Biggest offenders for interrupting programing for severe weather

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

It's 2011, most people have easy internet access, I wish more stations would just put scrolling text at the bottom of the screen that says "weather alert - go to our website or check our news app for more info".

What this brings us back to is the argument that surfaces with some regularity. In the year 2011 do broadcast stations have any remaining obligations to operate "in the public interest and necessity."

What is the obligation of the stations to meet the needs of those few people who DO NOT have easy Internet access? What is the obligation of the stations to meet the needs of the much larger mass of people who do not have a cell phone capable of dealing with the stations news app?

Have we become a nation that has decided to implement what is sometimes called Darwin's Law... survival of the fittest? If they don't have Internet or if they don't have an iPhone with apps, they deserve to die when the weather hits?

 

[formeraa]

The stations that haven't hopped on the app/website bandwagon and aren't significantly using either are quickly loosing relevence in an app and internet world.

If you are going to be critical about coverage, you might want to check your spelling.

 

[MattParker]

What this brings us back to is the argument that surfaces with some regularity. In the year 2011 do broadcast stations have any remaining obligations to operate "in the public interest and necessity."

What is the obligation of the stations to meet the needs of those few people who DO NOT have easy Internet access? What is the obligation of the stations to meet the needs of the much larger mass of people who do not have a cell phone capable of dealing with the stations news app?

Have we become a nation that has decided to implement what is sometimes called Darwin's Law... survival of the fittest? If they don't have Internet or if they don't have an iPhone with apps, they deserve to die when the weather hits?

And what do you want to do about the remaining people who are still holding out against television?

As Dave Garroway said one morning when the weather teletype went out, "If you want to know what the weather is, look out the window."

If people want to resist technology, it's their business. That doesn't give them the right to any special consideration at other people's expense. It's sort of like the Amish in Lancaster County. They won't buy health insurance claiming they believe neighbors should help each other. But when there's some medical emergency, they go to hospital, can't pay and everybody else has to swallow the loss in treating them.

 

[ixnay]

Goat Rodeo Cowboy mentioned Cincinnati, AR. I Wikied, and it's in Washington County, up near Fayetteville and Bentonville (homes of the Razorbacks and Wally World Central respectively). My condolences to GRC. BTW, GRC, is your relatives' Cincinnati called Cincy?

ixnay
(who witnessed a Johnny Bench walkoff HR in *the* Cincinnati on his 16th birthday [August 27, 1977])

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And what do you want to do about the remaining people who are still holding out against television?

// s n i p //

If people want to resist technology, it's their business. That doesn't give them the right to any special consideration at other people's expense. It's sort of like the Amish in Lancaster County. They won't buy health insurance claiming they believe neighbors should help each other. But when there's some medical emergency, they go to hospital, can't pay and everybody else has to swallow the loss in treating them.

Isn't it interesting that to discuss how a TV station somewhere handles weather information in linked at the hip like a Siamese Twin to the issue congress is spending the day discussing: What is the future of how we handle medical care in this nation.

Now some of the people who came to our shores as early settlers were simply in search of a buck, hunting for fortune, hunting for adventure. But the image of our nation has always been wrapped in this story of The Pilgrims. Our cherished, romanticized picture of where we came from is a group of people desperate to escape the clutches of the King of England who was issuing an edict parallel to what you just proposed. People who were interested in religious faith and worship of their own choosing, not one that the king would impose upon them because it fit his view of the economy. They were told they should not expect special treatment at other peoples expense. So they packed up what the had and came to the shores of North America so they could decide for themselves what their values would be.

So here we are 200 years later and we are ready to say to people who have religious scruples about owning a TV, or scruples about not spending money on a TV when their meager funds are eaten up by the basic costs of food and shelter, or scruples about how much mechanization they will allow into their lives and their farms, and we are talking about maybe they should pack up and sail to new shores somewhere else?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Goat Rodeo Cowboy mentioned Cincinnati, AR. I Wikied, and it's in Washington County, up near Fayetteville and Bentonville (homes of the Razorbacks and Wally World Central respectively). My condolences to GRC. BTW, GRC, is your relatives' Cincinnati called Cincy?

I don't have relatives in Cincinnati, AR and I had to reach for my trusty atlas to confirm the location of the community. I went to summer camp one year between Siloam Springs and Cincinnati. My hometown is about 60 miles south of there. To this day my wife gets agitated at me when I do not get up during a thunderstorm, get at least half-dressed, and pace the floor. She grew up in a household where they had a "storm cellar" behind the house and back in the days before we had weather radar and fast communications... it was mandatory (according to her father) that they all hustle out to the storm cellar until the threat was gone.

Watching the TV reports when journalists and cameras descend on the debris left behind when tornadoes hit probably arouses emotions for both of us that folks living in large, eastern metro areas can never quite understand.

