It's all and good Keri making these suggestions, but to keep costs down, the journalist drives the desk, so there isn't the time to read the copy in the short time they're cueing up copy, playing said copy, the split travel and weather and commercials. In addition to arranging interviews and talking to other journalists.
As anyone would know, there are different ways of delivering the news and LBC News does that well without having to sound as if they're on Radio 4.
I think the station has already proved it's worth, and I think they've got a format which works. However, there are a couple of small things I would change.
Firstly, bring in more regular presenters. They don't need to be big names, but I quite like how I know I can tune in at breakfast and get Lisa Aziz, and tune in during the afternoon and get Jim Diamond. However, on Thursday and Friday evenings, you have no idea who you'll get. And at the weekends, it's a complete guess. It might just be me, but I'd like to know if I'll be getting John Stratford, Josh Coupe, or Philip Chryssikos. Overnight, it makes sense to leave it without a named presenter, because of the mix of live headlines and pre-recorded segments. However, when fully live, I don't see why they can't give the other presenters regular slots.
Secondly, they really should advertise the station a bit more. I reckon an ad campaign would do the station some good and give a further boost to audience figures.
Finally, they should make it available on TV. I can understand why it might be a challenge to put it on Freeview. However, surely it'd be possible to put it on Sky, Freesat & Virgin Media. I get that it's available for most people on D1, but I can't get D1 stations where I live, which means that I can only hear it through my rubbish phone speaker.
I recognise all the points Keri makes - certainly some sharpening up wouldn't go amiss.
With the automated overnight segments, some of the presenters are better at making it sound as-live (with a slightly conversational tone) than others, with certain presenters sounding stilted and formal in a way they wouldn't if presenting live.
They quite often play out reports with multiple sign-offs that haven't been edited:
This. It works. You put it on at :00, :20, or :40 and you know exactly what to expect. If you want in-depth reporting switch to Radio 4. For a normal news bulletins, LBC News is a good service.
The first thing I'd do is remove Ian Payne. His delivery doesn't suit the format. He's perfectly fine on LBC where he can be more analytical and conversational with John from Egham or Julie from Leeds.
John Stratford has proved to be more than capable at the format on drive and should present 5 days a week. You don't have to be a 'name' to deliver the news, the job is to deliver it in an accessible fast paced rolling news format.
I think they also need to evaluate when to switch from live to semi-automation. 7pm is too early, but they've been regularly staying on until 10pm live and on one occasion they stayed live until 10.40pm.
Lisa Aziz and Martin Stanford have the solid stalwarts the station needs, transferring their ability to ad-lib for hours on end on rolling news tv channels to radio and Jim Diamond showed his worth when covering events at London Bridge yesterday.
Somebody like Bill Overton would be ideal to move across from LBC newsreading duties.
Always very capable on Talk Radio back in the day presenting the early show solo then co hosting Breakfast with Kirsty Young. Just reading seems a bit of a waste of his talents.
I do agree that they need to stay live until 10pm on weekdays at least.
Josh Coupe has proved to be one of the better newscasters on LBC News, with a style and delivery that works really well, and I actually enjoy listening to him. If they do move Ian Payne off of drivetime, give that to John Stratford, and make Josh Coupe the regular evening presenter. I think that slot will suit him well.
Overall, LBC News is a great station, and for me, it's become something of a semi-regular listen, especially if I need to catch the main news quickly, I know I can do that, but I can also get some absolutely brilliant packages from reporters, who know the story well and tell it well too. There have been a couple in particular that absolutely hooked me from beginning to end of the piece, and got me thinking, which is exactly what great reporting should do.
I will say the weekend output needs some regular presenters, especially around Saturday & Sunday Breakfast. Those are still important listening times, and a good regular presenter on those slots will do the station a lot of good.
André Morgan did his first stint on LBC News since the rebrand this morning and it showed. Stumbling and mentioning the old station name numerous times. He was like this on the old station.
Weekends IMHO sound like LBC London News depending on the presenter on shift.
