Audio: Angry woman calls up local CBS affiliate for tornado coverage

[wxman76]

Audio of woman who left a voicemail to what had to be either KXII Sherman/Denison or KAUZ Wichita Falls for covering up Criminal Minds with tornado coverage in Wynnewood, Oklahoma Wednesday night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJdhmsfbPg

 

[arnoldevns]

She'll get the last laugh when Les Moonves moves CBS to cable in a few years and the FCC shuts down over the air TV broadcasting. Those pesky local stations will be gone and she will never again have to worry about someone getting on TV during her precious shows to warn some city about a tornado that's about to hit their homes.

 

[dhett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJdhmsfbPg

Wow. Clueless defined.

 

[fredcantu]

she will never again have to worry about someone getting on TV during her precious shows to warn some city about a tornado that's about to hit their homes.

Don't some cable systems do severe weather crawls now?

 

[arnoldevns]

Not that I'm aware of and certainly not over any of the major cable channels.
Only thing I've ever seen them do is EAS tests. I've never seen the EAS actually activated, even in a tornado warning at my home.

 

[Kent]

Not that I'm aware of and certainly not over any of the major cable channels.
Only thing I've ever seen them do is EAS tests. I've never seen the EAS actually activated, even in a tornado warning at my home.

The cable system here activates, or at least used to activate, EAS. It was more of a pain than anything. When watching severe weather coverage on the local stations, they'd frequently suppress the local coverage to air the EAS alert when you'd heard the EAS information on the local stations 5 minutes earlier. I know those watching the cable channels with no local coverage might need the information, but it's a real negative when you're watching the local stations.

 

[KTN Corp]

Looks like she's a Texan who doesn't give a flying fuc-k about what will happen to Oklahomans. Another reason not to format TV station to serve both sides of a bi-state region; there should be separate stations serving each side of the market.

 

[w9wi]

Looks like she's a Texan who doesn't give a flying fuc-k about what will happen to Oklahomans. Another reason not to format TV station to serve both sides of a bi-state region; there should be separate stations serving each side of the market.

Doesn't matter; you could be running a warning for her own neighborhood & she'd be upset you interrupted her show....

Our (Nashville) station gets that kind of complaint all the time. Sports viewers & soap opera fans are the most vocal.

 

[gr8oldies]

I saw the tweets from Nashville a few weeks ago (before the flood) demanding the tornado warning be taken off the air and the hockey game be put back on.

 

[fredcantu]

Could the station get in legal trouble for releasing the v-mail? Afterall, the viewer was probably never told her call would be made public and considered it a private communication between her and the station. If nothing else, the station loses the trust of the viewers.

 

[mmnassour]

In the words of Bugs Bunny, "what a maroon!".

Good Lord, does she think tornadoes respect state lines? She was WAY out of line. I'm in Austin and can't stand Oklahoma in general ;D. But. This. Is. One. Ignorant. Texan.

 

[azumanga]

Could the station get in legal trouble for releasing the v-mail?

Personally, unless she gave authorisation, or was told at the start that anything said may be public, playing the message on-air is bad form at least, a fineable offence at most.

 

[Tom Wells]

Unless there is something specific that would expose the identitiy of this ....(ahem) person, the station could use such audio
as a good example of a BAD example. A few words should intoroduce the piece to frame the reference and remind the listeners that the programming they desire MUST yield to emergency and safety information.

 

[fredcantu]

If nothing else you may be in violation of youtube's terms of service since you don't have the caller's permission. It should be taken down. What if it were your voice on that clip?

 

[azumanga]

A few words should intoroduce the piece to frame the reference and remind the listeners that the programming they desire MUST yield to emergency and safety information.

In terms of EAS, stations are not required to yield to that, other than for a national emergency and, of course, regular testing. Many stations provide this information, either through their local news staff or the EAS, mainly to make good with the FCC. Though of course, there are some stations that would take an event and hype it up for all its worth, especially for weather events that are barely severe.

If nothing else you may be in violation of youtube's terms of service since you don't have the caller's permission. It should be taken down. What if it were your voice on that clip?

One has to ask if the TV station posted the clip themselves, either on YouTube or their own website. If so, the station is equally guilty.

Of course, the station could be guilty of broadcasting the call in the first place, on their newscast, with thousands of viewers watching.

 

[mikerichardson]

The only time I've been upset by those local channel severe weather warnings/interruptions is when I'm watching a show from the DVR and the storm happened 3 days ago when I wasn't even in town.

U-verse also has an insanely intrusive EAS system - for a single storm event (just a severe thunderstorm, not even a tornado or a real EAS event), you'll receive no fewer than 4 alerts over the span of an hour (no matter what channel or on demand you are watching) - each alert plays the 3 buzzers, the old EBS tone, the 3 buzzers, and another EBS tone. Pressing exit only dismisses the alert box, it doesn't end the aural onslaught, which is so loud I have to press mute immediately. The final slap in the face is when you turn on another TV, two hours later, and one of the alerts is still queued up on the box and decides to play.

Since I've been conditioned now to press exit and mute so quickly after seeing a U-verse EAS alert, when an actual emergency does occur I won't know about it, at least from them.

 

[newsmark]

If nothing else you may be in violation of youtube's terms of service since you don't have the caller's permission. It should be taken down. What if it were your voice on that clip?

Permission? For what? Yes, if you're recording a two-way conversation, you have to inform the other party. But in this case, the woman clearly knew she was speaking on a recording device. She also clearly knew she was talking to a television station.

I think YouTube, the FCC and/or a court would say she would or should have have realized her voice could turn up on TV or on the web.

 

[fredcantu]

I think YouTube, the FCC and/or a court would say she would or should have have realized her voice could turn up on TV or on the web.

Unless you are specifically dialing a call-in show or studio line, you have no expectation that your call will be made public.

 

[Kent]

Permission? For what? Yes, if you're recording a two-way conversation, you have to inform the other party. But in this case, the woman clearly knew she was speaking on a recording device. She also clearly knew she was talking to a television station.

I think YouTube, the FCC and/or a court would say she would or should have have realized her voice could turn up on TV or on the web.

Assuming it didn't go out over the air and was only on the web, does the FCC even have jurisdiction in the matter?

 

[fredcantu]

The FCC isn't involved. But she could sue for slander if her identity is ever revealed and she feels humiliated that her private call was made public. Whoever posted the clip on the Internet is taking a huge gamble that nobody knows who she is.