 

[MattParker]

Isn't it interesting that to discuss how a TV station somewhere handles weather information in linked at the hip like a Siamese Twin to the issue congress is spending the day discussing: What is the future of how we handle medical care in this nation.

Now some of the people who came to our shores as early settlers were simply in search of a buck, hunting for fortune, hunting for adventure. But the image of our nation has always been wrapped in this story of The Pilgrims. Our cherished, romanticized picture of where we came from is a group of people desperate to escape the clutches of the King of England who was issuing an edict parallel to what you just proposed. People who were interested in religious faith and worship of their own choosing, not one that the king would impose upon them because it fit his view of the economy. They were told they should not expect special treatment at other peoples expense. So they packed up what the had and came to the shores of North America so they could decide for themselves what their values would be.

So here we are 200 years later and we are ready to say to people who have religious scruples about owning a TV, or scruples about not spending money on a TV when their meager funds are eaten up by the basic costs of food and shelter, or scruples about how much mechanization they will allow into their lives and their farms, and we are talking about maybe they should pack up and sail to new shores somewhere else?

And once the "pilgrims" (aka Puritans) got to Massachusetts, they started killing Indians and driving off any later settlers who did not buy into their Calvinist views. For the next 200 years or so, they passed restrictive laws to impose their practices on everybody else. They were far more repressive than the Church of England ever was, which typical of religious zealots.

On the other hand, they could have stayed in Britain for the English civil war until Cromwell and the Puritans took over.

The Amish are free to think what they like. The issue is hypocrisy. If they have a problem with health insurance, fine. Just don't go running to the hospital and stiff the system. These people also operate notorious puppy mills.

Poor people always seem to manage to have money for TV (booze, drugs, numbers tickets ...) Most people who don't have television are elite anti-TV snobs who like to brag about how they "never" watch television. So if you are so concerned about Internet hold-outs and mobile phone hold-outs, what are you going to do for TV hold-outs?

Most of these weather interruptions are arrogant TV types, who assume everybody else is stupid and needs guidance from television, telling everybody, "Don't be stupid." People can tell when bad weather is imminent. Anybody with half a brain should know to seek shelter or evacuate. Some don't. And guess what, they don't pay attention when TV tells them to seek shelter or evacuate. As you point out, your wife's family lived in tornado country and learned to recognize the signs and take action - without the boob tube and fancy graphics.

 

[easttxtv]

I'm not sure about a 'biggest' offender for interruptions, but the station in DFW that seems to take it in the shorts more (probably because they air comments/complaints in a segment during their 9pm news) is KDFW/4. OMG, the mere mention of a possible interruption of Judge Judy for a car chase, severe weather, whatever, brings out the ugly...the fan doesn't seem big enough for all that hits it with Ch.4 sometimes. Thankfully, the station doesn't apologize about it, especially about the weather. There have been several bad weather events around the DFW area over the years, and they all deserved coverage. Even downtown Fort Worth got hit by a tornado back in 2000. From what I've seen in recent years, it doesn't seem like the major locals are that intrusive. Sometimes I'll see a station interrupt a show, other times I see a station wait till a commercial break. For a few years, there would be a corner map with radar (or color-coded watch/warning sections) over the counties in the market on some of the stations, and for some of that time, 1 or 2 of the others would just use top-of-screen text with type of watch/warning and a crawl of the counties involved. Fortunately, we don't have too many "oh let's see how many times I can get myself on TV" type of weather people here.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

In the Atlanta market, the machine operated by COX... WSB-TV can pull out the stops when bad weather hits. They have a sizeable staff of meteorologists and I lose track of time, but about three years ago they had just acquired some new software, and their newest staff member apparently was a walking, talking computer program guru. When the tornado did hit downtown Atlanta, it was wall-to-wall weather. We're not talking interruptions, we're not talking just crawls on the screen, etc. When they have decided the conditions are volatile, they toss the schedule totally.

Obviously they come in for some second guessing and criticism now and then when they think the conditions are really ripe..... but no fruit falls of the tree.

 

[charlestondxman]

This caller is from KAUZ, KXII or KWTV's coverage area complaining about her "Criminal Minds" getting preempted:

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

 

[ixnay]

I don't have relatives in Cincinnati, AR and I had to reach for my trusty atlas to confirm the location of the community.

Well, on page 3 of this thread you did say

There are some grieving family members around Cincinnati, Arkansas who wish information had been available and wish the TV stations had generously interrupted their programming a couple of weeks back.

I assumed those "family members" were relatives of yours, GRC. Please clarify.

ixnay

 

[WPPCProductions]

I can see those daytime soap fans going off the handle when the stations cut in with a special report.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I don't have relatives in Cincinnati, AR and I had to reach for my trusty atlas to confirm the location of the community.

Well, on page 3 of this thread you did say

There are some grieving family members around Cincinnati, Arkansas who wish information had been available and wish the TV stations had generously interrupted their programming a couple of weeks back.

