The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Plane Speaking: Why It's Good To Have A News Person In On A Holiday

**Posted by RadioActive** February 17, 2025 4:54 pm

Because you just never know what might happen or when.

A perfect example: the emergency like the one at Pearson Airport, in which a Delta Airlines jet wound up crashing onto its roof while landing, injuring a still undetermined number of people.

CFRB brought in morning newsman Stuart McGinn to anchor coverage and provided some CP24 updates. AM640, which has mostly eschewed news all day and fired a lot of its newsroom staff a few months ago, was mostly silent about the incident. (They were running a John Oakley rerun when it happened.)

We talked in an earlier thread about the endless rerolls on many of the stations on Family Day. But leaving the newsroom on standby is always a risk. Given the importance of this story and the worldwide attention that's sure to follow, they should also bring in a host that can give longer coverage to the emergency. Some nicidents are more important than a holiday.

**Posted by Dicky Doo** February 17, 2025 5:31 pm

Zach Nolan, the youngster (traveler) reporting from the crash for CTV is doing an excellent job

CDP:geo

Last edited by Dicky Doo (February 17, 2025 5:32 pm)

**Posted by ckg927** February 17, 2025 5:36 pm

680 NewsRadio is going full tilt with this, which is no surprise.

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 17, 2025 5:37 pm

ckg927 wrote:
680 NewsRadio is going full tilt with this, which is no surprise.

Phrasing!

**Posted by RadioActive** February 17, 2025 6:01 pm

This is a huge story of worldwide importance and I would not be surprised if it is the lead on all the U.S. nightly news shows. The real question is whether they can get a reporter here in time for the broadcast.

**Posted by ckg927** February 17, 2025 6:08 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
ckg927 wrote:
680 NewsRadio is going full tilt with this, which is no surprise.
Phrasing!

I always had a way with words.... ;)

**Posted by ckg927** February 17, 2025 6:09 pm

RadioActive wrote:
This is a huge story of worldwide importance and I would not be surprised if it is the lead on all the U.S. nightly news shows. The real question is whether they can get a reporter here in time for the broadcast.

WGRZ in Buffalo is getting a crew up to Toronto; unsure about the other local stations.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 17, 2025 6:22 pm

ckg927 wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
This is a huge story of worldwide importance and I would not be surprised if it is the lead on all the U.S. nightly news shows. The real question is whether they can get a reporter here in time for the broadcast.
WGRZ in Buffalo is getting a crew up to Toronto; unsure about the other local stations.

That may be the only way anyone will get here from out of town. The airport has been closed pending the investigation, so unless you can get here via the Island's Billy Bishop Airport or Hamilton and drive there, there's no real quick way to reach the scene.

AM640 got lucky in this - they've leveraged morning man Greg Brady to do non-stop coverage (after too long a delay) who happened to be on stand-by to do post-debate analysis. You have to wonder what they might have done if he wasn't working the later shift.

Meanwhile, 1010 is simulcasting CP24 non-stop to cover the story.

Kind of ironic though if you think about it. A major story like this will be interrupted for a 90 minute (or longer) debate that all the stations are committed to carry, an event that now seems like an afterthought given the world's attention to this accident.

**Posted by Dave The OTA guy** February 17, 2025 8:28 pm

RadioActive wrote:
This is a huge story of worldwide importance and I would not be surprised if it is the lead on all the U.S. nightly news shows. The real question is whether they can get a reporter here in time for the broadcast.

BBC News (UK) didn't mention it until 20 minutes into their 10PM newscast. The Ukraine peace talks took up the first 20 minutes.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 17, 2025 8:32 pm

Dave The OTA guy wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
This is a huge story of worldwide importance and I would not be surprised if it is the lead on all the U.S. nightly news shows. The real question is whether they can get a reporter here in time for the broadcast.
BBC News (UK) didn't mention it until 20 minutes into their 10PM newscast. The Ukraine peace talks took up the first 20 minutes.

Did not see CBS, but both ABC and NBC devoted a large segment of their evening newscasts to it, with both unsurprisingly leading with the breaking story and doing several sidebars on the issue of aviation safety.