Agree. That's a succinct and impartial analysis. I knew that before the year ended you and I had to be in accordance on something.... 🤔
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WBFO Has Imploded
- Thread starter Tower590
- Start date
'A few bits of information, since it appears that you don't know:
Radio stations are under no obligation to provide live & local news coverage.
Nowhere in your post do you even mention that this storm came on a holiday weekend.
The Buffalo News article I posted included a comment from the station spokesman:
My question to you is: Are you a member of WBFO? How much money have you contributed to the station? If you're a contributor, you would know who their news director is.
I worked full time (now Part time) for a standalone, locally owned commercial FM.. and as a rule of thumb in standard operating procedure.. ever since the station launched 12 years ago, theyve been able to broadcasting live or recorded from a remote location... and it was all done using standard, basic off the shelf parts and things
If my internet were a bit better i could broadcast from home, live for the same station!
If my internet were a bit better i could broadcast from home, live for the same station!
And WWL survived the storm in no small part due to FEMA and government funded hardening of the transmitter site with elevated structures, emergency power and all kinds of radio linking. It was also a station that accounted for one-fifth of all radio revenue in a market with 66 total radio stations and a history dating back to the earliest years of radio... owned by a significant group broadcaster.
Very different situation... plus the fact that hurricanes are know to be coming for many days in advance, while this snow storm's enormous size and effect was not fully appreciated until it happened.
Fair enough…I guess I set the bar too high comparing them to WWL. However, my point still stands that people in Western New York and Southern Ontario will remember where to turn for critical information during the next natural disaster and that won’t include WBFO.
Again, they may have a valid reason for this outcome, but hopefully management will use this as a lesson for improvement in the future.
The true story on this is in the video BigA posted. There is no way the station could have provided any service with the building flooded, water pouring through the roof and considerable electrocution danger to anyone entering the building.
Point of order, this storm was forecast as a "once in a generation" storm having severe potential for high wind and lake effect snow on Monday, 12/19. The storm system (rapidly falling barometric pressure and increasing wind speed) ramped up overnight Thursday, with temperatures dropping dramatically the morning of Friday, 12/23; and the snow beginning in earnest through that afternoon, continuing through the evening and overnight hours, and the next two days. Reports of the storm's pending severity, including high wind plus wind gusts, potential lake effect snowfall and blizzard conditions were made frequently across all media. As such, residents were warned "many days in advance."
The National Weather Service Buffalo office and local meteorologists projected the storm's path and potential snowfall quite accurately, and by Tuesday 12/20, the forecast became the lead story in most local newscasts.
The location of the bands of lake effect snow varied, as is often the case, which may be what you're referring to. To this point, a shift in wind direction as little as two degrees can affect the position of a snow band. The nature of lake effect snowfall, wind speed and the amount to be expected were integral parts of the forecasts. This storm hit a swath of Buffalo and its immediate north and south towns with with great severity.
Now, a week later, temperatures within the last 24 hours have been rising well above 32° and a significant amount of ground snow has already melted. However, the snow-mountain dumping sites may be here until May. It wouldn't be the first time for such an occurrence.
I disagree, very strongly.
In 2022, any serious disaster recovery plan that has one physical facility as a single point of failure is unacceptably flawed. If you're serious about being a community information resource in a crisis, it should be a given that your DR plan includes the ability to operate either fully remotely or from some sort of backup system. Most of the major automation vendors (especially, but not uniquely, RCS) offer the ability to spin up a complete automation instance in the cloud, which can include live or near-live recorded local content that can be fed into the system from anywhere with even a lousy net connection. The days when your only option was one hard-wired studio feeding a single transmitter site with one telco line are long gone. The tools for multiple redundant connections have never been better or cheaper.
I don't know all the details about what happened in the building, but it's a big building and the water damage happened only in one part of it, which happened (as best I can tell) to be the part where the physical newsroom and WBFO studio are located. I don't believe the rack room is in that part of the building, for whatever it's worth.
