The Infinite Dial

An interesting column this week in a place where you don't usually find a lot for the radio business, the July 21-27 issue of Variety. In "Rip and Read: TV, Radio Will Rue Print's Plunge," Brian Lowry highlights an unexpected impact of the "draconian layoffs strafing the newspaper industry" and the likelihood that less news will be generated as a result. And that's bad news for the radio station that has come to depend on the local paper as the bulk of its morning news reports.

"Talk radio stations frequently employ a news person, which is really just a lonely gnome culling half hour updates from the paper and wire. Newsradio generally exhibits the same overlap with whatever happens to be in print," Lowry contends.

If that's a little harsh on the News/Talk format, it's a more-than-fair description of most music radio morning shows where enterprise journalism disappeared two decades ago. These days, if anybody is aggressively dialing the phone at 6 a.m., it's the producer looking for a celebrity interview. The only thing that keeps USA Today from being radio's newsroom is the increased reliance on TMZ.com, which, Lowry points out, is part of the problem.

"Sure, they have TMZ and other websites devoted to sleaze and celebrity dirt, but in terms of serious and specially, local, news, the options are relatively few," he adds.