On March 3rd and Amber alert was issued re: a missing 4 year old in Gary. This information ran a fair number of times on Indianapolis stations. Does info on a missing child in Gary really need to be hit that hard in Indy? It would make more sense to air it in Chicago. Did this alert also air in Evansville & other southern Indiana locations? The program has good intentions but it needs to be better targeted. Otherwise people will pay no attention to them. The missing girl was found and she's fine.
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Amber alerts
- Thread starter bigtime
- Start date
J
jimbo700
Guest
That March3rd Amber Alert aired on many stations in southern Indiana.
I think the majority of stations around the state are in compliance with IBA's wishes with regards to Amber Alerts. Seems a lot of stations auto-forward the alert from EAS.
Yes, I agree with bigtime - Amber Alerts are not so useful for me as a citizen. Most of the time, I find out about them when I check the wires at work, or on the 10pm news. Further, I don't think I've ever been in the same city as the missing child.
Yes, I agree with bigtime - Amber Alerts are not so useful for me as a citizen. Most of the time, I find out about them when I check the wires at work, or on the 10pm news. Further, I don't think I've ever been in the same city as the missing child.
The real problem is that by the time they are issued they are out of date. Most of the ones that I have seen are issued at least 12 hourts after the child went missing. The one that was issued out of Illinois yesterday was a full 24 hrs after the last time the child was seen. Why bother. At this rate you could publish it in the paper and it won't be any faster.
The idea behind the amber alert I thought was that it was supposed to be fast so that people would really have a chance of spotting the child right after they vanished... in reality the kid could be 5 states away by the time the alert is issued.
It's a waste.
The idea behind the amber alert I thought was that it was supposed to be fast so that people would really have a chance of spotting the child right after they vanished... in reality the kid could be 5 states away by the time the alert is issued.
It's a waste.
buttonpusher812 said:
Furthermore, they're a safety hazard. (OK, this is a bit of a stretch, but only a bit...)
I don't know what time the alerts in question were issued. But here in Tennessee a couple of years ago, in one week there were two Amber Alerts issued between 2 and 5am. They set off weather radios statewide, awakening thousands of users.
The first Alert involved a child in extreme East Tennessee. Nearly 400 miles from Memphis, but they woke up hundreds of Memphians. The child was promptly located, safe and well.
The second Alert happened in West Tennessee and about five miles from the Mississippi line. Again, they woke people up across the state, including those in the county where the first Alert was issued -- nearly 400 miles away. Again, the children were found safe and well. (though their father had been killed -- then again, it was the discovery of his murder that led to the Alert)
So what is one supposed to be doing about a child kidnapping at 4am 200 miles away?
After the second 4am Alert in the same week, I turned off my weather radio. I think it's probably reasonable to assume hundreds of other Tennesseans did the same thing. If a tornado comes along -- well, them's the breaks...
IMHO if Amber Alerts are to be broadcast via weather radio at all, they should be broadcast only in the county of origin and any counties in which police reasonably believe the children may be taken. (Broadcast over regular radio and TV, that's up to management)
We got the alert here in Louisville. When they first started using the EAS system for the amber alerts, our KSP office in Frankfort responsible for them had many, MANY problems. They would send the alert tones, commander the signals of all the stations only to air dead air. Then they would send the EOM tones. 5 minutes later, it would repeat....several times. When they did finally get the audio right, it was terrible. So distorted you almost could not make it out. I finally set the EAS boxes to stop relaying them on my client's stations. Another engineer in town and myself have offered several times to fix the problems they were having at no charge....no response. I think the only station in town that relays them anymore is WHAS.
It seems in many of these alerts it's a child custody type dispute, but of course not always. A couple of years ago in Indianapolis a vehicle was stolen with a child in it. This was when a timely Amber alert would have made sense. Two hours after the vehicle theft the vehicle and child were found, safe and sound, about a mile away. The Amber alert (to the entire state) wasn't issued until an hour AFTER the child was found, making it a total waste of time. The intent of this program is great. It's the execution that's not. These things need to be better targetted.
bigtime said:
Yep, had a couple of those down here in Kentucky, too. Had an Amber Alert for a child that the parents just couldn't find. More reasons I pulled the CAE out of my EAS boxes. Intentions were good, but not worth interrupting a class B FM station that is sold out for six months in advance.
Bengalsfan said:
Then your prices are too low.
If you're sold-out at your current rates, you should raise them. You'll still be close to sold-out and will make far more money. Having 0% available inventory or 100% employment are bad things, not good things. That's Econ 101.
I know you think you're bragging about how great your station is but all you're really telling us is that you stink at math.
We now return to your regularly scheduled topic.
The EAS system is a mess and even if not sold out no one wants WFMS (primary) or another station forgetting to issue EOM. Happens a lot when the weather warning is issued. Let's make Cumulus in charge of anything important? No. Bad idea.
Better than Clear Channel. Both of the primaries for Louisville are Clear Channel stations, coming out of the same building, with the same STL path. The secondary to those two stations has a bad habit of 'forgetting' their weekly test on occasion.
N_D_Radioguy said:
Thanks for the ad hominem attack there, ND Guy. Your input on this subject has been priceless and will be the talk of the community for years to come.
I could care less if they were giving time away for free. As long as my paycheck didn't bounce I was happy.
Bengalsfan said:
Actually, you probably mean that you couldn't care less, but given you grasp of math...
N_D_Radioguy said:
Again, such an outstanding contribution to the subject at hand. Due to your contribution, I think this thread should be placed permanently at the top of the Indiana board for the world to see. In fact, I would be the first to recommend it be placed at the top of every board so everyone far and wide can see the depth of your knowledge on the subject and how deftly you put me in my place with your unending knowledge of everything irrelevant.
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