Bengalsfan
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« on: November 30, 2009, 06:20:34 PM » |
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So I'm driving back home last night about midnight from Cincinnati and I hear WLW mention on their TOH newscast about possible accumilating snow Thursday into Friday. So I figured I'd check WHAS right quick to see what they are forecasting.....or so I thought. After the obligatory 2 minute newscast from Fox News, they go to a break. I figure I have a minute to get back so I check in on other stations. WSM had a newscast, WSB had a newscast, WWL had a newscast. Back to WHAS, still in a break. So I check around some more. WCBS was in news, WABC was in news, WLS was in news. Back to WHAS, still in a break. Checking around some more, WBAP was in a local newscast, WOWO was in a newscast tossing to traffic, WJR was in a traffic break. Back to WHAS, jingle then the opening of the Willie Cunningham show. So what we had was WHAS aired the 2 minute Fox News broadcast, then a 4 minute break. No local news!
Here's hoping nothing major happens in Louisville outside of office hours and on the weekend.
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BobOnTheJob
Indiana's Circuit Ridin' Radio Engineer
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« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2009, 08:35:37 PM » |
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This has irritated me since I was northbound on I-65 from south of Louisville late on a Sunday afternoon maybe 3-4 years ago & suddenly found traffic had stopped. My instinct was to go to WHAS...what a waste of time. Top of hour ID...2 minutes of Fox News, a spot & then 2 minutes of Kentucky News Network telling about (I kid you not) cows loose on a highway in SE Kentucky. People DIED on I-65 that day, yet WHAS was pre-occupied with breaking bovine news. And they have the unmitigated gall to say "Depend On It". A CB radio would have run circles around their news department that day.
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When I started in radio in 1967, most broadcast equipment used tube technology, all recorded music was played from records on a turntable by live DJ's, there was no satellite delivery...and radio was fun.
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KR4BD
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« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2009, 08:52:46 PM » |
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Here in Lexington, Local News on WLAP is virtually non-existant anymore. Our local Cheap Channel News-Talk 630-WLAP fired all the news staff (all one of them) about a year ago and we now get "localized" news from WHAS or local TV stations during drive times...
When Cheap Channel started all their personnel reductions, they gloated about all the profits they made. For a while it worked, but now, with little product to offer, listeners have gone elsewhere and CC wonders why they can't make money anymore. I doubt they can ever bring back profitable local radio now. It's too far down-the-road...
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Alumni of....
WKTR-TV Kettering/Dayton, OH 1968
WVUD-FM Kettering/Dayton, OH 1968-70
WILO AM/FM Frankfort, IN 1970
WGEE AM/FM Indianapolis, IN 1970-71
WCGW AM Nicholasville/Lexington, KY 1994-2001
ARRL Member Since 1975
Medium Wave DXer Since 1955 - NRC Member
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Bengalsfan
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« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2009, 09:24:00 PM » |
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Something is going to happen here one weekend. Such as a tornado (they don't keep banker's hours), and all WHAS is going to have is alerts from the Weather Bureau relayed via the EAS box. I was coming home from a Bengals' game last year when the wind storm hit. I think they just hit it lucky that day with someone at the studio. If that storm had of come through after about 8pm, they would have missed it.
I have heard such good things about WHAS, both radio and TV, back when they was owned by the Binghams. It would not take much for another station in Louisville to knock 840 off their throne. WFPL does a pretty respectable job. I just can't believe that every other clear channel (lower case) station I could hear last night had local news at the top of the hour EXCEPT Louisville's station. And it was nice being able to hear WBAP again now that WHAS has turned off their pink noise generator.
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greg.hahn
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« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2009, 10:14:07 PM » |
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o I'm driving back home last night about midnight from Cincinnati and I hear WLW mention on their TOH newscast about possible accumilating snow Thursday into Friday. So I figured I'd check WHAS right quick to see what they are forecasting.....or so I thought. After the obligatory 2 minute newscast from Fox News, they go to a break. I figure I have a minute to get back so I check in on other stations. WSM had a newscast, WSB had a newscast, WWL had a newscast. Back to WHAS, still in a break. So I check around some more. WCBS was in news, WABC was in news, WLS was in news. Back to WHAS, still in a break. Checking around some more, WBAP was in a local newscast, WOWO was in a newscast tossing to traffic, WJR was in a traffic break. Back to WHAS, jingle then the opening of the Willie Cunningham show. So what we had was WHAS aired the 2 minute Fox News broadcast, then a 4 minute break. No local news!
