My local radio news station, WTOP, is a CBS affiliate. At least, I’m assuming that because they air CBS news on the hour as well as CBS special reports. However, their weatherman is the guy from TV channel 7, which is an ABC affiliate, and they always make a point to say he’s from ABC Channel 7. I think they also air other promotion spots for the channel 7.
Doesn’t CBS care about this? Wouldn’t CBS prefer that they be cozy with channel 9 instead? Or is CBS radio so firewalled from CBS television that they just care that they air the news when they’re supposed to?
(I’m putting this in GQ rather than CS because although it involve entertainment media it’s really a business question.)
Perhaps they only contract with CBS for news because they don’t have their own fully-staffed news department? Same with the ABC station for weather because they can’t afford to hire their own meteorologist? Do you ever hear a local newscaster on WTOP, or is it always CBS? That should be a clue into who provides their services.
(BTW, I’ve picked up WTOP down here on a few freak occasions!)
WTOP is an all-news station (and in uptight straitlaced DC it has the biggest audience in the market). So they have a huge news crew.
They had The Weather Channel doing their weather for a while, and credited them as such (not sure if they still do) and have their own weather guys too, but not sure if they’re full-feldged meteorologist or just “weather readers.”
They also have their own traffic editor and traffic reporters. Their most popular traffic reporter, who does morning drive time, also does traffic for the ABC TV station. She is an employee of Metro Traffic, although WTOP does not seem to go out of its way to say so. Maybe they introduce her by saying, “And now Lisa Baden of Metro Traffic” or something like that, but “Meto Traffic” is so generic you don’t realize they are actually talking about a company.
I’ve just looked at their program schedule, and they use programs from CNN, FOX News, People Magazine, Time Magazine, Meet The Press and other souces in addition to CBS. So my guess is that CBS provides national and international newscasts, and their local staff covers DC and environs, and the other sources provide the rest. It’s likely that the ABC station has a meteorologist and WTOP doesn’t, so when you’re not getting LiveDoubleDopplerRadar weather from the TV station, any other weather they read comes off AP or noaa.gov.
Absolutely true. The only requirement (and it’s a loose one) is that affiliates who run network programming must leave the network spots intact, but I have never seen an agreement that requires affiliates to run particular network content or bar them from running a competitor (local content agreements sometimes do this, and sports is a whole other animal…).
Weather is one of the most popular features a radio station provides; it is usually a key differentiator in the market (whether that’s real or perception I leave aside for now). My guess is the ABC weatherman costs WTOP next to nothing; Channel 7 loans the weatherman services to the station in exchange for a mention of the channel on the air; it is strictly a local agreement.
Incidentally, station managers perceive weather to be so great a market indicator they will sometimes hire out-of-town services simply because the service presents with an AMS-certified meteorologist. I know of one talk station in Ohio that (years ago) contracted with a meteorologist in Florida; he’d literally phone in the weather for drop-ins during, say, bottom-of-the-hour breaks, and was available for special reports when severe weather threatened. I got the impression the fellow had several stations across the country he supported; it’s almost a business you could run out of your apartment…
A network can’t stop an affiliate from affiliating with more than one network. In the case you’re talking about, it’s for different types of services. The CBS radio network doesn’t offer local weather reports. They’re not competing. Additionally, ABC 7 is really WJLA-TV. It’s an ABC affiliate, but it’s not part of ABC. It’s an independent entity.