It has been said in in the earliest years of radio that "All radio is local".  In this high technology, fast moving, 30 second sound byte generation, these words ring truer than ever.  Many radio station owners, managers and program directors continually prune and trim their stations' programming appeal, a very important component in building just the right sound. But what have they done to serve their communities?

 

Noticably missing for nearly 20 years are local newsrooms with pro-active local newscasters that do more than "rip and read", they investigate local items and create sound around the items. During my early broadcast years, we were thrilled to have the pleasure of helping launch NBC's National News and Information Service, by launching New Jersey's First All-News radio station. 

 

Much has changed over the last 30 years, and not for the better.  In large measure, partly due to many program directors' pre-conceived notion that local news is unimportant, and station owners looked for ways to cut overhead. Usually, the local newsroom was the first to go.

 

Unfortunately the very fabric of local radio was torn asunder by these careless decisions.  Adding fuel to this fire through the 80's and 90's were the automization of radio stations and mega-mergers.  For nearly two decades, many New Jersey area radio stations wanted that "New York signature". What they evolved into were "cookie cutter" programming with no local imagination, redundant music mix and and for many, the ratings reflected their decisions.

 

We at The New Spirit, WIBG1020AM are enjoying tremendous response from our audience to our WIBG Pro-Active local newscasts, each 4 minutes long at the top of the hour. The reason for the results are obvious. WIBG 1020AM provides strong, pro-active, audio actuality loaded -locally produced newscasts. Today with MP3 technologies and the Internet, in-studio staffing requirements are minimized. 

 

Make no mistake about it. Christians want to know what is happening  in their communities. Christians drive cars, and therefore need local traffic conditions.  Technically, this should be a no-brainer to most programmers, but most completely miss the point: All radio is local, and with a proliferation of broadcast channels, satellite delivered radio and much more, the one element many refuse to deliver is local information.

Sadly, the vast majority of new generation broadcast college graduates were inaccurately taught that local news is a community bulletin board.  It is not!  Local Broadcast News is an artform and requires that the local news director build deep relationships with community leaders. He or she needs to do what the sales department does best: build relationship with their clients and seek to understand their needs. This is exactly what the local news administrator must do.  The effort takes time and money, but over the long haul, the results are exciting and captivating, and pay off in huge dividends.

 

Consider radio as a series of concentric circles. As the local news developer reaches out, builds relationships with local officials, police and fire officials, local legislators and the proverbial "man-on-the-street", the radio station is basically building what was required by the FCC years ago, Community Ascertainment Surveys.

Abandoned long ago, the FCC had a brilliant idea to help radio station owners and managers truly serve their communities. We at WIBG 1020AM use our strong, pro-active local news department to build concensus, For example Mayor X has family and friends listen to their local news soundbyte, and they tell their friends about it, and their friends tells their friends, and so on. 

 

Make no mistake about it. Local News is alive, well and flourishing in the Greater Atlantic City-Surburban Philadelphia's Christian radio market  at WIBG1020AM. These findings are not just our own. They were reflected in a discussion with Arbitron representatives following WIBG 1020's rapid rise in popularity, and outstanding feedback from listeners. In America, there is a strong need for local news commitment with pro-activity.In an age of ever increasing mega-ownerships , Christian radio program directors and management need to invest in their audience, by providing local news service that even the secular guys in your region will quickly begin to notice. Today, "ripping and reading" simply don't make the grade. Leading local stories with local news exclusives will go a long way in establishing your station as a market leader.

 

At The New Spirit, 1020WIBG, we believe Our Lord deserves our best, and that includes providing local news leadership second to none. It's work.. but highly rewarding..