WTBQ to launch daily news coverage of Orange County in January
Florida You turn on your radio and news from round the globe is instantaneous. What’s happening in Washington, New York, Tokyo, London or Baghdad is everywhere on the dial. But getting news on the radio that’s happening closer to home Warwick, Goshen, Woodbury - is not quite as easy. That changes on Jan. 2 when WTBQ, 1110 AM, introduces Q11, a program focused on Orange County news. “After exhaustive research into the future of AM radio it became obvious that there was a real need for local Orange County news,” station owner Frank Truatt said in a press release. “The days of music and upbeat disc jockeys has been usurped by the dozens of music sources now available from iPods to commercial-free satellite radio.” Ed Klein, the man who started WTBQ in 1969 and formerly owned The Warwick Advertiser, said it is important for people to know breaking news that is happening nearby. “We will have four half-hour shows each day, with updates throughout the day,” said Klein, who is a consultant for WTBQ and has been in the news business all of his life. “We will cover breaking news and the focus will be local news.” The shows will air each weekday at 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., noon, and 5 p.m. ABC network news will be broadcast every hour on the hour. The Q11 news will be reported by Truatt, Rob McLean, Dick Wells and Hank Gross. Daily police reports will be included as well as news events through independent local news correspondents. McLean has been a news reporter for several local radio stations and has been with WTBQ for 10 years. Wells began his radio career in the 60s with WTBQ then moved to WALL Radio in the 70s in the Bruce Morrow era. Truatt, who has owned the station for the past 11 ½ years, will engineer the news shows in the mornings. Rich Ball, who started with the station in 1969 and returned in 1996 after a long stint with WBNR, Beacon, will direct the afternoon programs. Gross, publisher of Mid Hudson News.com, also began his career at WTBQ. He will contribute daily news stories. The power of the station was recently doubled to 500 watts. Klein, who also published the Hudson Valley Business Journal and still writes a column for it and the Senior Gazette, said he is pleased with the direction WTBQ is going. “(Truatt) is very attune to what happens in the radio business,” said Klein, who is assisting in launching the new format. “I think this is how things have moved in the business. I’m happy we’re going this way. I am proud to see that WTBQ has survived as an independent in a world of giants who ignore the very communities they serve. Our motivation is to keep this station going.” All programming is simulcast on www.wtbq.com. “Our motto will be,” Klein added, “If it happens in Orange County you will hear it first on Q11.’”