End of An Era

Lots of “had to’s” today. I had to drop Steffie’s car at the dealer. I had to pick up a disk from my friend Kevin. I had to go to work – not my usual Sunday plan.

That’s why I was in the car as we approached the top of the hour. This has always been my time to hit the network news. OK – I’m a living anachronism, but I still listen to network radio news on the hour anytime I’m in the car.

WCBS had the Yankees game, so I went to WQUN. They had a ballgame too. WAVZ, now mostly Air America talk shows and CNN Radio Network news was also in the middle of a baseball game. As I tuned and tuned, I could find no network news!

I can’t remember this ever happening before. I’ve always been able to find a NOTH and nearly always it was CBS.

It has been getting harder to find over time. I remember driving up I-95 in Ft. Lauderdale this past winter and being pleased to hear Bob Hardt’s network cast from ABC. I was pleased because of how sparse these newscasts have become.

There was a time when radio stations had to commit to presenting news in order to keep their license. As strange as it seems now, top-40 stations would pause every hour for a newscast. With all the outlets available today it probably isn’t as necessary.

Write it down – May 1, 2005. The first day I could no longer depend on network radio news. It’s a shame.

3 thoughts on “End of An Era”

  1. I feel the same way about this. I think, if CBS AM is going to advertise as a “news” station, it should stick to news. I emailed you in agreement on this subject before — it is one of my pet peeves, especially about CBS. 1010 WINS in NYC broadcasts news 24/7, but I can’t pick it up here, most of the time. Evidently a much weaker signal than CBS AM.

    Carol R.

  2. And another reason that I’ve switched to Satellite radio. You want news? Top of the hour? you have it. From Fox, ABC, CNN and BBC.

    Yeah you pay for something that you can get for free, but terrestrial radio has evolved in a bad way and Satellite radio is giving people what they want.

    It is really worth looking in to.

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