Tyler, Texas — Nexus Radio News, the network newscast service for independent and low-power radio stations from Nexus Broadcast, is adding local weather to its early-access offer. Stations can now take a 15-second current-conditions update and a 30-second forecast, voiced for their own market and refreshed every hour, alongside the hourly 1-, 3- and 5-minute network newscasts.
"Every station I've ever helped put on the air asked the same two questions: where do I get news, and where do I get weather," said Leo Ashcraft, founder of Nexus Broadcast and Nexus Radio News. "The news we've answered. This answers the weather, for a station in a town of 3,000 the same as a station in a city, and it costs less than one spot a day."
How it works
An affiliate enters its city or ZIP code on its affiliate page and chooses how the anchor should name the area. From then on, each hour's cuts are built from the National Weather Service data for that location, with any active watch or warning leading. The files land in the station's own folder on the station computer, fetched by the same one-command setup that delivers the newscasts, and the automation plays them at the top of the hour. There is no receiver, dish or installation.
Rates
Current conditions are $20 a month, the forecast $25, or both cuts for $35, the same price for commercial, LPFM and full-power noncommercial stations. Early-access affiliates lock in founding-station rates for their first year. The network newscasts remain free to commercial stations on barter, with LPFM stations from $20 a month and full-power NCE stations from $40.
Stations can register interest now at nexusradionews.com/apply, ticking the weather cuts they want on the application. Details of the service are at nexusradionews.com/weather.
About Nexus Radio News
Nexus Radio News is a Nexus Broadcast service, owned and operated by Leo Ashcraft, whose first syndicated newscast network grew to more than 400 affiliate stations between 2013 and 2016. The new network delivers hourly newscasts, breaking-news bulletins and local weather to radio stations with nothing to install, and launches to early-access affiliates first. nexusradionews.com/about