Local News Radio Dying


Posted: November 17th, 2006 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: PR Opinion | No Comments

If you’ve read the “About Us” section on the main EndGame PR website, you know I spent the first part of my post-college career primarily as a radio reporter, anchor, and news director. That’s why this news about WRVA AM here in Richmond, Virginia bothers me so much. For those of you who don’t live nearby, WRVA is our local 50,000 watt AM news/talk station. It’s been around since radios were made of stone, and has always had a newsgathering capability that was between fair and very good. At one time I was news director of a competing station that had an all news radio format. We were short-staffed at All News 990am, but we did the best we could. That station has changed formats a couple of times since I left to launch my PR career, leaving WRVA as Richmond’s only real provider of local radio news.

It saddens me to hear that WRVA’s newsroom is being stripped to essentially a “rip and read” operation. They’re not just weakening a news operation, they’re eliminating part of a station that is part of Richmond’s history. If you think I’m exaggerating, check out this exhibit at The Library of Virginia website. Also, read this entry on the Wikipedia website. Unlike some entries on that site, it’s correct so far as I can remember.

This move at WRVA is just another example of station owner Clear Channel’s commitment to homogenizing … well … everything. Every station will sound like every other. I know a bit about Clear Channel because once upon a time I was an anchor at the Clear Channel-owned Virginia News Network. Until now, I thought their approach of stripping down radio stations and sharing resources from other stations in other markets was only something they did to the music formats. I didn’t think they’d demolish the news operation at a station that can be heard in Canada on a clear night. Now I’m realizing I was wrong. With these moves, the Richmond local newscast will sound exactly like the Fredericksburg, Virginia and Norfolk, Virginia local newscasts, because they’re all reading off of the same scripts and stealing from the same newspapers.

So, now that the mega-ownership groups have destroyed local music radio and local news radio, what’s next? Well … a lot of these groups also own TV stations. Stay tuned, Richmond. If this trend continues, your local TV stations will be stripped down to one reporter each and we’ll be seeing a lot of stories from reporters based in Norfolk, Roanoke, or Charlottesville. Oh, and they’ll all be reading from their local newspapers on the air.

-Steve Mullen

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