We have a last-ditch backup studio offsite here that has access to network feeds and our computer system. It took a decent amount of thought and planning to set up, but was mostly assembled with "junk" from the basement that didn't cost much at all. We've never had to use it, yet, but it's there if we need it, and that makes our DR plan much more robust than it was a few years ago. (And it's a pretty basic plan compared to the really serious and intricate DR plans designed to keep our sister stations on the air in places like Florida.)
What's more, there's a robust network of public broadcasters across upstate New York who would have helped at a moment's notice with content or redundant network feeds, had we been asked.
I'm not going to critique the specifics of what happened at WBFO, because I don't know all the specifics - but I'm hoping that as the details emerge, it will be a good opportunity for all of us to review our DR plans and make them better. I'm already pushing for some improvements here to make sure that if we ever get slammed by a similar event, we're better prepared.
My point is two faceted... and based on a total lack of local knowledge.
First, they should have had technology installed and staff trained to be able to deal with a single-location event like a fire or flood.
Second, if they did not have such advance planning, no remedy could likely be found in the middle of the storm.
Exactly. But, without further information it appears that such a plan was not executable, due to lack of facilities, lack of training or simple incompetence.
But the RCS or other software has to be available / installed on computers or tablets or even smartphones outside the facility and the link to the transmitter has to be able to transfer to the back-up sources. Let's see if the station management addresses this aspect.
I've heard of situations where the rack room was operating but when the studios became disabled, nobody was present who was able to "move " the origination point. Cause: nobody was trained except the director of engineering who was afraid "lesser humans" would just mess things up. He, of course, was out of town and inaccessible, too.
And with cloud content libraries, an iPhone is pretty capable of being a studio.
The issue would then come to whether the transmitter site had alternative connectivity sources and was remotely switchable. The fact that this did not happen makes me think that emergency planning was neglected. Severely.
And that is the big take-away. My concern would be whether there was adequate training and enough alternate people able to take responsibility and maintain service.
We might even find in this case that solutions were available, but nobody felt enabled to "push the button" or others were afraid of repercussions if they made a wring decision. Human frailty is often the root cause of this kind of situation.
"It's not my job, man".
I am curious what WBFO’s coverage of the large storm Buffalo had a few weeks ago (what I remember as “should the NFL move the Bills game” storm). I remember from this board messages praising WBEN’s coverage during that storm. Although the magnitude of the storms were very different, I’m asking because if WBFO had great coverage of last storm then they established themselves as an expected source for emergency storm coverage. If they didn’t do much coverage of the last storm then I’m not sure what expectation listeners had to tune into for WBFO for emergency storm coverage. That doesn’t answer all the other questions posed in this thread but I think sets a baseline of listener expectations
I apologize if I’ve put you on the defensive. Perhaps you work for the stations and that to be the cause. That I do not know.
I appreciate your comments, since it appears you do know.
For the record and because all certainly know the storm occurred before, during and after a holiday weekend, I will make sure I also state here the storm did occur on a holiday weekend, particularly for the million or so people in the storm who may have not realized that unmistakable fact.
Prefacing all with the fact that I do not contribute to the station at this time, and admittedly don’t know who the director of news is for the station, my opinions and questions are perhaps invalid?
Might sending payment to BTPM be a prerequisite to allow for my voice to be heard on a non-affiliated message board?
Also, since I don’t live in the States, none of my tax dollars support the station and maybe that gives me no right to an opinion of the operation, versus U.S. Taxpayers that support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, considered private, yet set up by your Congress. Funding for public broadcasting in the States comes in basically equal parts from government (at all levels) and the private sector, if memory serves me.
For whatever it might be worth to you, the St. Catherines and Toronto-based company which have owned since its founding and is, in-part, tied to commercial broadcasting and donated thousands of dollars worth of Canadian goods under my oversight over many years to your Great TV Auction, until it ceased to exist 10 or 15 years ago. You have many viewers along the Golden Horseshoe and listeners to WNED-FM, and to WBFO which tactical subsequently moved into the fold.
