December 12, 2002 – 2:45 am
If commercial radio actually trafficked in news
An odd piece from Arab News (Saudi Arabia’s first English daily) that thinly cloaks a deep cynicism about American society underneath a tale about the proliferation of Eye-in-the-sky traffic-watch choppers). Weird…
Listeners don’t get much news these days if they tune into commercial radio stations. Coverage of national and global events is scant at best, while local news — once the pride of many AM radio stations — is now an endangered species. The remaining community news is usually the “rip and read” variety from wire services.
But let’s give credit where it’s due. In the United States, thousands of radio outlets are doing a good job of gathering one particular type of news. The coverage is often meticulous and dependable as stations devote substantial resources to providing reliable up-to-the-minute information: If you want the latest news about traffic, in all kinds of weather, turn on the radio.
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