Re: Jackass,Viacom&CBS

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Sat, 2 Jun 2001 13:09:41 -0400 "Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net> writes:
>
> So you would require every station to carry news?  I think that's 
> silly.
> The current trend  is niche marketing.  People listen to WBZ when 
> they want
> the news and then turn to their favorite music station when they 
> want music.
> What's wrong with that?  Why force the music station do news if 
> that's not
> what their audience wants?
> 
> -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

Actually that is not happening to the extent many believe.  When
Westinghouse bought CBS the management of WODS and WBZ looked at how much
of a crossover there was between listeners of Oldies to WBZ for news and
found there was virtually none.  Just because a station is music driven
doesn't mean they CAN'T do credible news,  they just won't.  Getting news
from only one source is not a very good idea.  I know I have covered
stories along with other reporters both print and broadcast, and when I
read or heard their account of events, in some instances I wondered what
they were doing during the event.  Not always, but enough times to know
that reporters look at events through different eyes and draw different
conclusions and I think that is a good thing>

df