The Only Game In Town
by Brian Maloney, November 4th, 2007 at 10:30am
With power now restored for many in my neck of the woods, today is cleanup day for the South Shore, Cape and Islands. What a mess. (Much more at the Cape Cod Times)
Apparently, when it hit here it was no longer Hurricane Noel, a bit too weak, but it sure felt like one.
While fishing around for candles, torches and other battery- powered items, radio’s importance was once again front and center, which occurs during every major weather event.
What was hammered home yesterday, however, is how WBZ is now the only game in town for radio news. Performing remarkably well under rough conditions, WBZ radio had reporters stationed across the region, with one reporting from White Horse Beach, a key trouble spot.
WRKO, meanwhile, ran syndicated financial shows and other crappy, canned weekend programming.
I did catch some live updates from WXTK 95 FM, but some of the station’s regular programming did remain on the schedule. And shockingly, WATD FM in Marshfield was playing oldies during the height of the storm.
What a missed opportunity for a locally-owned outlet. Aren’t mom-and-pop outfits supposed to serve listeners better than their corporate-owned competitors? Next time, dump the music and go wall-to-wall.
The state of radio news locally is abysmal, particularly since WRKO canned its entire newsroom last year in order to finance Tom Finneran’s salary.
And even WBZ’s radio newsroom isn’t as well-staffed as it once was, with a weekend skeleton crew in place yesterday. But it made the best of what it had, once again reminding us that it is the sole remaining radio news outlet in our region.
Entry Filed under: General
13 Comments
1. Chris | November 4th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
The need for radio news, like TV news, is a sliver of what it used to be. First, the only audience AM stations have (ever had?) are drivers. And within that ‘market,’ only those for whom the signal isn’t an annoying mash of static and fading. These drivers probably logged onto the Internet before they got into their cars, and probably will again once they reach their destination. So the once-insatiable ‘need’ to find out what’s going on via WBZ is largely gone. Then, too, WBZ’s insatiable ‘need’ to pound people with commercials and ’sponsor’ every last thing they say has turned more people off. Yes, WBZ has its place. But that ‘place’ is a whole lot smaller than it ever was…and it’s not ever going to get bigger.
2. joy | November 4th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
kudos to ‘ol BZ!
3. In Traffic | November 4th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Agreed about the excessive sponsorship on BZ. Since when is the traffic helicopter the “Commerce Insurance” traffic ‘copter. Is THAT why our insurance rates are so high? They’re taking my money and paying to sponsor helicopters. Time to change insurance companies. (and radio stations!)
4. Karen | November 4th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Glad you have your power back on Brian, I know the Cape was knocked out yesterday.
5. Brian F. | November 4th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I stopped listening to WBZ a long time ago. I may listen for the first 3 minutes at the top/bottom of the hour to hear headlines but that’s it. Too many commercials and boring news.
6. Barbara | November 4th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Why doesn’t RKO give out the time anymore? Anyone notice that? No idea what time it is when listening to that station. They used to do the news at 1 minute before the hour and they used to give out the time a couple of times during the hour, now there’s never a mention of time and while we’re on the subject of time, have you noticed people now saying “it’s 45 past the hour” what happened to 6:45 or quarter to 7 etc…..has the country been dumbed down so far that it’s toooo difficult to figure out quarter to, twenty to, etc. the hour?
7. Hugh Jass | November 4th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Even in the halcyon days of RKO with Williams, Burns, and Brudnoy (yes, they all worked there at the same time once upon a time, right Brian?)… they were not so good with weather and disasters and stuff.
Can you imagine that we have gone from Williams, Burns, and Bruds to The Felon, the obviously strawberry blonde dyed Mariellen Cutie-pie, and Todd Feinburg? My, how the mighty have fallen.
Maybe it’s time to change the name of this blog, Brian, else we look like we are just tilting at windmills a la Cervantes creation Don Quijote.
8. LOL | November 4th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
This storm while unexpected, really wasn’t that bad.
WBZ is about the only AM station I listen to now.
9. Paul | November 5th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Greetings all. This is my first post. I can’t take this anymore. I have to vent about RKO and this mindless programming. I was a faithful listener of Gene Burns as well as David Brudnoy. I’ve been attempting to be faithful and listen to RKO despite what the programmers have done to it. This was the first morning in years that I had to turn RKO off due to T.F.’s inane ramblings. I just couldn’t take it anymore. Todd Fineburg has been doing pretty well, but since he took on the afternoon drive he seems to have strayed from the intellectual path and has taken on some type of comical persona (has anyone else noticed, or is it me?)I am a firm believer that radio stimulates the mind. It can result in prompting social change and verbal rebellion against the power structure. This must be the reason why RKO has decided to leave its base. That’s it for now. Thanks for listening while I blow off some steam. Thank you Brian for the website.
10. joy | November 5th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Hi paul
Nice to meet you.
You hung in there longer than most. Over at RKO It is the perfect example of “the silence is deafening”.
The analogy of the giant pink elephant in the middle of the room and nobody talks about it nobody mentions it everyone just twists and strains to get around it, this is fitting don’t
you think?
I’m not sold on tkk but it is what I have on more than anything else. Michael Graham today made a great point. He was reading an article from some paper which started something like “another illegal gun” takes a life. He was pointing out that he thought it was the gang banger holding the gun that did the crime not the gun itself. but here is the interesting part: Graham posed the question: “which would you rather have in your house the gang banger or the gun” don’t know about you but I’m going with the inanimate chunk of metal that I can control. Not the crack head violent gangster. Anyway I’m not that keen on Graham by any stretch but I thought that question took the argument to another level. Thats what I look for in radio. Howie was a master at that. There not that bad at tkk.
Glad you took the plunge Paul, Be patient, your post will show eventually.
Oh and BTY Brian: Glad everything is ok from the storm.
11. Hugh Jass | November 5th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Joy,
What are you wearing right now?
12. neggy | November 5th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Hey just wait a second..
IF there was anything newsworthy that needed reporting you and I both know Ed Perry would have been right on top of it down at WATD.
Outside of some power outages, there was really nothing TO report. I own several properties in Marshfield and none lost power, none got flooded, all was well, just another coastal storm, that most of us in Marsh-Vegas just accept as a minor event.
You owe WATD and Ed Perry an apology
13. Brian Maloney | November 5th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
WATD serves more than just Marshfield. We were slammed down here, maybe the station didn’t realize it. My neighbors are still cleaning up the damage today.