KWST

Hot Hits said:

I wonder why he doesn't use his existing site to stream his Station?

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TheBigA said:

He'd have to pay music royalties.

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Hot Hits said:

Do royalties need to usually be paid for this type of use as well?

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LKellerIII said:

michael hagerty said:

Really? What good does it do Bay Area listeners to know about gridlock in Dallas?

Yes - I know, video cameras, the internet, bla, bla.

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Llew: Spending time in a modern radio traffic center is enlightening. The amount of information available...Caltrans speed sensors, freeway cameras, CHP's incident reports...and every last bit of it is online. Unless you're going to spend $500 an hour on fuel alone to keep a helicopter airborne, there's nothing you can't get online.

At KFBK, we have our own traffic guys from 4:30 a.m. until 12:00 midnight, in house. And we supplement all that online intel with a Traffic Tip Line for listeners to call in and tell us if they're seeing something we're not.

But my first six months at iHeart were working as a part-time traffic reporter in Phoenix. We did reports for Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, El Paso and Salt Lake City....from Phoenix. Apart from my blowing a local name in Albuquerque, El Paso or Salt Lake in my first week (I was familiar with the other three cities), the reports were as solid as they could be. If I were sitting in a studio in one of those cities, I would have been looking at the same screens.

I understand the Dallas folks (who work for another company) had some early hiccups with KGO's traffic reports. Now, they sound fine.

I'm glad to hear Bob Gowa (who works for iHeart) is still at it. We have a couple of mutual friends and have swapped e-mails, but have never met. By all accounts a great guy and I'm a fan of his air work.

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michael hagerty said:

LKellerIII said:

Llew: Spending time in a modern radio traffic center is enlightening. The amount of information available...Caltrans speed sensors, freeway cameras, CHP's incident reports...and every last bit of it is online. Unless you're going to spend $500 an hour on fuel alone to keep a helicopter airborne, there's nothing you can't get online.

At KFBK, we have our own traffic guys from 4:30 a.m. until 12:00 midnight, in house. And we supplement all that online intel with a Traffic Tip Line for listeners to call in and tell us if they're seeing something we're not.

But my first six months at iHeart were working as a part-time traffic reporter in Phoenix. We did reports for Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, El Paso and Salt Lake City....from Phoenix. Apart from my blowing a local name in Albuquerque, El Paso or Salt Lake in my first week (I was familiar with the other three cities), the reports were as solid as they could be. If I were sitting in a studio in one of those cities, I would have been looking at the same screens.

I understand the Dallas folks (who work for another company) had some early hiccups with KGO's traffic reports. Now, they sound fine.

I'm glad to hear Bob Gowa (who works for iHeart) is still at it. We have a couple of mutual friends and have swapped e-mails, but have never met. By all accounts a great guy and I'm a fan of his air work.

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Michael - Also on Gowa's resume - KOFY-FM in the 80s for James Gabbert, who was discussed recently on the SF board; and KTIM the "free form" station in San Rafael from the 70s to the 80s. Great station - though the signal was pretty much Marin County exclusive. I couldn't get it at home in San Francisco, though I heard people in the Sunset District (near the GG Bridge) could.

Can't resist a story from the...I want to say late 80s - when I was commuting about 45 minutes to work. KGO still operated the traffic copter. I don't recall it if was Metro Traffic yet - I think so - but the copter held a few reporters, most representing multiple stations. So you'd hear reports all over the dial from the "K-101 Traffic Copter," or "KFRC Air One,", or whatever, but really, it was KGO's bird. Whether they owned it or leased, I don't know, but you'd see it in the sky, and the KGO logo was painted on it, in any case.

I was listening to Terry McGovern on K-101 who had a brand new traffic reporter that day - Michael Lyn Meyers, who was complaining of air-sickness. So McGovern made a comedy bit out of it. Every time he went to Meyers for traffic, he would ask how she was feeling, and she would moan and groan with nausea.

So I change the dial to KGO, and get the traffic report from Katy Leaver, who was exclusive to KGO, I think. Katy was always a tad acerbic. She happens to mention to the morning news anchors that she is upset because there's a woman in the seat behind her about to blow chunks on her back.

IIR, Meyers flew in that copter for a few years, so I guess she got over it. I also remember hearing her as a fill-in talk host about 10 years ago. Not sure what happened to Leaver.

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