WBZ changes

[Garrett Wollman]

I've noted some changes on the air at WBZ that seem to have escaped
note here....

1) It looks like Rod Fritz and Laurie Kirby are now the permanent
anchors of the mid-day shift.  I think this is the first time they've
actually had a sufficiently consistent anchor team on middays to make
promos for that shift since Jay McQuaide left some years ago.

2) They are no longer using the Gary LaPierre-voiced legal ID,
although the new ID (about half a second shorter) is still being
buried between two spots about a minute before the top.

3) They are running the "CBS Evening News" audio from 6:30 to 7:00 --
a move so idiotic it must have come from CBS corporate.  Not only is
the TV nightly news not written or produced for radio, 6:30 is still
well within the bounds of PM drive-time for many of us.  If I'm lucky
enough to get out of work early, I want to hear traffic, weather, and
news, in that order, not some four-minute thumbsucker piece on the
economy that I can't even properly understand because of the missing
pictures.

4) In general, I feel like I'm hearing a lot less of Mike Coleman's
voice and production style.

Thoughts, anyone?

-GAWollman