Stay Safe!

With all the coverage on Wave 3, it appears that Armageddon is once again on its way. In the event that these storms turn out to be as bad as they're supposed to be, please be safe, all!

Was there a storm last night that warranted all that hysteria by local media?
Seems to me that media coverage of weather events (snow, thunderstorms, floods) goes a bit overboard in this town. I'm fearful that given all this exaggerated coverage, people will tend to ignore warnings when a truly hazardous event is imminent.

Was there a storm last night that warranted all that hysteria by local media?
Seems to me that media coverage of weather events (snow, thunderstorms, floods) goes a bit overboard in this town. I'm fearful that given all this exaggerated coverage, people will tend to ignore warnings when a truly hazardous event is imminent.

I think the people in New Albany and Jeff got hit pretty hard. I've seen pics of a truck flattened by trees, churches demolished, and various other home damage. I think it is hit and miss depending on where you are at and the weather dudes are screwed either way. Say it's nothing and people get killed and they would never hear the end of it. They are over the top, but better safe than sorry.

Justin-
I agree that they need to get warnings out to help protect lives and that events like this can be very localized in nature. That said, I think they can do their job without all the hysteria/theatrics...it can be done.
BTW, I live in an area not covered by sirens, so I'm especially attuned to storms

It's not your safety they have in mind. It's their ratings.They've got to be first! And best! And most hyperbolic!

So I guess WAVE-3 TV is now simulcast on WHAS radio. If that's the case they need to do a better job verbally articulating what TV viewers are seeing. WHAS radio should produce a radio-specific weather program, but that would take money and eat into profits.

It's their ratings.They've got to be first! And best! And most hyperbolic!

The were doing promos this morning for tonights news that will feature Fridays possible storms.

We got a little wind, and some thunder and lightning, but that was it. They were in damage control mode this morning. Apparently there were 5 tornadoes, but most of them had wind speeds between 60-90 mph. They have the capability of being able to pinpoint, with some accuracy, where the storms are going to hit, so I don't understand the need to panic and ENTIRE county, unnecessarily. I'm afraid we're going to end up with a "boy who cried wolf" situation.

Well I think the NWS did a good job at the storm prediction. It obviously was a sever weather event with localized damage to tress,structures and homes. I feel it is unrealistic to expect a forecast that can provide outlook area down to a small area a just a few blocks. The weather service issued a "watch" for the entire area and when severe weather was imminent or happening they upgraded to localized "warnings". Its a good idea to know the difference between those. The TV coverage may have been over the top,but thats to be expected. If you want to get it straight from the horses mouth,check out this link http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php ... glossary=1 its the same place the TV guys get their info,but without all the song and dance.

[Robin Garr]

I found out the other night that John Belski, although retired from TV weathercasting, still blogs very intelligently about weather, and was live-blogging during Tuesday night's storm:
http://belskisblog.blogspot.com/2011/04 ... evere.html

Also, WAVE-3's Brian Goode, who gets pretty excitable about storms and snow and such but seems to be a good guy and very tuned-in to social media, blogged frequently and competently during the Scare Storm on the WAVE-3 blog, where he and the station's other forecasters all comment ...
http://blogs.wave3.com/weather_blog/

With both of these sources and the MyCast radar on iPhone and Intellicast radar on iPad (both of which have the dual advantages of being able to zero in close and updating very frequently so you're near real-time in storms), I didn't even need to listen to the talking heads on TV.

Glad to see some folks sticking up for the weather guys. I think that if you weren't concerned in Jefferson County on Monday you weren't paying attention. It turned out fine for most of us, but that doesn't mean that the warning was without merit. Get a map of the city and draw a straigt line from the touch down point in So. IN to your house. Given tornados usually travel at 30-40mph, how far was that tornado from you? I figure (without looking) that in Crescent Hill it was 3 or 4 minutes away - maybe less! (although in this case it is likely the tornado wasn't traveling SE-but you get the point). Add in the fact that it was dark and impossible for storm spotters to spot them, and that conditions were right for another one to drop down from anywhere....you've got yourself a dangerous situation. Of course, I came down stairs, turned on the radio, poured a glass of wine, and went out on the porch to watch the show. So who am I lecturing too?

It's not your safety they have in mind. It's their ratings.They've got to be first! And best! And most hyperbolic!

So I guess WAVE-3 TV is now simulcast on WHAS radio. If that's the case they need to do a better job verbally articulating what TV viewers are seeing. WHAS radio should produce a radio-specific weather program, but that would take money and eat into profits.

Really? Does everything have to be a conspiracy? I can tell you as someone in the business that weather cut-ins are not ratings makers. In fact, the opposite can be true. If you don't believe me volunteer to work the switchboard at the local TV/radio station next time regular programming is interrupted duing American Idol, Oprah, or, holy smokes, a basketball game...you'll learn something about people's priorities (if you haven't already figured it out on your own).

Have you ever noticed there are no commercials during breaking weather/disaster coverage? You want to know what really cuts into profits? Going commercial free for an hour or more. Not only do you loose the direct revenue, but you have a handful of advertisers that are angry that their spots didn't run as scheduled ("We were counting on those commercials to promote our once a year event. Now what am I supposed to do?). Now you've got sales people that insead of selling are putting out fires. Why do broadcasters pre-empt for weather then? Because it's the right thing to do. Sometimes it's just as simple as that.

BTW, I listened to the WHAS radio coverage via my spartphone and it was very easy for me to follow as they were constantly mentioning counties by name, etc. Like Robin, I also had a radar Ap open...it makes my GF nuts that I'm such a dork.