Well, your problem was you were listening at midnight on a Monday morning, when the WHAS news department is closed. Yessir, they close it up around 7pm on Friday evening and don't open it back up until 5am Monday morning. That is, unless something happens. In that case, phones start to ringing, and somebody drives down to the radio station to give a report. Sounds like something right out of Green Acres, doesn't it? But the sad part is- it's the truth. |
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Tri-State Media
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« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2009, 08:27:31 AM » |
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Wow, if that's really how they operate down there in Louisville...sheesh, remind me to never tune to that station on a weekend. I mean, seriously...news doesn't just happen on weekdays. Yet, apparently, WHAS acts like it does.
Good thing my next trip down is gonna be in the next week or so. I was going down tomorrow but, I don't have the time with a lot going on this week, mom being off work due to recent heart trouble, etc..
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Jeremy Moses
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hotpatrick2004
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« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2009, 11:43:31 AM » |
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On a related topic the fox 93.1 and kiss 98.9 are just as bad meaning nothing local all piped in with that terrible premium choice crap on both stations no local flavor at all anymore so same priniciple on whas. But wait at least you still have local sports show and terry meiners and francene. I bet cc would love to terminate terry but he brings alot of coin into cc.
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My favorite radio station in the world indie 1031 in Los Angeles.
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radiorob2.0
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« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2009, 01:37:54 PM » |
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(sarcasm on) Somebody has to think of the VP's end of year bonus, that is the priority over some silly news story. (sarcasm off)
WHAS has been reduced to a program delivery system. There will be a time when relying on the EAS box will fail.
Of course, isn't just WHAS. If you go back twenty years ago WHAS along with WVLK Lexington and WVJS Owensboro had news departments that were proactive covering news. Back then, they competed with other media (TV and newspaper). Today, the other media is the news source because it's cheaper to have a "media partner".
Lexington and Louisville are lucky to have TV news. Owensboro's source of news is the Messenger-Inquirer. WVJS today has one news person with no news wire and an owner who feels rewriting a news release is hard hitting journalism. The one news person does the best with what is around him but the results are far from the days of Jim Parr and a news staff. WOMI/WBKR eliminated news so upper corporate management could receive their just deserved bonuses for whatever it is they do; like making sure the stock price remains under a dollar. They rely on WEHT Evansville, Indiana.
Today WVLK wins but only because they air more local programming than the other two.
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“The heart of nearly every home was its radio. Radio has always kept us up to date on any subject. Radio is your friend, We’ll always be here for you, our friends, our listeners. Radio never an intruder, always a guest.” . . . Edith Bennett 1931-2013
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BobOnTheJob
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« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2009, 06:05:51 PM » |
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(sarcasm on) Somebody has to think of the VP's end of year bonus, that is the priority over some silly news story. (sarcasm off)
WHAS has been reduced to a program delivery system. There will be a time when relying on the EAS box will fail.
The EAS box works fine for severe weather, but does nothing for traffic jams. In the case I mentioned in an earlier post, people died and many thousands were inconvenienced. In a typical Severe Thunderstorm, no one dies & few are inconvenienced. The EAS box covers the latter one, while the one that landed on the front page of the next days Courier Journal got nary a peep from the EAS box or the WHAS news staff. In today's world, it amazes me that the news staff at one of the local TV stations doesn't have a way to insert breaking news on WHAS. |
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When I started in radio in 1967, most broadcast equipment used tube technology, all recorded music was played from records on a turntable by live DJ's, there was no satellite delivery...and radio was fun.
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Bengalsfan
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« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2009, 10:34:20 AM » |
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The EAS box works fine for severe weather, but does nothing for traffic jams. Yes, the EAS box works fine. Until, the power supply craps out. It appears they not only close the newsroom down on weekends, but overnights as well. I was driving back from Cincy again late last night and just had to check when 1 AM rolled around. Sure enough, 2 minutes of Fox News, 4 minute commercial break then back to Coast to Coast AM. New Orleans is roughly the same size of Louisville. WWL had local news, yet WHAS feels the need not to. "Depend on it"? Hardly. |
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« Last Edit: December 02, 2009, 10:35:59 AM by Bengalsfan »
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