Evansville Tornado Warning and Coverage

[puddin]

Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning and coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight and where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?

 

[Radiogeek500]

> Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning and
> coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight and
> where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm
> sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?
>


I hope everyone is ok.

Yup, I'm pretty sure WIKY was the only station live overnight. Everyone else runs automation, a darn shame, but that's that.

I'm watching WFIE coverage via live streaming video and I must say this is the #1 reason why I will never live in a mobile home park.<P ID="signature">______________
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[RadioRob]

> Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning and
> coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight and
> where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm
> sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?
>

“Stellar” wouldn’t be the word, “piss poor” would better apply. Outside of the occasional EAS automatic messages, Evansville radio was non-stop normal programming and recorded weather calling for a chance of thunderstorms. It was only after the tornado caused substantial injuries, property damage and casualties that a couple of stations began a simulcast of TV audio and only for a few hours. As of this writing, everything is back to normal programming except for a few mentions of what happened last night. Television, specifically WEHT and WFIE, have provided non-stop coverage. The management and staff of WEHT and WFIE are the ones who have done a stellar job conveying information. It’s good to know our local television stations understand the concept of “serving the community”.

Lessons learned:

-Invest in a battery powered television or radio capable of receiving UHF TV audio or better yet purchase a weather alert radio.
-Ignore the National Association of Broadcasters propaganda on how radio is your source of emergency information and the part about how satellite radio can’t provide local information. Last night, local radio was no better than satellite radio when conveying emergency information. Both Regent and South Central should be embarrassed and ashamed for this act of incompetence. There’s no excuse.

 

[j_ev]

WIKY 104 simulcasted 14WFIE's coverage until around noon on Sunday. They then continued their disco/flashback weekend. Hot 96 WSTO covered the storm with 1-3 songs an hour until 2 or so from its starting at noon. WSTO, WKDQ, WIKY, and WLFW had a few updates each hour otherwise.

> > Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning and
> > coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight
> and
> > where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm
> > sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?
> >
>
>
> I hope everyone is ok.
>
> Yup, I'm pretty sure WIKY was the only station live
> overnight. Everyone else runs automation, a darn shame, but
> that's that.
>
> I'm watching WFIE coverage via live streaming video and I
> must say this is the #1 reason why I will never live in a
> mobile home park.
>

 

[titoisradio]

> > Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning and
> > coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight
> and
> > where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm
> > sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?
> >
>
> “Stellar” wouldn’t be the word, “piss poor” would better
> apply. Outside of the occasional EAS automatic messages,
> Evansville radio was non-stop normal programming and
> recorded weather calling for a chance of thunderstorms. It
> was only after the tornado caused substantial injuries,
> property damage and casualties that a couple of stations
> began a simulcast of TV audio and only for a few hours. As
> of this writing, everything is back to normal programming
> except for a few mentions of what happened last night.
> Television, specifically WEHT and WFIE, have provided
> non-stop coverage. The management and staff of WEHT and
> WFIE are the ones who have done a stellar job conveying
> information. It’s good to know our local television
> stations understand the concept of “serving the community”.
>
>
> Lessons learned:
>
> -Invest in a battery powered television or radio capable of
> receiving UHF TV audio or better yet purchase a weather
> alert radio.
> -Ignore the National Association of Broadcasters propaganda
> on how radio is your source of emergency information and the
> part about how satellite radio can’t provide local
> information. Last night, local radio was no better than
> satellite radio when conveying emergency information. Both
> Regent and South Central should be embarrassed and ashamed
> for this act of incompetence. There’s no excuse.
>

Rob I agree with you. All three of my PD's at STO put a high importance on Severe weather warnings, Barry Witherspoon, Sky Phillips, and Dr. Dave, though he had less of an emphasis on it than Barry & Sky(but still demanded that we give weather information out and tried to keep the station manned when weather was a possibility in the area). From your accounts my internet station gave as much warning as the Evansville radio stations did. Its sad and maybe if the other media would take up that story, kind of in a Shep Smith/Geraldo with Katrina getting pissed off at the idiocy kind of way, and maybe a lawyer will pick up on it, and sue for damages for lack of warning on those stations. Then maybe things will change. Also XM evidently had better coverage on the post coverage side than WSTO if they didn't start coverage til after noon as Fox News was on the story all morning. EAS did save my life in the 2000 tornado as Adelphia broke in with the EAS with Jimmy Ocean from STO giving clear and concise information about the storm so I could take cover.

