News from the other end of the dial
As a general rule, I try to waste too much time following what goes on in the world of commercial radio, but this story has been creating some buzz in the public radio world:
Bonneville International made some headlines today by announcing a shakeup of their stations in Washington, DC. Bonneville will move news/talk station WTOP, and classical station, WGMS, to new frequncies, and launch a new news station. According to an article in the Washington Post:
...[T]he stations will be the "long-form" version of WTOP's shorternews reports, with interviews, commentary and news provided by The Post's journalists.
Radio Ink says the new station
will include in-depth local, national and international news and commentary
provided by The Post's reporters, editors, and columnists as well as news
makers and other local media personalities.
There's plenty I don't know about commercial radio, but I'm having trouble seeing how this is a good move in the long run. Is there really a compelling need, or much of an audience, for more news/talk in a market that akready includes WTOP, WMAR, C-SPAN radio, and two all-news NPR stations? I can buy the argument that DC denizens have a healthy appetite for news, but it sounds to me like they're slicing the salami pretty thin.
I could be wrong, of course. When WETA dropped its classical music and went all-news, I predicted that there wasn't enough audience for them to split it with WAMU and still stay in business. The jury's still out on that one, in my opinion. But I guess we're about to find out just how much news Washington really wants.
An interesting side note: Classical music fans in DC continue to get the shaft. WETA defended its format change a year ago by pointing out that classical music was still on WGMS. Now Bonneville moves WGMS and its music to a frequency that doesn't have quite as much reach.
posted by Nathan Irwin @ 12:47 AM
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