LA and ICE protests -- when is / isn't the news?
Over the weekend, we took advantage of free Metro rides to visit Little Tokyo, specifically on Saturday night. We had a delightful time, leaving around 7 p.m. When we got home, I turned on the TV to watch the local news. Suffice to say, we left Little Tokyo just in time.
Jason Armond, LA Times
In a major market such as Los Angeles, both radio and TV generally do an admirable job with breaking news. The past weekend's protests about local immigration raids was a rapidly evolving story. By Sunday, the LA stations were providing wall-to-wall coverage. But at least on the radio, it wasn't perfect.
Rebecca Ellis, LA Times
Tuning in Sunday morning, as expected the two major news outlets, KNX and KFI, were providing continuous coverage particularly when fires broke out and freeways were being blocked. Not unexpectely, the Dean of local radio journalists, Pete Demitriou, was leading the KNX team coverage (and taking an indirect shot of pepper spray). He was joined by John Baird and Emily Valdez out in the field, with Rob Archer and Larry Perel co-anchoring in studio, followed by Margaret Carrero and Bob Brill, with Chris Sedens providing additional support.
Over at KFI, they provided their usual mix of news and ongoing commentary, with Michael Monks providing live reports while Mark Thompson and Chris Merrill hosting other KFI personalities and listener calls throughout the day. As expected, they were particularly adamant about their...er, disagreements with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. I also believed I heard John Kobylt sometime during the afternoon, I may be mistaken.
By Monday, Barrett Media reported both KFI's Michael Monks and KNX's Pete Demitriou were hit by tear gas while covering the protests.
Chris Sedens, John Kobylt
To reiterate, the coverage by both stations on Sunday was noteworthy. And yet.
Myung J. Chun, LA Times
As I mentioned, on Saturday night I instinctively tuned into both KFI and KNX. At KFI, it was the "Revisionist History" podcast hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, followed by George Noory. There was some mention about the increasing number of protestors facing off with law enforcement during the :00 and :30 updates, but it was one item among several headlines. There was no reports coming directly from Downtown LA.
Malcolm Gladwell, George Noory, Heather Brooker
I then tuned over to KNX. The aforementioned Bob Brill was the evening anchor, apparently watching TV coverage, doing his best to describe to his radio audience what was quickly becoming a major story. He did have the capable Sioux-Z Jessup in the traffic center, providing updates about the crowds gathering in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center, then reporting on protestors blocking the 101 Freeway.
Sioux-Z Jessup
What was missing from both stations was any reporters available to report from the scene. Eventually KNX tapped into their (former) sister station KCAL to get some audio from reporters at the scene, otherwise it was Brill and Jessup doing the best they could.
We've already offered accolades to the still outstanding staff KNX offers, yet it's likely former News Director Julie Chin would have had the station prepared to quickly respond even on a Saturday night, given the start of the protests on Friday. Again, the station did a very good job on Sunday and Monday, bringing in their weekday anchors to complement the reporters out in the field.
Yet it was just two years ago KNX's Pete Demitriou (does the man ever sleep?) provided continuous overnight coverage from Monterey Park during the tragic shooting at the Star Ballroom dance studio, including live coverage of the 4 a.m. press conference. And both KNX and KFI, as well as NPR affiliates KCRW and LAist 89.3 (KPCC), were invaluable during the wildfires earlier this year, when cell towers went down and watching TV wasn't an option.
Allow me to provide a short comment. I lived in Northern California during some the glory days of KGO when the news / talk outlet boasted eight hours of solid news blocks each weekday with a fully staffed news department, completely competitive with rival all-news KCBS. The station dominated San Francisco for years.
KFI provided Southern California a leaner news operation, but like KGO, offered award-winning comprehensive news coverage that reflected the station's big footprint on the local ratings. I'm not one to "pine for the old days," and I'm fully aware of the budget challenges of iHeart and radio in general. Nonetheless, to see KFI's outstanding news operation chopped not only bothers me as a listener, but removes one more important source of information.
What's happening at KNX is a bit more puzzling. In January, the station has recently attained their highest ratings in decades, which was the goal of Silverman when Audacy brought him in from Philadelphia market leader KYW. Chin has had a long record of success since her days at San Francisco's KGO. The all-news outlet has largely maintained their audience after their wall-to-wall coverage of the January wildfires. But since April, both Silverman and Chin are gone with their positions left unfilled.
Chris Ebbott is now the KNX brand manager, but this adds to his responsibilities overseeing oldies K-EARTH (KRTH), classic rock JACK-FM (KCBS-FM), urban contemporary The WAVE (KTWV), plus overseeing Audacy's Classic Hits format for 13 Audacy stations across the country. He also is in charge of Audacy's Channel Q, an EDM and LGBTQ+ streaming network, also featured on 40 HD-2 (locally on 97.1 FM HD-2) stations in different US markets. Ebbott has had a record of success, most notably in revamping K-EARTH and lowering the station's demographics. Nonetheless at best one has to wonder how much time he can devote to a demanding all-news operation, plus I'm assuming he's not responsible for assigning reporters to go cover breaking news.
OK, I confess. Maybe I occasionally "pine for the old days" when I think the public is better served with more sources of news, not less. Streaming services were rendered useless to evacuees during the recent wildfires, plus radio once again proved its ability to be nimble and highly informative in emergencies.
At this writing, the immigration raids and the protests are ongoing. Eventually this story will no longer warrant extensive coverage. But something will happen which listeners can't access TV and their cell phones will be dead. Can I / we still count on radio?
And a P.S. When things return back to normal, please pay a visit to Little Tokyo. It's well worth it.
I wanted to clarify a few formats for radio stations you mentioned. KRTH is not oldies. It is "classic hits", featuring music from the 1970's, 1980s and 1990s plus some songs from the early 2000s. Oldies is music from the 1950s and 1960s. KRTH used to be an "oldies" format, but not for many years now. KCBS FM/JACK is not a classic rock format. It is an "adult hits" format, according to the website Radio Insight that covers the radio ratings, although it does play some songs considered to be classic rock, but more songs considered alternative rock. KLOS is a "classic rock" format. KTWV/The WAVE is not adult contemporary, it is "rhythmic AC" Straight ahead (non-rhythmic) adult contemporary is KOST. This is all from the Radio Insight website.
ReplyDeleteOn the other topic I want to being up, I know it has been a while since he died, but I still want to hear your thoughts about the passing of KROQ's Jed the Fish (Edwin Gould III). He was a radio legend for many decades and really helped to popularize the alternative rock format. He had an amazing personality and was very passionate about playing new and upcoming bands in the alternative rock format, from new wave to indie rock, among other subgenres.