here's the format...
1. A musical explosion is heard and the anchor gives two or three super brief headlines... "Flooding in Texas, Senate Deadlocked."
2. Then he gives his name. No identification of the network, just the name... "I'm Dirk Van."
3. He reads about four stories, each about 10-15 seconds each. Even if he has tape, he can only lead in with a sentence or two.
4. Coming up to the one-minute mark, he again gives his name... "I'm Dirk Van." That's followed by a brief pause for some stations to exit.
5. Then he starts his second minute of news. Again, it's usually four stories, each about 15 seconds long.
6. Coming up to the two-minute mark, the anchor again gives his name... "I'm Dirk Van."
7. Then it's a minute of network commercials. At the end, some stations exit here.
8. The anchor then begins a minute of lighter stories. It's usually kickers and box office reports and entertainment news.
9. After a minute, there's some ending music and the anchor again gives his name. "I'm Dirk Van."
10. Then another minute of network spots and that's it.
Because the network never identifies itself, the anchor tells us his name four times in a newscast that, minus commercials, is only three minutes long.
In my market, NYC, WABC rarely uses the Westwood One news on the hour. On weekdays, it's all local anchors from 5am to Midnight. Weekends have a few more network newscasts. However, I can also hear two Cumulus owned suburban AM stations, 1230 WFAS White Plains NY and 600 WICC Bridgeport CT. WFAS runs Westwood One news every hour, all day. WICC runs it all hours outside of morning drive. Oddly the two stations don't always have the same national spots. I don't think they're substituting their own spots. I think it's left over from their ABC affiliation. WFAS used to be ABC Entertainment and WICC used to be ABC Information. So when WFAS is running a Geico ad, WICC may be running a Walgreen's ad. But the news is the same.
So in the NYC market, home of ABC News, home of 770 WABC, there's no affiliate for ABC Radio News. But we have three affiliates for Westwood One.
Because the network allows stations to break away at :01, :02 and :04, no story can run for more than a few seconds. Other networks like CBS, ABC and Fox give you options to take a full newscast or a different brief report. But Westwood One wants to cover it all in one service. So every newscast is made up of only two and three sentence stories.
Even when they have a report from the field, that report can't run more than a few sentences. And I don't think they have more than a few of their own reporters in the field. I've never heard a live field report. Most of the time, they've simply lifted a CNN report from TV and isolated a few sentences from that report. So if CNN's John Smith is in Rome, reporting on the Pope, or in Baghdad, reporting on the war in Iraq, we only hear him say a few sentences. And he's never identified as being with CNN. Other than the noise in the background, he might as well be in a New York studio reading a few sentences into a microphone. There's no time for him to include a clip from a newsmaker. That would take too long.
Here's the format...
1. A musical explosion is heard and the anchor gives two or three super brief headlines... "Flooding in Texas, Senate Deadlocked."
2. Then he gives his name. No identification of the network, just the name... "I'm Dirk Van."
3. He reads about four stories, each about 10-15 seconds each. Even if he has tape, he can only lead in with a sentence or two.
4. Coming up to the one-minute mark, he again gives his name... "I'm Dirk Van." That's followed by a brief pause for some stations to exit.
5. Then he starts his second minute of news. Again, it's usually four stories, each about 15 seconds long.
6. Coming up to the two-minute mark, the anchor again gives his name... "I'm Dirk Van."
7. Then it's a minute of network commercials. At the end, some stations exit here.
8. The anchor then begins a minute of lighter stories. It's usually kickers and box office reports and entertainment news.
9. After a minute, there's some ending music and the anchor again gives his name. "I'm Dirk Van."
10. Then another minute of network spots and that's it.
Because the network never identifies itself, the anchor tells us his name four times in a newscast that, minus commercials, is only three minutes long.
In my market, NYC, WABC rarely uses the Westwood One news on the hour. On weekdays, it's all local anchors from 5am to Midnight. Weekends have a few more network newscasts. However, I can also hear two Cumulus owned suburban AM stations, 1230 WFAS White Plains NY and 600 WICC Bridgeport CT. WFAS runs Westwood One news every hour, all day. WICC runs it all hours outside of morning drive. Oddly the two stations don't always have the same national spots. I don't think they're substituting their own spots. I think it's left over from their ABC affiliation. WFAS used to be ABC Entertainment and WICC used to be ABC Information. So when WFAS is running a Geico ad, WICC may be running a Walgreen's ad. But the news is the same.
So in the NYC market, home of ABC News, home of 770 WABC, there's no affiliate for ABC Radio News. But we have three affiliates for Westwood One.
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