Cumulus Announces an All-News Station on 106.7: To Debut Mid-May

[recto101]

Why announce it this far in advance?  I would think that would be something you announced on Friday for a Monday flip.  And isn't WCBS a news/talk station? 

WCBS is all-news in NYC.
KGO is another Cumulus O&O in SFO but they are all-news on weekdays and Talk radio on weekends.

[FLjack2]

My first though was, Will Cumulus try to lure any Cox/WSB personalities or even some WGST voices for the new 106.7 and/or Atlanta news hub?  Then I wondered if any CNN reporters/anchors would be allowed to work for both CNN and Cumulus if there isn't a CNN tie-in.

No point in "luring" personalities.  If the station is all-news, they likely will not have a Scott Slade type person as a host.  They will just have news people presenting news.  The CNN people hired for this new station are people who used to work for CNN Radio.  They all lost their jobs when the network went away.  So unless you are talking about CNN-TV people, the people hired would not be working for 106.7 and CNN.  And TV people make crappy radio reporters.

[RadioNerd78]

When Neil was running Cox, he was privvy to research which showed WSB as the perceived news station in Atlanta.  Although it's softened a bit, that perception still exists; even though it's a talker, not a news operation.

Exactly! Cox wouldn't ever voluntarily dilute their own product at WSB-AM. Adding an All News channel of their own would've siphoned away listeners.

It's funny to read even radio people talking about this station having to compete with WSB, when it's an entirely different format once you get out of Atlanta's Morning News.

Really - it may compete as much with WABE throughout the day. As was said - it may take time to change the perception that WSB is the news source, but if it happens, this could be one of the first big shifts in Atlanta radio in a long while.

[Kilbasa123]

Except for extended drive-time hours, WABE is noise (sorry, classical music) during the day unless you have an HD radio (most don't).  Other than the early morning news segment on WSB, I don't think there is a constant news stream available in Atlanta unless you hit the top/bottom of the hour for recaps.  It seems to me that 106.7 has a good chance to succeed as a news outlet, if people find out about it

[PTBoardOp94]

Except for extended drive-time hours, WABE is noise (sorry, classical music) during the day unless you have an HD radio (most don't). 

And I hope this announcement from WYAY doesn't cause WABE to change its strategy.

[RadioFreak69]

WSB 750/95.5 is already getting a jump on the upcoming All-News 106.7. There is a WSB 750/95.5 "sticky note" on top of the front page of this morning's AJC newspaper.

[BarryATL]

I listened for two days to Cumulus' KGO All News (except weekends) in San Fran to get some idea as to what type of job Cumulus does with news.  I will say it was not bad.  Here are a few observations:

--I was not happy that mid-day they had all women voices... the two anchors... the field reporters... even the weather.  There was not one male voice for a few hours.  I do not think that was by design... one of the female anchors kept saying every 30 minutes that she was filling in for someone who had a male name.

--They missed one big story local story that KCBS was carrying in the evening about May Day protesters bashing in windows.  KGO eventually picked it up and did a great job, but they were a couple of hours late.

--The imaging does not have any pizzazz.  It actually sounded cheap.  The one news sounder they play four times an hour is very underwhelming.  One thing that CBS has shown is an all news station should have good imaging.  Very distinctive sounds for different sections of the news cast.  If you are zoning in the car, you wake up when you hear the sounder for traffic.  Even KGO's traffic sounder was boring.  WINS has always been known for it's imaging... CBS' new WNEW in Washington, DC took what WINS had and pumped it up.  Listen to the top or bottom of the hour with WNEW and it is real clear what they are going to cover, it is dramatic, and it draws you in.  The traffic sounder is loud and high pitched which gets your attention to pay attention.  Granted, WNEW has a few of their own issues like saying "repeating the current temperature of 80 degrees".  That is a no-no in radio.  Never say repeating.

--There is a big push for the 11:00 PM news on KGO.  It has the feel they are tying to compete with the TV broadcasts at that hour.

Overall, I would be happy with a KGO type product if they could work on their imaging.  Make it sound like a news station.... make sure the sounders don't sound cheap and all of the announcers know where to start talking.  Make sure the sounders are bright in sound.  The KGO sounders are not bright and actually sound like they are being played on a cart machine with a dirty tape head.

Well, this is enough to begin a conversation on what we would like to see in the station.

[lilburncommunityradio]

I still don't see this being able to compete with WSB but it is an interesting development.

I wonder if they'll set up a Cumulus national news radio network here at the HQ in Atlanta, and then feed it to other markets for national news and then set up smaller local news bureaus. Maybe they tie-in with a local TV news operation.

I do think that they will compete with WSB, and Who knows we may see some changes.  I think we need some REAL competition for ole WIZBEE.  They have sat , STAGNANT for a long time, so lets see what the future holds for them.  I can see this being something that WSB can't ignore.  Hopefully we will have some local news from this outlet.  GOODBYE Atlanta's Greatest Hits.. I didnt like the way the went into this format, and added songs that really dont sound good on a true oldies station.   The actual format flip to True Oldies, was horrid to say the least, no build up , no anything !!

[frdeaconjosephz]

It was just cheap background noise to keep the transmitter warm.

[Brian Scott]

Read on Facbook where Pamela Furr of RushRadio Greensboro and fill-in host for WBT Charlotte saying she has been tapped for there and making the move to ATL next week.