The coronavirus is now the number one story on everyone’s mind and that means reliable up-to-the-minute news and information is key. Entercom owns many of the best all-news station in radio. Here’s how they are informing their communities.
Jeff Sottolano is Senior Vice President of Programming, Entercom. “As the industry leader in local news audio content, we take seriously our commitment to the communities we serve and our teams are working harder than ever to make sure their audiences remain informed. Our News stations across the country have been focused on the COVID-19 impact for weeks and ramped up their coverage accordingly as the virus’ impact has expanded from health to the economy to education. We are utilizing broadcast and digital inventory and organic personality integration on our Music and Sports sister stations to cross promote our coverage on broadcast and digital platforms. Finally, beginning Monday, we will be launching a daily podcast called Coronavirus Daily that aggregates content from our brands across the country and the unrivaled access to local and national leaders and newsmakers we have.”
Ben Mevorach is Brand Manager for 1010 WINS in New York City. “It comes down to trust and credibility. As millions of people in our area seek to find news that informs and doesn’t hype, they come to 1010 WINS. The same place they have come to during major crises for decades. Our entire staff is focused on bringing information, providing answers, and connecting the community. We are doing this on all platforms. When folks wake up, they want to know what has changed since they went to bed. During the day, we are broadcasting news conferences, conducting live interviews with experts, engaging in live Q & A sessions on Facebook, and providing market updates 5-times an hour. Our reporters are in the neighborhoods, covering the impact of the story on every aspect of our daily lives, from Broadway theaters to restaurant owners; from schools and city events to public transportation and the stock market. Tune in to 1010 WINS and you will get all of the facts and none of the hype. Our sister stations in New York are no less committed and have graciously provided airtime to let their audiences know that they can get live continuous coverage around the clock from 1010 WINS.
Ken Charles is Brand Manager for KNX 1070 News Radio (KNX-AM) in Los
Angeles. “The entire KNX news team is committed to providing Southern California around the clock coverage about this growing global pandemic. We have multiple reporters covering every angle daily to make sure we provide answers to the questions on everyone’s minds and also solutions to their increasing concerns. In addition, every weekday we produce a one-hour show called KNX In Depth. For the last few weeks it has been almost exclusively focused to coronavirus, featuring experts and newsmakers from around the world providing insight and perspective on the crisis. There is currently no bigger story facing our country than the coronavirus crisis. The KNX team is ready to meet that challenge and is working 24/7 for the people of Southern California. We have created an internal system between our all-news and NewsTalk stations to regularly share audio and news content as well as updates. This gives us nationwide resources to meet our responsibility to our local communities.” LISTEN TO KNX RADIO HERE
Ron Gleason is Brand Manager for WBBM Newsradio (WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM) in Chicago. “WBBM’s team of reporters and anchors have diligently been covering this story for weeks, with increased urgency as the situation has intensified. A great many people, schools, events and businesses have been impacted, so we’re keeping Chicagoans informed every step of the way. Our philosophy is to provide the news that matters in a calm, professional manner so as to educate but not scare. We’ve been carrying live news conferences with local public officials and health departments. We’ve featured live interviews with experts during our WBBM Noon Business Hour. Our reporters are talking to many who’ve been impacted. And our WBBM In-depth podcast has been taking a deep dive into Coronavirus on a regular basis. Among producers, reporters, writers and anchors, there’s not a man or woman at the station who hasn’t been involved in our coverage. And yes, we offer up material to our other news stations around the country, and vice versa. This is truly a team effort!” LISTEN TO WBBM RADIO HERE
Tim Scheld is Brand Manager for WCBS 880 Newsradio (WCBS-AM) in New York.
“This is our story. We live and work here. As members of the community ourselves, we at WCBS 880 are committed to covering this story for our neighbors, friend and family. We have deployed reporters across the area to cover the impact of COVID19 and to deliver important information to our communities in a calm and reasoned voice. We’re also sharing important updates across all of our platforms including over the air, streaming, digital, and social media. Every one of our reporters and news anchors, writers and editors have touched the coverage of this story. This is a total team effort. All of our reporting is shared within the family of Entercom stations to provide a wealth of information available for our consumers. Information is power. Facts are the antidote to anxiety.” LISTEN TO WCBS-880 HERE
Dave Richards is SVP Programming and Operations Director for Entercom’s Rock and Classic Rock Formats and HOT 103.7 (KHTP-FM) in Seattle. “This is a fluid situation and our teams are adapting accordingly. The news that affects us in the PNW is currently happening every minute of every day. All of our stations continue to share information with our community via all of our platforms as it becomes available.”
How is your station, your cluster and your company communicating information to listeners about the coronavirus? Contact [email protected] to let us know.
