News Directors

I program newscasts 4 times a day from Public News Service. Plus I have several 1-3 min vignettes that are news related but not a newscast. Plus any Major Breaking News coverage from two international broadcasters from 2 different countries outside the USA.

The Sporty Debate Tonight.

Well, the Trump Harris Debate is being touted like some kind of Stupid Bowl Sports Game and there's still time to stock up on snacks, but don't start drinking too soon or you'll pass out before the 9 PM EDT event, scheduled at that time because it will be 7 PM Pacific Time on the west coast.

But that's not why I called. The so-called 'debate' will be heard live on KDX Worldround Radio thanks to 'Democracy Now' with Amy Goodman and her Team. I almost spelled it 'demockracy', but I'll save that for another editorial opportunity.

I'm going to vote for Dr. Jill Stein, but she is excluded from debate, although Dr. Stein can be heard on many other programs carried on KDX.

It's true that Part15org doesn't have much by way of politics, but like I said this is sports, which is not only an American way of life, but proof of patriotism. Anyone who doesn't like sports is probably a communist.

So it goes.

What I really wanted was to see Mary Anne Williamson elected into the Oval Office, but I am informed that she decided to drop out of the race. Too bad, but we all know how things work. Carl Blare's opinion may not be that of this website or its readers.

So, I don't think it's grammatically proper to start a sentence with 'so', but it's become common because so many people do it, so, I find myself doing it.

Anyway, last night I got a test tone from 'Democracy Now', and I found out that they were carrying only the TV version of the Trump-Harris Debate courtesy of ABC TV Network, even though Democracy Now is foremost a radio program, but does present a video feed of their show on their website.

By scrambling fast I found the debate on Aljazeera News Network and thought things were fairly even, both of the debaters finding things to say while appearing to know what they were saying even when it wasn't true or verifiable. It wasn't something we'd want to carry again so if there are more debates KDX will opt out.

So there.

I occasionally snag National Weather Service data and broadcast it. A couple years ago before the big move I kicked around some local news, man on the street. Will have to consider it again. Looks like I might have more time for that, or logging in here!

Ooo, country restaurant reviews. I've eaten at a bunch and that would be a good topic too.

In another thread Mark expressed that he had no interest in airing newscast, I disagreed saying I thought it as a staple, a periodic break from the music, like a touch of variety. I still feel that way, however I just came across an old article at Radio Survivor that gives their take on the matter:

"If your station airs a daily half hour newscast, get rid of it. The reasons for this are straightforward: because stations air mostly music, and these newscasts are transitioning from a different format, it’s not enough time to build up any sort of audience. Also, posting host intros and then slapping a play button on your station’s website does nothing for the station’s content..."

Why community radio stations don’t need News Directors

So much for my opinion.

My take on this is that non stop (and highly specialized in terms of genre) music is the reason radio is in so much trouble right now.  In its golden age, radio played music in a variety of genres, from popular to jazz to classical.  But it also had variety shows, and plays in the form of drama, crime, comedy and adventure.  It catered to both adult and younger audiences.  Finally, it did have news as well.

In short, radio had something for everyone.  You didn't have to worry about capturing an audience, because the audience came to you based on what they wanted to hear.

While I personally don't like news, and don't play it on Artisan Radio, much for the same reasons as Mark, I try to program in everything else.  Part 15 broadcasters should be different.  Why even attempt to copy the big boys when it's obviously not working out all that great for most of them?

"IF" I did news it would be good things that happen every day that people do that is not really news. Like a plane that runs on solar, forget the country where it was built but, it flew around the world in 40 hours running on only solar energy from the sun. For every crime, or bad thing that happens there's 500 times more good things that people do every day. Why is that not news? Do you know an albatross(bird) can stay in the air and never land? Fly around the globe and never land? They eat, sleep and hunt in the air. You get my point here. Why does everyone need to know about the latest shooting, murder, assault, rape, disasters, and all the details step by step how it happened, I think sometimes that the ones that are obsessed with having to hear this stuff and need all the details are just feeding the bad guys what they want, and have a problem themselves. Traffic reports that is the same broken record day after day, year after year....it's heavy! In the same places. It never changes! Why do you need the same broken record every day, 30 days a month, 365 days a year? The weather, OK, for a lot of people what the weather is going to be like if a snowstorm is coming is important, but I am not "live", all automated, so how would I have this stuff? And for the 3 listeners I have does it really matter? They can get this from a commercial station, or the weather channel on TV. Sports? Who cares. This guy just signed a contract for 50 million dollars, again, who cares.
Don't get me wrong I am not against having news on your station but personally, I couldn't do it even if I wanted to. I'd have to be live on air in real time and just get it from another source which is just rebroadcasting from something else, and my 2 or 3 listeners can just go to the other station,TV, or read the paper.

@Mark  I agree with you about traffic. If you happen to be driving you already know how the traffic is where you are, and if the radio reports a log-jam up ahead, how will the traffic be if you take an alternate route? The only way to find out is to take a gamble and hope for the best. Many people get lost on unfamiliar streets.

But people gravitate toward news due to an inverse psychology. We think things could go horribly wrong, but when we find out the hurricane is in Florida we feel better because local weather is calm. When we know that the bombing is very far away we feel better about going shopping. When the train crash is in Montana there's no problem because we never go to Montana. The news is a cure for subconscious paranoia.

The main thing in life is to become CEO of the corporation before age discrimination puts you out on the street.

When the music has played awhile it's like a 1 or 2 minute break from the fantasy world the music invokes to provide a dose of reality.. just for a minute, and here's the news! and then back to the music. Spices. Variety is the spice of life, and radio programming.

I really have no idea, that's just armchair speculation.

I agree with Mark where he suggest that IF he did have news it would be a more of a mock-up newscast that had a more positive vibe. However, I would still prefer to also hear a brief glance and current event headlines.

Earlier Artisian said " In its golden age, radio played music in a variety of genres, from popular to jazz to classical.  But it also had variety shows, and plays in the form of drama, crime, comedy and adventure.  It catered to both adult and younger audiences."

Did it really? That wasnt the case with college stations.. See what I posted under  the programing section here titled Education on the air.

For the golden age of radio, I was referring to the consumer-oriented stations from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Over at WorldRadioHistory.com, there are numerous publications that had local radio station schedules from this period.  In those schedules, there was a huge mixture of music, drama, variety shows and the like.  Something for everyone, as it were.

The golden age started to come to a conclusion in the mid 1950s and onwards, when the dramas and plays started to be replaced by DJ's and music.  And the variety of music played started to become more specialized, rock & roll, r&b, jazz, etc.

Today, there are dozens of sub genres even within what was termed rock & roll.

I believe that it's specialization that is killing off radio stations more than anything else.  Instead of people tuning in at a specific time to hear their favorite show or music on a local radio station, you now have people flipping radio stations because everything a single station plays sounds the same.

Yes you are completely right about the 30s'-50s. However, much of the same sentiment in regard to the college stations programming was also appearing in 30s-40s newspapers about licensed stations moving away from "tastefully music like classical and jazz and substituting it with that "popular music" that belong in bars with the riffraff and such. And keep in mind the IBS generally closely patterned themselves on the licensed stations.

Nevertheless, I do realize you made a correct assessment as a whole, still, it wasn't that cut and dry everywhere. At least based on news and mag articles from the era.