I assumed those "family members" were relatives of yours, GRC. Please clarify.

O.K. in Plainer version of English I should have posted:

"There are some grieving family members related to those died near Cincinnati, Arkansas who wish information could have been made available to their family when the tornadoes swooped down a couple of weeks ago."

Had the people who died been relatives of mine, I would have posted:

"Those people who died near Cincinnati, Arkansas were members of my family and I can assure you I wish information could have interrupted TV shows or whatever was needed to warn them. If they had taken cover, my family members might be alive today."

Do you find clarity now?

 

[firepoint525]

This caller is from KAUZ, KXII or KWTV's coverage area complaining about her "Criminal Minds" getting preempted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJdhmsfbPg&feature=related

The networks received similar complaints from viewers after interrupting their "soaps" to cover the Challenger tragedy.

 

[ixnay]

I don't have relatives in Cincinnati, AR and I had to reach for my trusty atlas to confirm the location of the community.

Well, on page 3 of this thread you did say

There are some grieving family members around Cincinnati, Arkansas who wish information had been available and wish the TV stations had generously interrupted their programming a couple of weeks back.

I assumed those "family members" were relatives of yours, GRC. Please clarify.

O.K. in Plainer version of English I should have posted:

"There are some grieving family members related to those died near Cincinnati, Arkansas who wish information could have been made available to their family when the tornadoes swooped down a couple of weeks ago."

Had the people who died been relatives of mine, I would have posted:

"Those people who died near Cincinnati, Arkansas were members of my family and I can assure you I wish information could have interrupted TV shows or whatever was needed to warn them. If they had taken cover, my family members might be alive today."

Do you find clarity now?

Yes! Thanks.

ixnay

 

[MattParker]

The networks received similar complaints from viewers after interrupting their "soaps" to cover the Challenger tragedy.

And the network newsies arrogantly dismissed those complaints - and similar complaints whenever they occur. Part of the arrogance is the newsies take it upon themselves to decide for us what we should be interested in. And part of it is they get their jollies interrupting programs and going to "wall to wall team coverage."

Live extended coverage are what news channels are for. Do a quick bulletin and refer viewers who are interested to a news channel. Then go back to the soap. Also keep in mind that an increasing percentage of viewers are not watching live but use Tivos or another DVR, so live coverage is pointless. Time to reign in the news divisions. If some decide to throw a Fred Friendly hissy-fit, good riddance.

 

[Sammi Brie]

The networks received similar complaints from viewers after interrupting their "soaps" to cover the Challenger tragedy.

And the network newsies arrogantly dismissed those complaints - and similar complaints whenever they occur. Part of the arrogance is the newsies take it upon themselves to decide for us what we should be interested in. And part of it is they get their jollies interrupting programs and going to "wall to wall team coverage."

Live extended coverage are what news channels are for. Do a quick bulletin and refer viewers who are interested to a news channel. Then go back to the soap. Also keep in mind that an increasing percentage of viewers are not watching live but use Tivos or another DVR, so live coverage is pointless. Time to reign in the news divisions. If some decide to throw a Fred Friendly hissy-fit, good riddance.

That was 1986. It was their duty in serving the public interest to break into the soaps. CNN was six years old, and really, even fewer people had cable and it was still new in many areas, including some major cities.

 

[MattParker]

That was 1986. It was their duty in serving the public interest to break into the soaps. CNN was six years old, and really, even fewer people had cable and it was still new in many areas, including some major cities.

Back then, why did it have to be on every network?

Now, why are they still breaking in?

If people are complaining that suggests people are not interested. If people are not interested, how are they serving the public interest? Besides the full phrase is "public interest, convenience and necessity." Interrupting soaps is not convenient to people who have been following the story line. Nor is it necessary. Maybe interrupting for a hurricane or tornado alert is necessary but most news stories are not necessary for people to know right away.

 

[Markieo]

Several years ago, WXII 12 in Winston-Salem ran a continuous tornado radar map for an hour, pre-empting the Kentucky Derby. But no need to worry, they replayed it at the 11:00 news!

 

[bpatrick]

And I remember Channel 12 getting a lot of grief about it, since
the tornado had passed through about three hours before NBC's
coverage of the Derby began. But WFMY and WGHP were staying
with the tornado story, so WXII must have figured it had to, too.
I remember that all Channel 12 carried was the race itself, and that
was on tape about 7:45 PM.

As for DFW, it's a very volatile market weatherwise. I remember the
first winter I lived there (1977) it snowed every Saturday for weeks,
and it got to the point where you could track the storms coming across
the Rockies. Big snow and ice storms can still pop up, and tornadoes
aren't unheard-of either. I can't get too angry with Channels 4, 5, 8,
and 11 if they want to break into regular programming with weather updates
(BTW, I lived there in the Troy Dungan era and wouldn't have watched anybody
else).