A decision by the Walt Disney Company’s news radio division to use taped news bulletins during overnight broadcasting hours meant listeners to some of the country’s biggest radio stations did not hear the news about the death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham for several hours, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Graham died unexpected early Sunday morning after suffering from an aortic dissection — a tear within the artery walls of the heart — with news of his passing aired on cable news outlets and published by national news organizations shortly before 3 a.m. Eastern Time.
But radio listeners in places like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco did not initially hear about Graham’s death from all-news stations in those markets because the broadcasters relied on national reports delivered by ABC News Radio, which were recorded the prior day.
The recorded newscasts aired at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Eastern Time, with ABC News Radio publishing an obituary on the information services wire that is available to its affiliates, according to three sources at two of the network’s affiliates.
It has been standard practice for ABC News Radio to deliver recorded news bulletins to affiliates during overnight hours for at least the past two years, a byproduct of Disney committing fewer resources to the news radio division, one of the sources said.
ABC News Radio gained a substantial amount of business earlier this year after Paramount announced it was closing its century-old CBS News Radio division. The move left hundreds of all-news and hybrid news-talk stations scrambling for another source of national news bulletins that air at the top and bottom of every hour, and for alternative programming to national audio simulcasts of shows like “60 Minutes” and “CBS Evening News” that CBS News Radio provided.
Audacy, a broadcaster with all-news stations in several large cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, signed a deal with ABC News Radio in May and began airing its national bulletins on hundreds of radio stations a short time later. Some of those stations used local reporters to cover Graham’s death after ABC News Radio’s national bulletin played Sunday morning, two sources said.
Other stations did not report on Graham’s death until hours after it was announced because their overnight schedules are filled with recorded local programming, one source said. AM radio stations typically see a sizable audience drop after evening commute hours, when most Americans are home and engaged with other media platforms like TV and the Internet; 24-hour radio stations fill overnight hours with repeat airings of earlier shows to accommodate the dip in listeners.
One station executive said they weren’t aware ABC News Radio’s overnight bulletins were routinely recorded, and were surprised to learn that their station aired no update on Graham’s death until their locally-produced morning newscast started airing. The executive offered their comments on condition of anonymity because they did not have prior authorization to speak with the press.
ABC News Radio has not commented on the matter, and an e-mail sent to the company seeking more information has yet to be returned. Other national news sources, including NBC News Radio and Fox News Radio, aired timely bulletins on Graham’s passing.
ABC bills its news radio division as the largest provider of national news bulletins and programming in the country, with more than 1,500 AM and FM radio station affiliates and dozens of digital distribution partnerships. The company powers the online websites and apps of some of its affiliates, and provides national-level news articles to those platforms.
