• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Ed Piotrowski WPDE is a target of a rant over weather alert.

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/south-carolina-meteorologist-unleashes-on-angry-viewers/195848

https://www.facebook.com/EdPiotrowskiWPDE/posts/10155882411092716

This was over breaking news over a tornado alert in South Carolina.

Grab a cup of coffee...this is long.

Honestly, the last thing I ever want to do is break into your program. I know it's incredibly annoying if the storm doesn't affect you. But here's the deal. TV stations are obligated to be a public service first and a provider of entertainment second. When a tornado warning is issued, our policy at ABC 15 (and every other station in the country) is to get on the air as quickly as possible and stay on until the threat is over. Believe it or not, live are actually at stake. Sometimes I get off the air long before the warning has expired because I have the experience to know when people are no longer in danger. I don't want to hear myself talk any more than you do.
In case you missed it, here's how things unfolded last night. The tornado warning was issued at 10:20pm based on INTENSE rotation just west of Nixonville in Horry County. In the attached image, Doppler radar is measuring velocity...or the speed of the wind...a few thousand feet above the ground. "-74 mph" is air moving away from the radar site at 74 mph and "35 mph" is air moving toward the radar at 35 mph. That's a closing speed of 109 mph! In other words, intense rotation capable of producing a violent tornado. It was the strongest rotation I've seen on Doppler radar in a long time. Still no guarantee there was a tornado on the ground, but nothing I could dismiss. About 10:30pm, the rotation began to weaken, but I needed to see that trend continue for several minutes before I would make the call to get off the air. I'm not seeing anything on social media or from the NWS and I'm only getting new radar images every 2 minutes. I have no choice but to repeat myself until I am 100% confident the threat is over. At around 10:40pm, several minutes before the warning expired, we returned to The Good Doctor. I believe I was on air for a total of 19 minutes.
Let's be thankful no one was injured or killed last night. You can always go online and watch a missed TV program. If someone dies, they can't go to Netflix or Hulu to get their life back.
Have a great day everyone and enjoy the nice weather!
Click to expand...
 
As a Skywarn weather spotter.....I am in 100% agreement with Ed's stand.....Here in new England I can't think of a single TV weather person/team that wouldn't have done EXACTLY what Ed did!!!
 
"If someone dies it's their fault!"??? Did somebody forget to put chlorine in the gene pool?
 
I don't get why some viewers make such a fuss over something interrupting a network primetime show. They can watch it for free On Demand the next day. It's not like they're missing out. I can somewhat understand being frustrated with syndicated programs since those shows usually can't be streamed and the affiliate can re-schedule the show at will, but it's still petty to get mad over important weather alerts and curse out the meteorologist.
 
People will get mad and complain regardless of what a station does. There are several threads on these boards complaining about stations that didn't interrupt with breaking weather information.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom