Re: well it's the thought that counts

[Mark Shneyder <bostonradio@yahoo.com>]

--- Kevin Vahey <crimson@channel1.com> wrote:
> Bloomberg Radio (AM 1130) in New York last week changed it's format to
> compete with WCBS and WINS and the rumor mill seems to indicate that this
> is being done waiting for the soom rumored blowing up of WCBS 880 and the
> move to 880 of WINS ( however nobody seems to know what Mel will do with
> 1010)


WBBR could actually succeed with the local angle even if both
WCBS and WINS around for a while. Bloomberg's station already has a very 
large news staff in NYC market so it's not like they have
to invest large sums of money to build a news organization from
ground up. Also, they have over 1,000 reporters/freelancers in some
80 countries. I think CBS probably has 10 foreign-based reporters covering
80 countries. In addition, WBBR's (not so large) audience loyalty is one of
the highest in metro NY. Hiring of veteran beat reporters 
Farnsworth, Lebe, Fishkin away from 'CBS and Liberman from WINS was done
to add more credibility(those guys have 100 years of combined
experience) and of course, name recognition. They also added
Former Mayor Ed Koch and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato who spat
over issues in a taped five-minute feature titled "A Touch of Class" 
which airs only on Saturdays at 2:19 am, 6:19 am, 10:19 am, 2:19 pm,
6:19 pm, and 10:19 pm. It was actually pretty entertaining yesterday
with all the election mess taking place in FL.

I was in NY for a few days this week and got a chance to
catch the new format on Thursday, Friday and yesterday and
the stations seems to give a better(very professional) 
overall package, IMHO. 'BBR still does feature in-depth business
reports, at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour,
but now they're supplementing it with Data Checks every 10 minutes and live reports
from the NYSE(not tape delayed as before). Weather and detailed
traffic updates also air every 10 minutes, with traffic reports backed
by their Bloomberg Chopper and CommuterCam cameras. Sports updates
air at 20 and 50 past the hour.
 
I was just thinking that a 'BBR type station, with perhaps a little more
emphasis on hi-tech news during business updates, could actually
flourish in Boston. Not all the people who listen to the folksy(snooze)
news presentations here are sheep. But, it would require some serious money
to make it work against an already established news presence here.

Speaking of NYC, WABC  slashed Dr.Laura's Mon thru Thursday
schedule by an hour two weeks ago. She's now on from 10-11:45, Mon-Thursday and
10-11 on Fridays. WABC expanded Denver-based consumer-advice Tom "The
Troubleshooter" Martino from 9am-10am Mon-Friday. He's still on Saturday
mornings...


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