Might you have inside knowledge of which you would be willing to share on some of your statements and that of the “spokesperson?”
Since WBFO is certainly under no legal obligation to serve the community with news during a blizzard which killed 40 people, and we have established that to be the case, why would the station employ a large (by radio standards) news department? Particularly for a radio station that provides, but a one-hour local daily interview program? I understand digital journalism to be a part, which was also equally dormant during that period.
To you (if you have an affiliation) and the station leadership: Does it matter if a life-threatening storm occurs during a holiday weekend? Particularly when you knew a major storm was coming for nearly a week prior to its arrival, and you had no one assigned to do anything about it? You had no coverage plan, something germane to any professional broadcast organization, big or small?
Is there not even one of several employed reporters who have home equipment in their possession, which was used for more than a year during the COVID Pandemic to turn on a switch, make some calls and feed information to air?
You don’t do anything about a killer storm for four whole days while sitting in the middle of it?!?
Did not one leader participate?
Did not one news staff person come forward in a proactive manner to say that this is important and should be covered and that they would do so, and be paid accordingly?
In the meantime, an AM station, WBEN, which is owned by a company which sits perilously inches from bankruptcy, is covering the story during those days, 24 hours a day, to keep people safe. What would be the difference?
Despite this failure, past practice would indicate you would cover such a thing, regardless of timing. That has been most certainly the case over previous years and events. What changed?
Did you send out an announcement to your listener supporters to indicate you now only provide news during bankers’ hours?
Your “spokesperson” might better be employed to spin stories for a company involved in the fracking industry, than to compromise the credibility of a respectable public broadcasting and journalism outfit.
Deceit is not a trusted attribute.
How would reporting and broadcasting from a home set-up be “unsafe” for any reporter?
When did the pipe event actually occur?
And what effect did it have on the ability to broadcast from the studios? And if so, it would be impossible to believe that any modern broadcast facility would not have the capability to broadcast direct to the transmitter or into the station’s automation system, which flawlessly jumped in and out of NPR programming to air local underwriting announcements.
What would your chief engineer say about that?
And no one could figure out how to put on some local information on the air on through a server during a 70-hour period, regardless of a pipe bursting incident?
While, I have yet to ask, since two members of your Board of Trustees are longtime personal friends, I wonder what they might say about this.
I hope you can take a moment to review your comments.
If you are speaking on their behalf, thou doth protest too much, methinks.
I may not be a current supporter, but I’m also not a rube, nor are most listeners of WBFO.
NPR’s Michael Oreskes’s ouster a few years ago was a noteworthy example how dishonesty, disrespect for colleagues and arrogant elitism can destroy credibility. It seems a cultural shift might be in order at Buffalo/Toronto Public Media.
Humans do make mistakes. Best to own the problem, learn from things, and move on, versus dig a deeper hole.
Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion as a former (but not current) financial supporter.
David,
Your thoughts on ways to excuse their major gaffe are most noble.
However, they do indeed have the ability to feed programming directly to their transmitter in Amherst and to the WNED-FM site in the hills south of Buffalo. Ask their chief engineer. Maybe he, of all executives, there WILL respond, instead of hiding under a rock.
And given the unlikely possibility of their switching equipment not making a simple connection, would it take someone more than 70 hours to figure out how to get audio onto the already perfectly operating transmitters which faithfully cranked out an NPR feed and local underwriting announcements from that very system and studio, which was clearly operating regardless of the pipe incident, in a completely different part of the building?
Why was there nothing on their site or social media about it?
Even the helpful suppositions, simply are in vain.
It was a major mistake, and anyone in broadcasting, and certainly those who work with in that building, of which I am familiar, know that it’s technically better equipped than 90% of the radio stations in the States. Just ask them and they will proudly say those very words.
If it is incompetence, “it’s not my job,” people are on holiday, lack of planning, equipment training, or anything else that has been presented as an excuse on their behalf, that actually further points to their blatant failure.
Days and days later and no one can make a statement from the organization?
