When Local Radio News Isn't

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An academic study of "outsourced" radio news -- when "big-city radio stations produce and package local news stories for sister stations in distant markets" -- concluded that the practice has drastically changed the news landscape. University of Colorado journalism professor Lee Hood found that more than 40% of radio stations now do news for stations outside their own market. "The 'hub and spoke' system enables large radio conglomerates to employ fewer people and cut costs, but authenticity, regional nuances and topical public affairs reporting are lost in the process," according to a UC press release. Denver's KOA Radio used to outsource news to Omaha, NE, and Cleveland, OH, used to provide news to Milwaukee stations. Cleveland stations still outsource news to Pittsburgh. "To have somebody who may not even have been in your community ostensibly deciding what's news in your community, well, I think that's alarming," stated Hood.