Approaching Storm: How well does Buffalo radio cover it?

[Greg Strickland]

Ever heard of copyrights?

Exactly correct. I've noticed several radio station Facebook pages where images posted are now clearly a photograph taken by the radio station employee, or from a (hopefully) licensed, authorized vendor of images. Fewer instances of images copied and pasted from another place. On the audio side sound recognition software bots and watermarks are enabling owners of content to exercise their rights.

I think over time legislators and the court system will be sorting out how content is protected as technology changes.
Unless someone is creating content as hobby or pro-bono, people like to get paid for their work.
Nice to eat and have a roof over your head.

 

[davideduardo]

Music stations have a role to play in situations like the recent storm. As David said, people know where to go for wall-to-wall coverage. People also want a place to go to escape wall-to-wall coverage, but they do need to be informed of new developments. That's the balance that a music station needs to find.

But the step between providing useful information and reading stuff of the web is the issue here. Many stations in today's economy operate 24/7 without live staff in half or more of those hours and no "on-call" staff qualified to deal with an emergency.

That's why my belief is that a pure music radio station that has no news-based sister station should have a standing agreement with a local TV station or newspaper for such situations. Such an agreement should be written up and part of the information all staff at both sides of the agreement know about. A yearly meeting or lunch could refresh the procedures and update each side on what is involved, particularly if there have been changes at either "side of the table". And that is a good way to see if the two partners can share any other opportunities for cross promotion, sharing in local charity events and the like.

There is definitely information out there that doesn't violate any copyrights. For example, the National Weather Service is an excellent source. In fact, it's the source of information for most of the "exclusive" forecasts that rarely vary significantly from the NWS zone forecasts and/or information available in the warnings and advisory sections of the site. There's plenty of traffic information and CAMS available from NITTEC and the state DOT. All it takes is talent with the information gathering and communications skills required to put together and update a synopsis that keeps people up to date.

But that assumes that the radio station has staff to do those things. And in the case of a storm or disaster, people in the right place to handle the work. This is not "rip and read" the way you make it seem.

If people are incapable of that, they don't belong on the radio. They're simply not prepared for the medium.

In today's economy, with radio billing about 65% lower today in inflation adjusted dollars to that of 2002, that is not going to happen. Stations will not have live people all the time, and many staffers will be totally lacking in emergency situation skills.

Good grief, most air talent is expected to not only broadcast (often on multiple stations), they're expected to blog and post on social media. They'd better have good enough communications skills to do that.

But they don't have the skills and judgement for a life-threatening emergency.

Of course, that requires live bodies to do the work and get it on the air, either live or close to live via VT. The real failure is syndication that simply blithely blathers on while a storm puts people in danger. Whether it's snow, wildfires, earthquakes, or hurricanes, GOOD radio plays its part - or should.

If a station has procedures and makes sure staff knows how to implement... and refreshes training often enough... and the procedures are detailed right to the last comma and period... it can provide enough information within its format and also give the preferred source for more information.

We are in a shrinking business, but can still do very appropriate things if situations are anticipated and planned for so that the staff knows what to do, who to call and how to use connections with a partner that they may not regularly use.

Larger groups should have a pro forma emergency manual that can be filled in with each station and cluster's specific data including outside contacts, phone numbers, sample copy for on-air people to use (with copies at each staff member's home, too).

In fact, since the NAB loves to tell legislators and regulators how responsive radio is in these situations, they should provide a thorough emergency manual outline in text or Word format that each member can take and tailor to its local market, staff and equipment. (As you can tell, I think the NAB does a deficient job in this area while they are utterly and totally exaggerating how much radio serves their communities.)

 

[four4rock]

Sounds to me that, for a medium that by many accounts is struggling to remain relevant, radio is looking for any way possible not to do things (in this case, participate in a weather related event). I'm not convinced that participation has to approach all or nothing level. Nor does it have to be characterized by formal technical atmospheric analysis/forecasting. It doesn't even have to include relaying expert real-time traffic patterns. Or even be perfection. Yes, it should probably involve living breathing humans. Do something that today might be considered 'out-of-the-box'... be creative... expand your strength(s). What type of storm-related color could be added to our [music, or whatever] format. I'd imagine that Buffalo's early teenagers are not particularly interested in the status of Exit 46 on I90... but they are likely to have other relevant interest(s). I'm sure the same concept holds true for many segments. Doesn't "radio" know this stuff?

