The 24-hour news cycle has been alive and well for decades. Except KFI AM-640 morning host Bill Handel no longer believes that’s the cast.
During his Wednesday show, Handel shared his belief that the 24-hour news cycle no longer exists, and has been replaced by a constantly evolving news wheel.
“I don’t even know why they call it a news cycle anymore,” Handel opined. “It’s no longer news cycles. It’s just news. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we get 24-hour news. We didn’t used to do that until the internet came in, and cable TV. CNN started that entire business and now it’s just gone completely crazy. It’s like fire season. 365 days a year of fire season. I don’t even know if they mention fire season anymore. It should be worse and worser (sic) fire conditions. Or horrible and horribler (sic). It’s just god awful.”
Handel’s co-host Neil Saavedra went a step further, noting that the Friday afternoon news dump — the practice of releasing less than desirable news on a Friday afternoon in hopes that it would not garner as much attention as it would at any other time — has gone by the wayside due to the prevalence of social media. “You can’t do that because of social media. Nothing can be buried,” Saavedra said.
Bill Handel equated the idea of a 24-hour news cycle to building his house, joking that the news is similar to his purchase price. “There were three levels — expensive, punitively, prohibitely expensive, and then ‘Gee, I didn’t know you could pay that much for that.’ That’s where we are (with news).”
