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What is NEWS RADIO

O

Oldiesgal

Inactive
Inactive User
It seems half the stations on AM define themselves as News Radio. Yet they only have news on the hour. The rest of the time is just call-in shows loaded with opinion. Where is the hard news? During a time of crisis, like Hurricane Katrina, The only news I could find in any depth was on NPR. Too bad mainstream radio seems to confuse talk radio with news radio. I just got back from Pittsburgh where there is actually a station with 24 hours news, not opinions and rants.

Any thoughts?
 
I agree completely. The problem is so much of the public now is unable to make the distinction between opinion and fact - and between facts based on credible information and "facts" based on rumors and innuendo. Ideological programming has become "the news".
 
If you are several miles from the WGUL transmitter in Safety Harbor, you can probably pick up 870 WWL from New Orleans. Comes in great here in Sarasota day or nite, riviting radio to listen to....
You can thank the lack of local studio presence, rimshot FM's, and mega clusters on the Telecom act of 1996. We got the best politicians money can buy....





> I agree completely. The problem is so much of the public
> now is unable to make the distinction between opinion and
> fact - and between facts based on credible information and
> "facts" based on rumors and innuendo. Ideological
> programming has become "the news".
>
 
NBC's "NIS" (Historical & OT)

In the 70s, NBC tried an all News radio network known as "NIS"...Really all news AFAIK, because in the 70s when you said "News", it was all News, and when you said "Talk", it was all Talk from what I can tell, and "Newsradio" was not "All Rush and O'Reilly-like opinions"...And liberal wasn't pigeonholed into "Progressive", progressive was actually what they called Rock, and Rock as a radio format wasn't dying.

(adjusting my tie)

Anyways, Ironically, NBC used many of their O&O *FM* stations as part of the NIS network; WNWS, at 97.1 in NYC, (later became the original WYNY and is now Hot 97), think also the current Q-101 in Chicago, as well as what is now KFRC-FM in SF.

WINZ (940) in Miami ran it, for one. My father was on vacation in the Gulf Coast in the 70s (probably Sanibel where we go alot) where he got WINZ and a Tampa station at the same time, and would repeatedly tell me when I was in Junior High in the 80s and getting bit by the radio bug that WINZ and "some Tampa station were running the same Newsradio network in the 70s at the same time"....After I learned more, I figured it was NIS, but never quite figured out what the Tampa affiliate was...WNSI/1380 didn't happen until '81 and by then the network was way beyond toast.

Anyone here seasoned enough to know?
 
> If you are several miles from the WGUL transmitter in Safety
> Harbor, you can probably pick up 870 WWL from New Orleans.
> Comes in great here in Sarasota day or nite, riviting radio
> to listen to...

Is that normally, or post-Katrina?
 
> It seems half the stations on AM define themselves as News
> Radio. Yet they only have news on the hour. The rest of the
> time is just call-in shows loaded with opinion. Where is the
> hard news? During a time of crisis, like Hurricane Katrina,
> The only news I could find in any depth was on NPR. Too bad
> mainstream radio seems to confuse talk radio with news
> radio. I just got back from Pittsburgh where there is
> actually a station with 24 hours news, not opinions and
> rants.
>
> Any thoughts?
>

The problem is overhead/ratings.

All news is bloody expensive, and outside of the top 10 markets doesn't get numbers.

KQV is always the lowest-rated AM in Pittsburgh. They have managed to get the costs down wnough that their entire budget is covered if they make money in mroning drive. Plus their owner is very wealthy and not worried about what the station makes. Big companies have too much budget pressure; the new model for newstalk is WPGB in Pittsburgh, an FM with Jim Quinn, a local conservative show in AM drive, then Beck, Rush Hannity, local sports, and Savage. And even they are piping in their "local" newscasts from WTAM in cleveland.<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
WWL 870 is running on generator power with 27 KW of power. Still comes in great here as long as you can avoid the slop from 860 WGUL's sidebands. If you are out by the beach, you can get it even during the day. A great listen for emergency radio.




> > If you are several miles from the WGUL transmitter in
> Safety
> > Harbor, you can probably pick up 870 WWL from New Orleans.
>
> > Comes in great here in Sarasota day or nite, riviting
> radio
> > to listen to...
>
> Is that normally, or post-Katrina?
>
 
Living right next to Safety Harbor in Clearwater prevents WWL for me. If you want to listen what they are doing now (the unified broadcast thing), WSKR in Baton Rouge is streaming...

http://www.thescore1210.com/

> WWL 870 is running on generator power with 27 KW of power.
> Still comes in great here as long as you can avoid the slop
> from 860 WGUL's sidebands. If you are out by the beach, you
> can get it even during the day. A great listen for
> emergency radio.
>
>
>
>
> > > If you are several miles from the WGUL transmitter in
> > Safety
> > > Harbor, you can probably pick up 870 WWL from New
> Orleans.
> >
> > > Comes in great here in Sarasota day or nite, riviting
> > radio
> > > to listen to...
> >
> > Is that normally, or post-Katrina?
> >
>
 
Re: NBC's "NIS" (Historical & OT)

>
> WINZ (940) in Miami ran it, for one. My father was on
> vacation in the Gulf Coast in the 70s (probably Sanibel
> where we go alot) where he got WINZ and a Tampa station at
> the same time, and would repeatedly tell me when I was in
> Junior High in the 80s and getting bit by the radio bug that
> WINZ and "some Tampa station were running the same Newsradio
> network in the 70s at the same time"....After I learned
> more, I figured it was NIS, but never quite figured out what
> the Tampa affiliate was...WNSI/1380 didn't happen until '81
> and by then the network was way beyond toast.
>
> Anyone here seasoned enough to know?
>
If it WAS indeed the 70's it must have been NBC's NIS. I'm pretty sure WINZ carried a lot of the NIS programming, but can't think which station ran with it in Tampa. Much later, there was the Paxson "WINZ" network -WHNZ, Tampa, WWNZ, Orlando and WNZS (?) in Jax, were all "NewsRadio" stations taking a lot of the programming/news from what was then NewsRadio 940 WINZ. This was in early 90's, however.
 
> KQV is always the lowest-rated AM in Pittsburgh.

You seem to be forgetting the Hart cluster... WPYT, WURP, etc. The lowest-rated AM actually known to those unaware of radio-locator.com, perhaps more accurate.
 
> > KQV is always the lowest-rated AM in Pittsburgh.
>
> You seem to be forgetting the Hart cluster... WPYT, WURP,
> etc. The lowest-rated AM actually known to those unaware of
> radio-locator.com, perhaps more accurate.
>

Well, among those stations that actually SHOW....<P ID="signature">______________
"With God as my witness, I could have sworn turkeys could fly."</P>
 
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