 

[davideduardo]

Sounds to me that, for a medium that by many accounts is struggling to remain relevant, radio is looking for any way possible not to do things (in this case, participate in a weather related event). I'm not convinced that participation has to approach all or nothing level. Nor does it have to be characterized by formal technical atmospheric analysis/forecasting. It doesn't even have to include relaying expert real-time traffic patterns. Or even be perfection. Yes, it should probably involve living breathing humans. Do something that today might be considered 'out-of-the-box'... be creative... expand your strength(s). What type of storm-related color could be added to our [music, or whatever] format. I'd imagine that Buffalo's early teenagers are not particularly interested in the status of Exit 46 on I90... but they are likely to have other relevant interest(s). I'm sure the same concept holds true for many segments. Doesn't "radio" know this stuff?

You are calling for things that require staff and hours of work by stations that don't normally cover this type of event or even have staff trained and capable of doing "storm related color".

But the main thing here is that most listeners don't expect a music / entertainment station to do anything but "headline coverage" of breaking news... and that is why I believe that working agreements with news-oriented media is the best route to take today.

 

[SirRoxalot]

"In today's economy, with radio billing about 65% lower today in inflation adjusted dollars to that of 2002, that is not going to happen. Stations will not have live people all the time, and many staffers will be totally lacking in emergency situation skills."

Radio stations have about 65% of the staff that they had in 2002 - maybe less - thanks to "synergies." There are a lot of ways to look at that, but the bottom line is that you still need a live body to get the information from whatever source you choose, including partners, on the air in a timely fashion. And, content isn't free. You pay for it in money or avails. No TV station is going to end up on the short end of that deal. It's never going to be an equitable trade.

When there's an emergency situation, you need enough staff to mind the store. They may be plugging content into multiple stations, but you still need somebody on duty who has the ability to do that whether it's at the station or remotely. Ditto on the idea of doing your own information gathering and doing your own updates. If you don't have enough qualified people on staff to do that, you're not meeting your responsibilities as a broadcast license holder. There isn't a Buffalo station I'm familiar with that doesn't have people who can fill that role.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

There isn't a Buffalo station I'm familiar with that doesn't have people who can fill that role.

That's true, when you look at the clusters. If it were individual stations, then many would be SOL for an emergency situation.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

You are calling for things that require staff and hours of work by stations that don't normally cover this type of event or even have staff trained and capable of doing "storm related color".

But the main thing here is that most listeners don't expect a music / entertainment station to do anything but "headline coverage" of breaking news... and that is why I believe that working agreements with news-oriented media is the best route to take today.

I disagree, you don't need experts to gather information on a snowstorm and it's effects on the population. A weather report can be done on the radio. Plus radio can go to more places than TV simply because they don't have to drag a camera. Reports can be taken by station employees on the "snow desk". Most times listeners will call and tell you what the situation is in their community. Radio used to do this all the time. It just takes a few dedicated staff members. It's not rocket science, just people communicating with people. Leave the TV audio on TV. If you want to get a forcaster from WGRZ, WIVB, or WKBW fine, but don't depend on them too much because radio will take a backseat to TV every time.

 

[Mark1981]

I disagree, you don't need experts to gather information on a snowstorm and it's effects on the population. A weather report can be done on the radio. Plus radio can go to more places than TV simply because they don't have to drag a camera. Reports can be taken by station employees on the "snow desk". Most times listeners will call and tell you what the situation is in their community. Radio used to do this all the time. It just takes a few dedicated staff members. It's not rocket science, just people communicating with people. Leave the TV audio on TV. If you want to get a forcaster from WGRZ, WIVB, or WKBW fine, but don't depend on them too much because radio will take a backseat to TV every time.

Mike, your post reminded me of a personal experience that validates your point. When the Thanksgiving Week storm hit in November 2000, I was on the air. The timing of the storm during afternoon drive caused massive gridlock in Buffalo. After providing coverage from 2 to 7pm, I turned on the automation, dug out the car and headed home. Unfortunately, I was going nowhere. The streets were clogged with stuck cars. So, I turned around, went back to the radio station, turned off the automation and began taking calls.

I was alone. I used the old Larry King line. With no one to screen calls, I told the audience to let it ring, and I’ll answer when it’s your turn. After a half-hour, I went back to music, scraped out the satellite dish and tried to gather info from official sources. Then, at the top of the hour, I took another half-hour of calls followed by automated music while I gathered more info. I repeated this pattern through the evening hours. Finally, a colleague arrived after 11pm to help screen calls and gather info while I stayed on the air full-time.

