What station got it right with NIU shooting coverage?


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Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 19, 2008 at 11:10:02:

Feder takes a look:

It was one thing for news/talk WLS-AM (890) to bail out of its coverage of the Northern Illinois University shootings at 7 p.m. Thursday to air a tape of Sean Hannity's syndicated talk show from hours earlier.

But it added insult to injury for the Citadel Broadcasting station to pat itself on the back less than 24 hours later by bragging about its coverage in an on-air promo ("death and injury at NIU and you heard it . . .").

It's easy to second-guess the decisions made on the fly when major news events are unfolding. But stories of such magnitude demand that Chicago's 50,000-watt powerhouses come through.

That was certainly the case Thursday at CBS Radio all-news WBBM-AM (780) and even more so at Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720).

To its credit, WGN stayed with the story throughout the night and into the morning hours. David Kaplan's "Sports Central," Milt Rosenberg's "Extension 720" and Steve King and Johnnie Putman's overnight show kept listeners informed and engaged.

Honorable mention also goes to a small west suburban station, which dropped its regular music programming and went with wall-to-wall coverage of the story from 3:30 p.m. on.

NextMedia Group classic hits WERV-FM (95.9), with studios just 30 miles from the site of the shootings in DeKalb, marshaled every available staffer -- from sales assistants to promotion people -- to line up interviews and feed information to Matt DuBiel, who doubles as afternoon host and operations manager.

When it really counts, some folks in radio still get it right.


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