KCBS and WBZ

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

So there I was on my way to a meeting when suddenly I found myself stuck in
traffic out here in San Jose California, at about ten minutes of 1 on an
otherwise uneventful Saturday afternoon.  I had been listening to FM, which
of course blissfully ignored a five mile backup on a highway I had been told
seldom has much traffic.  But I tuned in to KCBS-AM and my heavens, they
were doing news!!!  Not talk shows, not sports; NEWS.  And a traffic report
every ten minutes- even on Saturday.   WBZ hasn't paid much attention to
news on nights and weekends for a long time.  I wonder if ultimately most
other news stations will follow WBZ and do news mainly during the week... I
wonder too how news stations will define themselves in this era of
megalopoly and cost-cutting.  Are we seeing the end of radio news (gasp)?
San Jose State University no longer offers radio as a major anymore--
students just want to do TV... there is a campus station, but it operates
with a combination of faculty (!), community members, and some students.  To
their credit, they are trying to get more students involved, but now they
have to offer incentives-- remember when you and I would do just about
anything to get on the air, even as a volunteer??? 

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