Air America Radio News in Denver - Why the switch to CBS "News"?

[Coloradan4Truth]

Here in Denver, our local AAR station AM 760 has replaced AAR News (Wayne Gilman and my other favorite voices) with CBS news.

They've been screwing up the cues a bit and playing them both at the same time. From this it is evident that CBS news is, as is typical, slanted to the right. For example, I heard AAR news reporting on Cindy Sheehan, while CBS didn't mention it at all.

Does anyone know what is going on with this switch? Are other AAR stations across the country experiencing this too?

Thx for any info,
C4T

[judy]

1. Here, in San Francisco, it's CNN News...

they have AAR news throughout most of the day, then at drive time, suddenly (during Majority Report) it is CNN Whore News.

I don't know enough about radio to know why that is, but it is a pain. Bill Crowley comes in as a guest, but you don't hear his newscast before hand.

No Cindy in CNN News either...

[Todd B]

2. Is it always CBS news? Or a mix of both?

I know that the affiliate in Boston usually uses CNN for some updates and AAR for other (with some local news thrown in for good measure).

Could it be that they're using both services?

[Coloradan4Truth]

4. It seems to be always CBS news,

but I'm not listening all the time. They used to have AAR news on at the top of the hour, but then use ABC updates on the half hour. Then they made a big deal out of switching to CBS, running commercials saying something like "we're proud to announce our new partner CBS news...yada yada". I thought it would be to replace ABC, but they would still have AAR on the hour.

They must get both newscasts "streamed" (I don't know radio terminology) to them, since they screw up and play them over the top of each other.

It's a major bummer!:-(

[evil eggplant]

3. That's too bad

For me, AAR went off the air in Tahoe, but was picked up in Reno.

Like I do every morning, I turned on AAR, only instead of AAR, I got Salsa music. Major bummer. Then a Reno station (KJFK) picked up AAR and I was happy (or as happy as I can get) again.

The switch is due to market share. Evediently, the broadcaster who dropped AAR did so in an attempt to gain market share.

I would write the station and ask why they did it. Then I would tell them I would not patronize any of their advertisers.

I know, it's a futile gesture, but for me, it would be the right thing to do.

[mrdmk]

5. KTLK in Los Angeles uses their own local team (?)

Clear Channel owns both stations here in Southern California, KTLK in Los Angeles and KLSD in San Diego. The Los Angeles Station uses a local team with traffic updates in Los Angeles County only, no traffic updates for Orange County. The news KTLK reports is a more or less national news, I do not know how puts together the script. KLSD the last time I heard them was using CNN. In my informed opinion, both reports are a watered down joke.

Side Note: The reason Clear Channel started playing AAR was because a lot of these small stations that they own were breaking even or losing money. AAR comes along and these small stations become a less of a loss or are now making money. Surprise! Apparently Clear Channel had a buy, buy strategy with no clear idea on how to making money with all of these acquisitions. Of course Clear Channel also bought Stations KIIS Los Angeles, KSTR Los Angeles and KGB San Diego. KIIS was on the most listened to a the biggest money maker in the nation before Clear Channel came along and KGB was the most listened to in the San Diego area, of course this before Clear Channel acquired that station also. This come down to BIG BUCKS and no know-how, some corporate strategy.

As far as airing CNN, Fox and CBS news, their are reports that these news services are cheaper.