The weather was something of a non-event out here in Garage Logic...at least by my "lived in Oklahoma for 3 years" standards. That said, I think we were the lucky ones. I was extremely saddened to see pictures of the damage to the "Princess" and other facilities at The Captains Quarters. The CQ just can't seem to buy a break this year. Glad Alan's got such a wonderful crew, they'll have things looking spiffy again in no time...Heck they probably already do.

Glad to see some folks sticking up for the weather guys. I think that if you weren't concerned in Jefferson County on Monday you weren't paying attention. It turned out fine for most of us, but that doesn't mean that the warning was without merit. Get a map of the city and draw a straigt line from the touch down point in So. IN to your house. Given tornados usually travel at 30-40mph, how far was that tornado from you? I figure (without looking) that in Crescent Hill it was 3 or 4 minutes away - maybe less! (although in this case it is likely the tornado wasn't traveling SE-but you get the point). Add in the fact that it was dark and impossible for storm spotters to spot them, and that conditions were right for another one to drop down from anywhere....you've got yourself a dangerous situation. Of course, I came down stairs, turned on the radio, poured a glass of wine, and went out on the porch to watch the show. So who am I lecturing too?

It's not your safety they have in mind. It's their ratings.They've got to be first! And best! And most hyperbolic!

So I guess WAVE-3 TV is now simulcast on WHAS radio. If that's the case they need to do a better job verbally articulating what TV viewers are seeing. WHAS radio should produce a radio-specific weather program, but that would take money and eat into profits.

Really? Does everything have to be a conspiracy? I can tell you as someone in the business that weather cut-ins are not ratings makers. In fact, the opposite can be true. If you don't believe me volunteer to work the switchboard at the local TV/radio station next time regular programming is interrupted duing American Idol, Oprah, or, holy smokes, a basketball game...you'll learn something about people's priorities (if you haven't already figured it out on your own).

Have you ever noticed there are no commercials during breaking weather/disaster coverage? You want to know what really cuts into profits? Going commercial free for an hour or more. Not only do you loose the direct revenue, but you have a handful of advertisers that are angry that their spots didn't run as scheduled ("We were counting on those commercials to promote our once a year event. Now what am I supposed to do?). Now you've got sales people that insead of selling are putting out fires. Why do broadcasters pre-empt for weather then? Because it's the right thing to do. Sometimes it's just as simple as that.

BTW, I listened to the WHAS radio coverage via my spartphone and it was very easy for me to follow as they were constantly mentioning counties by name, etc. Like Robin, I also had a radar Ap open...it makes my GF nuts that I'm such a dork.

All your points are fair. But none of it addresses all the ads we see concerning who has the best weather people, who reported first, who was most right, etc. The issues you are discussing effect all of the local stations. That is true. At the same time, these stations are also in competition with each other to be - FAST! BEST! MOST RIGHT! It's fast capitalism. And it's the reality we live (barter) in.

It's an issue of credibility when I can't tell if the weather reporters are more interested in being first as compared to being right. Faster! Faster Faster! That's the name of the game.

All your points are fair. But none of it addresses all the ads we see concerning who has the best weather people, who reported first, who was most right, etc. The issues you are discussing effect all of the local stations. That is true. At the same time, these stations are also in competition with each other to be - FAST! BEST! MOST RIGHT! It's fast capitalism. And it's the reality we live (barter) in.

It's an issue of credibility when I can't tell if the weather reporters are more interested in being first as compared to being right. Faster! Faster Faster! That's the name of the game.

I guess I was just addressing your point point about the weather guys. I didn't see anything about the ads.

I am not sure what you're getting at, but yes we do care about ratings just like a chef cares about total recipts at the end of the night. It's a report card of sorts. But that doesn't mean that is all the chef cares about. Same goes for the folks at a broadcast outlet. Like our friends in the food business, reporters/radio hosts/weather guys take great pride in their work and it is very publicly scrutinized all for little money and terrible hours. Yes, some are better at their craft than others, but again that doen't mean they don't care.

You know, you can make a case that an oncologist capitalizes on cancer, private schools for the learning imapared capitalize on learning disabilities, news rooms capitalize on everyone else's bad news or weather men capitalize on bad weather and I guess you'd be right, but I just don't see the world that way.

As for those ads, or "promos" as we call them, yes, they are there to promote the station and help the ratings. Sometimes they're for news, sometimes weather, sometimes a show coming up later in the day or a station event...I honestly can't explain the "FAST" "LATE BREAKING" issue other than it seems to be a journalism thing....I worked in TV and radio news in college and journalists were always obsessed with being first or getting the "scoop"...it's a real matter of pride and it seems to have roots in days long before radio or TV. The general concensus in news rooms is that tis type of promotion works.

. . . . I was extremely saddened to see pictures of the damage to the "Princess" and other facilities at The Captains Quarters. The CQ just can't seem to buy a break this year. Glad Alan's got such a wonderful crew, they'll have things looking spiffy again in no time...Heck they probably already do. . . . .

Steve, I hadn't heard anything about damage to the CQ Princess. Do you have any details? A news link?

Lois

. . . . I was extremely saddened to see pictures of the damage to the "Princess" and other facilities at The Captains Quarters. The CQ just can't seem to buy a break this year. Glad Alan's got such a wonderful crew, they'll have things looking spiffy again in no time...Heck they probably already do. . . . .

Steve, I hadn't heard anything about damage to the CQ Princess. Do you have any details? A news link?

Lois

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