Unfortunately, their silence speaks volumes about their incompetence.
I wish that not to be the case, but, however, it is.
In the meantime, WBEN planned and figured out how to provide 24 hour-a-day, wall-to-wall coverage. The staff there knew it was their duty.
One must consider the difference….
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In my book, any listener who is a listener or participant in the media they have an opinion about, handles themselves in an adult manner ... has a right to their opinion and expressing it to the station.. regardless of wether theyre an advertiser, sponsor or member/make a donation.
I'll hear from anyone who has an opinion, wether i like it or not...... and ill respond to them accordingly.
When you called to volunteer your services, what did they say?
Cheap shot.
The OT has already made it clear he's in Canada, and the border was closed until Tuesday, not that it would have been possible to get there anyway until travel bans were lifted and roads cleared.
To my mind, the issue is less what happened during the blizzard and more about priorities and preparation beforehand.
Unlike many public radio stations that only began investing heavily in local news in the last couple of decades, WBFO/WNED has decades of heritage. The old WEBR/WNED-AM was once the only all-news station in the entire public radio system, and the old WBFO at UB was the sort of place where several newspeople would have been camping out at the station to make sure coverage was comprehensive. While WBEN more than earns its reputation as being the go-to commercial station at the height of a storm, most public stations these days know they have to step up just as much, especially in markets that don't have a local commercial operation as robust as WBEN.
It's puzzling to me how that didn't happen this time. It's one of the quirks of our public broadcasting system that so much control is local. If a local station's management decides not to commit resources to news and/or disaster recovery, there's nobody at a national level who can make them do it. It's only local funders who can really apply any pressure in that direction.
(Usual disclaimer: I'm speaking here only for myself, not for the public media entities that sometimes employ me )
I’m perhaps missing something?
Well, with your knowing two members of the board, and your history of how the station operates, your history of donating, and your considerable dissertation here about what should be done, I’d think you could have called offering help rather than just complaining here.
No?
He was in shock, remember?
Point well-taken, tvnut.
I’m not sure my “help” would be considered, but I certainly plan to inquire with the two with whom I’m friends. Neither individual works at the stations, but merely hold Trustee positions.
Do you and CTListener opine and complain on this board, or is it just me?
Of course, there’s certainly no requirement to read my “dissertation.” Admittedly, not written with respect to today’s attention spans, as my children and colleagues have often pointed out (laugh).
You may agree or disagree, but is that not what a discussion board is about?
I find healthy discussion to be an engagement of thought, and I do happen to have passion for things of this sort. If you find that objectionable, I’m sorry to offend your sensibilities and encourage you to scroll past my posts with no offence taken.
While I am familiar with the operation through various channels over many years, I have no direct affiliation with it and I certainly didn’t mean to imply that I do. These two individuals happen to be friends. As well, they aren’t carrying microphones and filing stories, to be sure. They might simply pat me on the head and tell me to bug out.
I simply was quite surprised and disappointed to see such a major lapse.
Seems my comments are disagreeable to you. Your on-point comment that I should take my opinions to them, is certainly quite fair, reasonable and appreciated.
May I respectfully ask you and CTListener for your actual learned thoughts on the matter at hand?
Who assumes I’m a “he?” (humour)
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As I said before, "Again. Again. We don't know why things like this were not done. Obviously, human error, lack of operating equipment, lack of training, unavailable staff and similar things come to mind but we don't know yet what the reason was."
An evaluation has to start with "who was in command" at the time the storm was building up and what did they do to prepare? Someone, was responsible. If that person was unavailable because they were on a Summer cruise to Antarctica, who was their delegate?
Someone had to have been responsible for a decision to kill the national feed and go local... and why didn't they do that?
If a station does not have a captain, then there is an internal management problem. Whether they could have fed audio from other locations or tried to seek alternate origination facilities is all logistics that affect implementing a management decision as to how to cover the storm.
So, the only question to be asked right now is "why was an attempt to cover the storm in alternative fashion not evidenced on the air?"
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