allaccess.com wrote:CLEAR CHANNEL's recent restructuring is expanding the established system of news "hubs" feeding coverage to smaller markets, and according to a manual sent to stations and obtained by ALL ACCESS, the new hubs in the CLEAR CHANNEL news hierarchy include HOUSTON, feeding SALT LAKE CITY, BEAUMONT, EL PASO, WACO, PENSACOLA, and FAYETTEVILLE; DES MOINES, feeding OMAHA, CEDAR RAPIDS, DAVENPORT, and MINOT; and SACRAMENTO, feeding SAN FRANCISCO, MODESTO-STOCKTON, MONTEREY, SPOKANE, and PORTLAND.
In addition, proposed "mini-anchor" hubs include ANCHORAGE, feeding FAIRBANKS; GRAND RAPIDS, feeding EAU CLAIRE and MADISON; COLUMBUS, feeding LIMA, DEFIANCE, MARION, ASHLAND-MANSFIELD, and CHILLICOTHE; SYRACUSE, feeding PROVIDENCE, SUSSEX, SPRINGFIELD, MA, and BINGHAMTON; ROCHESTER, feeding NEW HAVEN, MANCHESTER, PORTSMOUTH, NH, and WORCESTER; ALBANY, feeding POUGHKEEPSIE and HARTFORD; JACKSON, MS, feeding BILOXI; and HARRISBURG, feeding ALLENTOWN and WILLIAMSPORT. Existing hubs include CLEVELAND, RICHMOND, LOUISVILLE, ATLANTA, MIAMI, TAMPA, CINCINNATI, SAN ANTONIO, DENVER, PHOENIX, and LOS ANGELES.
In the plan distributed to stations this month, the local Operations Manager is considered the "owner" managing local news for the market, communicating with the hub "anchor markets" on quality control and providing feedback as well as alerting the anchor markets to breaking news. Local OMs will also have to provide the hubs with local pronunciation guides and develop partnerships with local TV stations and newspapers to gather sound for news reports. The plan advises local OMs to train existing staff, including producers and board operators, to provide content and notify the hubs of key stories, and to do additional newscasts outside hours handled by the anchor markets.
For emergencies, the OM is expected to have a local "all hands on deck" plan with pre-assigned duties and quarterly staff meetings. The plan also includes a public service commitment with an hourly "local connect" 30 second feature that includes local charity event announcements and a "local listener issues blog" allowing listeners to call in and leave comments on a local issue. For FM music stations, the anchor markets will send "white label" newscasts without calls or branding, which would be added on a local level
....ummm the O.M. basically is responsible for allerting the HUB to a local news-event so the hub can can voice it - carefully looking at their REGIONAL pronunication-guide so things sound local. Otherwise, the regional hub or a TV station will take care of the "local" news. The O.M. will find some church bake sale liner to pepper-in as localism. And so it goes.
