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

[Rick Rose 2.0]

2-3 minutes of news an hour compared to a full hour of news every hour.

[frdeaconjosephz]

Will this action force Cox to move the FM simulcast of AM 750 WSB from 95.5FM to 98.5? and move B98.5 to 97.1 and create a Kiss FM simulcast at 104.1 & 95.5FM?

[RoddyFreeman]

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.

The rumor is Atlanta will be a news hub, and the same anchors will provide news to Cumulus news/talk stations around the country.  I also don't see a Cumulus all-news product being able to compete with WSB.  But if they amortize the cost of the employees over stations across the U.S., it could still be profitable.

[wpb1999]

Will this action force Cox to move the FM simulcast of AM 750 WSB from 95.5FM to 98.5? and move B98.5 to 97.1 and create a Kiss FM simulcast at 104.1 & 95.5FM?

WALR has REALLY GOOD potential.... I would not drop them for a second.  And, with 106.7 going away, why would you get rid of the only classic hits station left.  Speaking of the River, I think that they should start playing Motown and the 70s pop.  Fill the shoes of WYAY.

[BarryATL]

The new WNEW in Washington DC is not all news.  I have been listening to it and there is about three minutes of news every 10 minutes.  The rest is the traffic, weather, commercials (lots of commercials), and fluff.  It sounds like Dickey is describing the same type of format. 

WNEW repeats the time and temp over and over and over and over.  They even keep saying "repeating the current temparture of 65 degrees".  It seems like they avoid news.  Basically, WNEW covers three or four "news" stories in a thirty minute segment.  So, they may call it all news, but I don't think it qualifies.  It definately does not live up to WINS (if we are talking about a fast paced news format).

So, we will see what the Dickey's bring us.

[wpb1999]

Don't forget about Radiate Media and Cumulus' In-House Traffic!
http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/2320-cumulus-and-radiate-team-up-to-launch-new-nationwide-radio-traffic-reporting-service

What does this make: in-house local news, in-house national news, and in-house traffic.

[kal30005]

The rumor is Atlanta will be a news hub, and the same anchors will provide news to Cumulus news/talk stations around the country.  I also don't see a Cumulus all-news product being able to compete with WSB.  But if they amortize the cost of the employees over stations across the U.S., it could still be profitable.

I wonder since the hub would be in Atlanta if they might be able to tie-in with CNN's Atlanta resources for their national news as opposed to creating their own from scratch. I don't mean them becoming CNN radio but maybe partnering with them somehow to get national news coverage. That could make the national news component work.

And I agree that even though it might not compete with the bigger established local radio news stations, it could still make money. And if they don't try to recreate the wheel and can tie into other resources, like CNN for national news coverage and local TV news for local news coverage, it would probably be very inexpensive to program.

[ExNuYawker]

I'm tired of Scott Slade and Capn Herb in the mornings.  Mark Arum makes me ill. Same old script every day. I am looking forward to a new player.

[kal30005]

If nothing else, the competition will push WSB and probably make them better too.

[gregg75]

I am not a big TALK fan. I would be a lot more likely to listen to news than talk (but probably for less
than 10 minutes at a time).