WWJ Radio minus CBS News Radio

[RayQix]

Is it safe to say that with the silencing of cbsradio news that freedom of the press is so far being silenced?

What’s next? ;-(


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[MWmetalhead]

Not really. It is probably very safe to say that the radio news operation was likely bleeding money, which makes sense given the fact AM/FM broadcasting total revenue (across the industry) has fallen by 60% to 70% over the past twenty years, and that's before adjusting for inflation.

Let's not forget, either, that the newscasts primarily aired on AM stations with disproportionately old audiences. National ad agencies aren't terribly interested in AM radio, and they aren't terribly interested in old audiences.

News/talk radio syndicators are willing to accept advertising from companies of questionable reputation. There are also companies willing to advertise because they support the viewpoints being expressed via those (usually very conservative leaning) talk shows.

Pure news operators aren't willing to stoop so low, generally speaking.

Per the L.A. Times:

Privately, longtime insiders at CBS News say the division has struggled for years to find ways to financially turn around its radio business.

The unit was operating at a loss with monthly revenues recently falling as low as $67,000, according to a network executive not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The service held on because it still had value in promoting CBS News and its journalism, reaching 20 million listeners a week.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... -100-years

Getting back to 950 WWJ, at least so far, I've not heard any TOH news updates from ABC.

The local WWJ air talent has been handling TOH duties.

Per WWJ's Facebook page, it appears the station will be using some ABC News Audio content at some point, but evidently they won't be using the TOH network newscasts from ABC.

[ZenithCKLW]

Their Facebook post also mentions a “slight format change.” Does that simply mean a switch to ABC, or are there more structural changes to come? I have not noticed anything different aside from the loss of CBS.

[Tvguy]

WFDF will continue to run ABC news at the top of the hour
And breaking news.

WWJ will take from ABC Bottom of hour at night , weekends and overnights. Some features- they aren’t sure which ones. They want to hear them first. Single reports

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks for the info.

I don't like the change at WWJ. I want my TOH national & world headlines, or at least provide them at a predetermined time each hour. The interspersing of local news with national & world news is unappealing to me, especially since it appears very little airtime will be devoted to the latter.

WWJ offers weather & traffic, business headlines and sports headlines at set times. They should treat national & world news the same way. Stay true to the news wheel formula, in other words.

WWJ's sloppy handling of national & world headlines in the post-CBS era is foolish. Their Program Director should be more competent than that.

[brandmeier]

Agree 100% with MW. WWJ needs to rethink this decision. National news needs to be at the top of the hour!

[SixPlusOne]

I don't like the change at WWJ. I want my TOH national & world headlines, or at least provide them at a predetermined time each hour. The interspersing of local news with national & world news is unappealing to me, especially since it appears very little airtime will be devoted to the latter.

WWJ's sloppy handling of national & world headlines in the post-CBS era is foolish. Their Program Director should be more competent than that.

i also have to agree with MWmetalhead. The national news most often is going to be the most important therefore it should hit first at the top of the hour. To deviate from that shafts the listener of what they deserve.

[Rate This]

I don't like the change at WWJ. I want my TOH national & world headlines, or at least provide them at a predetermined time each hour. The interspersing of local news with national & world news is unappealing to me, especially since it appears very little airtime will be devoted to the latter.

WWJ's sloppy handling of national & world headlines in the post-CBS era is foolish. Their Program Director should be more competent than that.

i also have to agree with MWmetalhead. The national news most often is going to be the most important therefore it should hit first at the top of the hour. To deviate from that shafts the listener of what they deserve.

Does a massacre in California or New Zealand or a flood in China effect a listener more than their local fire station being shut down? I would argue that national news is often too macro to directly affect any one person on the local level. There can be some governmental exceptions but by and large this disconnect has been studied and proven. People lament national events in distant places and report some variation of “thank god it’s not like that here.”

[MWmetalhead]

You could also make an argument that most local news is "too micro."

Do I really care that another shooting happened in a dangerous Detroit neighborhood at 3 in the morning?

I want to know about the goings-on in Washington, economic news, etc. WWJ just made it more difficult to obtain that info by listening to their station.

[Rate This]

You could also make an argument that most local news is "too micro."

Do I really care that another shooting happened in a dangerous Detroit neighborhood at 3 in the morning?

I want to know about the goings-on in Washington, economic news, etc. WWJ just made it more difficult to obtain that info by listening to their station.

Perhaps… but some of the viewers/listeners live in that Detroit neighborhood. It is exceedingly unlikely that any of the listeners to WWJ live in the latest flooded area in China.

Realistically they can just read the wire reports at the same time. The content would be the same it just changes who reads it. It’s not like you drop CBS and suddenly nobody else knows anything about the going’s on in Washington. I agree that for the sake of being organized it needs its own slot to be found easily like Sports, Weather and Business have.

To be fair the 30 second blurbs CBS did really didn’t give very much information. If they were to do national news an entire 8 minute block should be devoted to it to flesh out the stories a bit.

[mikemach]

I don't here ABC news when i listen to WWJ. I hear their own version of breaking news, usually local. I miss CBS news at the top of the hour.

[MWmetalhead]

Agreed.

The lack of national and world headlines in one fell swoop at TOH is definitely missed by me.

[80sTalkRadioFan]

National/international news does deserve time at the top of the hour, particularly with the Iran war/pausing of war, as well as whatever the POTUS is doing, or threatens to do. Even if they wanted to air a shorter version of ABC news, maybe 2 minutes instead of the full 4. I don't know how much of those newscasts actually air on WFDF. Maybe it's worth tuning away from WWJ on the hour, to WFDF for national/international news. Alternatively: https://tunein.com/radio/ABC-News-s150918
has the full 4 minute newscast live at the top of every hour and "ABC News Live" the rest of the hour.

[ProducerXM]

Word on the street is— The people at the top at Audacy decided that most stations weren’t worthy of the TOH newscast. If it were up to local leadership, they’d carry it.

[MWmetalhead]

That figures. I'm not surprised.