ENTERTAINMENT
Vo,cbt-b*
Roger Nadel is revamping
a local radio station to
give listeners more news
with substance.
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ADRIEN CHANDLER
Special to The Jewish News
ow many radio news
programmers get a
chance to revamp a
large, network-owned, major
market, all-news station?
According to Roger Nadel,
not too many. But that's exact-
ly what happened to this
39-year-old native southern-
Californian, brought in by
CBS to overhaul and then
fine-time its newest acquisi-
tion: WWJ-AM (950).
CBS purchased WWJ and
its sister station WJOI-FM in
March 1989 from Detroit-
based Federal Broadcasting.
Nadel was brought on board
in July. A career newsman
with CBS, Nadel started as a
copy boy at KNX-AM, the net-
work's all-news radio giant in
Los Angeles, and worked his
way up through the ranks to
become assistant news
director.
Though he could have opted
to stay in Los Angeles, Mr.
Nadel couldn't turn down the
news director's job at WWJ.
"This was a unique oppor-
tunity within CBS. To be
given the chance to come into
a new property, a property
which had the reputation that
WWJ had in the past, one of
the real jewels of all-news
radio, — I couldn't pass it up."
Mr. Nadel says he arrived
with a mandate from CBS: to
make WWJ sound better. Both
he and CBS thought that
WWJ, while still a news-and-
ratings powerhouse in Detroit,
had been foundering, but
could regain some of its
former luster. So, Mr. Nadel
H
began tinkering under WWJ's
hood.
"Roger had an immediate
impact," says WWJ/WJOI vice
president and general
manager Rod Zimmerman.
"He has really made (the sta-
tion) much more consistent
and reliable for the listener."
Some of the changes
listeners can hear, Mr. Nadel
says, are a more streamlined
and organized format, less
clutter, better programming
continuity, regular sports,
traffic and weather reports,
and a more community-
oriented approach to news-
gathering and reporting. One
change they can't hear is a
completely computerized
state-of-the-art newsroom. The
changes in part reflect the
"CBS way" of radio presenta-
tion, but are also tailored to
Detroit.
"There are things that drive
this city that are different
from any other city," Mr.
Nadel says.
Veteran reporter Gary
Baumgarten says he thinks
the station is turning out a
much-improved product. He
likened WWJ's operation prior
to the CBS takeover to a rud-
derless ship. He says Mr.
Nadel's hand at the tiller has
been a good one.
"I think Roger is an ex-
cellent administrator. He's got
great news judgement. We
now have people in charge of
the station who not only
understand radio and broad-
casting, but how to put
together an all-news radio sta-
tion. I've never been happier
in the 10 years I've been at
WWJ."
During his 14-year tenure at
KNX, Mr. Nadel worked ex-
clusively off-air as an editor, a
job he describes as "one of the
most prestigious, but with the
worst hours." As an editor and
then executive producer, Mr.
Nadel enjoyed the behind-the-
scenes work of orchestrating
coverage of news events, tak-
ing a story from concept
through completion.
"The challenge, as an editor
or producer, is coming up with
the idea, positioning people
correctly to cover the story,
and then communicating to
them what you want so they,
Mr. Nadel arrived
with a mandate
from CBS: to make
WWJ sound better.
in turn, give you back what
you're looking for. I got a great
charge out of seeing my ideas
work."
As WWJ's director of news
and programming, Mr. Nadel
has control over the flow of
programming — the kind of
stories the listening public
hears — and has to mesh a
staff of 30 full-time and 15
part-time people into a respon-
sive news-gathering operation.
Over the last year, Nadel has
tried to shift the station's
focus, "to reflect what's real-
ly on people's minds, to give
them news that has more
substance."
One change has been to de-
emphasize crime reporting.
Mr. Nadel says he won't
neglect crime news, but wants
to put it into better perspec-
tive. "Covering crime news is
like eating Twinkles," he says.
"It satisfies for the moment,
but you don't come away with
anything. It's very low
substance information. We're
trying to give people food for
thought."
That thoughtful food in-
cludes beefed-up daily
coverage and expanded, local-
ly generated programming,
such as the station's new
"cover story" series — an in-
depth examination of a key
story. Mr. Nadel also is requir-
ing staffers to generate mon-
thly documentaries on impor-
tant local issues. His goal is to
make the station more ap-
petizing for the listener.
"It gives us a chance to show
that we can do more than the
same half dozen stories every
other radio station is doing
every day," he says. "It's not
just whether you covered
them, but how you covered
them, how creatively. Did you
make good use of sound? Did
you do it concisely? Did you
make it thoughtful?
"What we think is going to
make the future of this radio
station are elements which
demonstrate to people that we
are reaching out to be good
members of the community.
Those are the shadings that
determine listeners' habits:'
One example of WWJ's new
attitude was the live, con-
tinuous coverage of the Detroit
Free Press Marathon last Oc-
tober, for which the station
won a United Press Interna-
tional award.
"No one had ever covered a
marathon by radio here," Mr.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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