We took calls from motorists stranded on the Thruway. Thanks to our listeners, we were able to cobble together a north-south route for people to get from one end of the region to the other. All lines were constantly filled, and we did this through 4am. Could have gone longer, but I needed an hour break before we launched our morning drive coverage. It was the most satisfying and rewarding experience of my career. And we did it with two staffers and the dozens of listeners who called in.

While trying to get some sleep the following afternoon, I got a call from the Buffalo News radio critic who interviewed me about our coverage. On Thanksgiving morning, there was the article headlined “Radio provides a lifeline.” The coverage provided by WBEN, WNED-AM and WBFO was all recognized.

A year later, a massive lake-effect storm hit Buffalo on Christmas Eve. We had planned to be automated on Christmas morning. But I went in, again, because it was the right thing to do. This is not me patting myself on the back. It’s my way of emphasizing that we’re in the business of serving the public. I once again was forced to scrape out the satellite dish (not in my job description). After my shift calmed down a bit, I scanned the radio dial. I may have been the lone live voice on Buffalo radio that morning.

Indeed, Mike, it’s not rocket science. I was not some kind of broadcasting wizard. I did what had to be done. And so did my like-minded colleagues at my competition. There’s no reason that can’t be done today! Kudos to WBEN for realizing this with continuous coverage. Kudos to WECK for demonstrating how a music station can provide valuable information during storms. I’m sure other stations stepped up during the storm. I just didn’t hear their coverage. But there’s no excuse for any station that simply stayed with automation or syndicated programming while an unrelenting snow fell in our region.

 

[TheBigA]

Plus radio can go to more places than TV simply because they don't have to drag a camera.

Funny. I "drag a camera" every day, everywhere I go. It's in my phone. I was able to see hundreds of videos of Buffalo's snow storm from my phone. No one had to call me. I didn't need an expert. But I knew from what I saw that the weather was bad. From what I can see, the local TV stations in Buffalo used a lot of amateur video that they grabbed off the internet. Sure they may have sent one person out to do on-site reporting, but they didn't use an extra crew. Yes, it's not rocket science. Just say "It's snowing. Stay off the roads." Then go back to what you normally do. People don't need someone to tell them to inhale and exhale or put one foot in front of the other.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Funny. I "drag a camera" every day, everywhere I go. It's in my phone. I was able to see hundreds of videos of Buffalo's snow storm from my phone. No one had to call me. I didn't need an expert. But I knew from what I saw that the weather was bad. From what I can see, the local TV stations in Buffalo used a lot of amateur video that they grabbed off the internet. Sure they may have sent one person out to do on-site reporting, but they didn't use an extra crew. Yes, it's not rocket science. Just say "It's snowing. Stay off the roads." Then go back to what you normally do. People don't need someone to tell them to inhale and exhale or put one foot in front of the other.

The Buffalo TV stations absolutely had extra crews out and on the road. Of course, not being in the market, you wouldn't know that. When you get 7 feet of snow, even a news crew (or backpack journalist) can't get to some stories, so viewer video gives people a glimpse of what's going on out there. There was plenty of extra coverage during the broadcast day.

Not all stations need to go wall-to-wall with coverage. The news stations should. Music stations provide a break from what sometimes becomes an on-air bludgeoning with storm information, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't offer timely, relevant, concise information on an ongoing basis. Most stations have the means. They just need the will - and a likely a few hours of overtime pay.

 

[gr8oldies]

I can remember my first station, in a small market in Ohio. We had snow (a couple of particularly bad winters in 1977 and 1978.). I don't remember having trainings, policy books, etc., we just knew, based on experience what to do, and new people were expected to catch up. We knew how to call the 2 sheriff's departments and Ohio Highway Patrol post for road reports (which we would record with permission). At that time we had the AP wire service for state and weather reports.

 

[tbolt909]

People don't need someone to tell them to inhale and exhale or put one foot in front of the other.

It appears that some do. Warnings were given many days in advance. The NFL moved the Bills game to Detroit based on the dire forecast. In spite of this, some yahoos still tried to drive through impassable areas. At least they got to hear "Freebird" one more time before landing in the ditch...

 

[Mike Sheridan]

It's a matter of talking about what the people are talking about, which I would bet were the Bills and the snow. Keep playing the music but if there are people stuck at home with the power out don't leave them with WBEN as their only choice for information. As good as they are WBEN can't cover it all. You can't log "Freebird" as public service. A shame that's not required anymore.

Now more than ever HD TV doesn't work when the power is out.

 

[TheBigA]

Here we go again!

 

[Mark1981]

Here we go again!

WBEN is doing an outstanding job. The station gets well-deserved criticism for its right wing programming. But on days like today, the politics are set aside for non-stop storm talk. Tom Bauerle had meteorologist Andy Parker on the line during the 2:00 hour with crucial information about the timing and path of this storm. Local hosts will be working throughout the evening and overnight hours into tomorrow morning. Now that’s public service! Even the guys on WGR have done a commendable job of combining weather coverage with Bills talk. Kudos to Audacy for its commitment to localism on these two stations.

 

[CTListener]

WBEN is doing an outstanding job. The station gets well-deserved criticism for its right wing programming. But on days like today, the politics are set aside for non-stop storm talk. Tom Bauerle had meteorologist Andy Parker on the line during the 2:00 hour with crucial information about the timing and path of this storm. Local hosts will be working throughout the evening and overnight hours into tomorrow morning. Now that’s public service! Even the guys on WGR have done a commendable job of combining weather coverage with Bills talk. Kudos to Audacy for its commitment to localism on these two stations.

No snarky climate change comments?

 

[tbolt909]

No snarky climate change comments?

At least 31 deaths reported in Buffalo due to the weekend storm. That number expected to rise. Some of the people that post here say "Buffalo knows how to deal with snow" or "This is media hype". Warnings were given once again well in advance and still people died in their vehicles or on foot in a Blizzard. Local officials have brought in Military Police because locals STILL won't obey travel bans in the city.

These catastrophic "Once in a 1000 year events" are becoming the norm. There's nothing funny or snarky about Climate Change. Plenty of Grim Death however...

 

[davideduardo]

At least 31 deaths reported in Buffalo due to the weekend storm. That number expected to rise. Some of the people that post here say "Buffalo knows how to deal with snow" or "This is media hype". Warnings were given once again well in advance and still people died in their vehicles or on foot in a Blizzard. Local officials have brought in Military Police because locals STILL won't obey travel bans in the city.

You know, it's not necessary to be so negative on everything that happens.

In what was my part of the world for decades, Puerto Rico, every time there would be a hurricane of any significance, there would be people who went out on bridges (Puerto Rico has about a thousand of them) to watch the huge water flows after the storm. Of course, once the water washed away the bridge pilings or foundations wash away, the bridge collapses and the spectators drown.

No matter where there are natural or man-made disasters, there will be people who want to see what is happening and put themselves at risk. In PR, it was "I've lived here all my life and I know how to deal with a hurricane".

So what you are describing is normal human behaviour. It's not unusual and not unique to Buffalo.

 

[tbolt909]

You know, it's not necessary to be so negative on everything that happens.

In what was my part of the world for decades, Puerto Rico, every time there would be a hurricane of any significance, there would be people who went out on bridges (Puerto Rico has about a thousand of them) to watch the huge water flows after the storm. Of course, once the water washed away the bridge pilings or foundations wash away, the bridge collapses and the spectators drown.

No matter where there are natural or man-made disasters, there will be people who want to see what is happening and put themselves at risk. In PR, it was "I've lived here all my life and I know how to deal with a hurricane".

So what you are describing is normal human behaviour. It's not unusual and not unique to Buffalo.

Basically, you're saying "Thinning the herd of its weaker members" is good and beneficial. They were breathing air that more worthy folks need anyway. I don't believe that trying to prevent needless deaths is "Negative". You may be right that it's futile to try...

 

[CTListener]

At least 31 deaths reported in Buffalo due to the weekend storm. That number expected to rise. Some of the people that post here say "Buffalo knows how to deal with snow" or "This is media hype". Warnings were given once again well in advance and still people died in their vehicles or on foot in a Blizzard. Local officials have brought in Military Police because locals STILL won't obey travel bans in the city.

These catastrophic "Once in a 1000 year events" are becoming the norm. There's nothing funny or snarky about Climate Change. Plenty of Grim Death however...

My reference was to the inevitable "Global warming? ROTFL!" comments that inevitably proliferate during and after major cold weather/snow events. If you have access to a shortwave receiver, check out the 80-meter amateur band sometime and you'll hear hams from near and far ridiculing scientists (and "libs") who warn of climate change because, apparently, extreme winter weather even for a week invalidates the whole concept of "global warming."