Scott Evans

 

[mattluecking]

I was in the Evansville on Saturday night at the Tone Loc concert. It was very scary when the sirens were going off in Evansville. I was on the West Side and the brunt of the storm hit the East Side. I saw ambulances and emergency vehicles heading in pursuit of the scene. The parking garage on the bottom level on Casino Aztar was flooded, the winds were very strong, and it was pouring down rain. I had no idea how bad it was on the West Side. I would not live in a mobile home park either.
Jeff Lyons on WFIE the NBC affiliate once again was right there with wall to wall coverage. Every time I am home in Evansville and there is severe weather he is always on the air with all the updates you could ever want.
Very scary stuff. I look forward to the comforts of the ZPL studios next weekend.> WIKY 104 simulcasted 14WFIE's coverage until around noon on
> Sunday. They then continued their disco/flashback weekend.
> Hot 96 WSTO covered the storm with 1-3 songs an hour until 2
> or so from its starting at noon. WSTO, WKDQ, WIKY, and WLFW
> had a few updates each hour otherwise.
>
> > > Evansville is my hometown. I wonder about the warning
> and
> > > coverage of the storm and Tornado. Who waslive overnight
>
> > and
> > > where was Otto pulling a shift? Did EAS make it out? I'm
>
> > > sure WIKY had stellar coverage as always.. Anyone else?
> > >
> >
> >
> > I hope everyone is ok.
> >
> > Yup, I'm pretty sure WIKY was the only station live
> > overnight. Everyone else runs automation, a darn shame,
> but
> > that's that.
> >
> > I'm watching WFIE coverage via live streaming video and I
> > must say this is the #1 reason why I will never live in a
> > mobile home park.
> >
>

 

[xmtrucker]

> Lessons learned:
>
> -Invest in a battery powered television or radio capable of
> receiving UHF TV audio or better yet purchase a weather
> alert radio.
> -Ignore the National Association of Broadcasters propaganda
> on how radio is your source of emergency information and the
> part about how satellite radio can’t provide local
> information. Last night, local radio was no better than
> satellite radio when conveying emergency information. Both
> Regent and South Central should be embarrassed and ashamed
> for this act of incompetence. There’s no excuse.

Earlier this summer, I barely missed the tornado outbreak in Kansas City. My windshield got pock marked with hail and had all the makings of a twister. The station I was listing to (Jack)there was nothing. No EAS, nada, zilch. I flipped to several other stations with the same result.

Why have a station on the air if you are purposely ignoring the part of the license that states "In the public interest"? Radio is not a first responder or communicator of vital info anymore.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

> Jeff Lyons on WFIE the NBC affiliate once again was
> right there with wall to wall coverage. Every time I am home
> in Evansville and there is severe weather he is always on
> the air with all the updates you could ever want.

ABC25 (WEHT) is where I always turn for weather info when I'm in Evansville...that chief meterologist has a reputation for being a nerd, but that is a good thing.

So when I was scanning through the frequencies at 8AM Sunday trying to hear coverage on the radio, I had figured I was simply too far from evansville to hear anything. I'm sorry to hear that I was right.

And that makes me mad.

I was listening to WWBL/Washington for Indiana Pacers coverage when the Severe Thunderstorm watch was issued around 10PM...there was no EAS issued on that station at that time...granted, the watch was for counties on the fringe of their listening area, but shouldn't stations serve their ENTIRE listening area and not just their target metro?

I was asleep when everything broke out, so I can't comment on coverage during the storm. All I know is that radio did fail big time in the aftermath.

 

[Oxnard]

That's right, Regent and South Central are the ONLY companies to voice track overnight. When I tuned in Sunday morning WIKY was wall to wall coverage, WABX was running news updates every 10 minutes and playing phone calls on the air from people giving assistance or trying to offer assistance, Booker and Sara were live in the studio, Tommy Mason was live in the studio on the Wolf. For those who were not in the path, like myself, I thought they covered it well. I did not hear any news on KISS, WGBF, 105.5 or KDQ until after noon, that is pitiful. By late afternoon the news was the same thing every break, so I was happy to hear music again. When I wanted more info I would go back to the news fo it.


> “Stellar” wouldn’t be the word, “piss poor” would better
> apply. Outside of the occasional EAS automatic messages,
> Evansville radio was non-stop normal programming and
> recorded weather calling for a chance of thunderstorms. It
> was only after the tornado caused substantial injuries,
> property damage and casualties that a couple of stations
> began a simulcast of TV audio and only for a few hours. As
> of this writing, everything is back to normal programming
> except for a few mentions of what happened last night.
> Television, specifically WEHT and WFIE, have provided
> non-stop coverage. The management and staff of WEHT and
> WFIE are the ones who have done a stellar job conveying
> information. It’s good to know our local television
> stations understand the concept of “serving the community”.
>
>
> Lessons learned:
>
> -Invest in a battery powered television or radio capable of
> receiving UHF TV audio or better yet purchase a weather
> alert radio.
> -Ignore the National Association of Broadcasters propaganda
> on how radio is your source of emergency information and the
> part about how satellite radio can’t provide local
> information. Last night, local radio was no better than
> satellite radio when conveying emergency information. Both
> Regent and South Central should be embarrassed and ashamed
> for this act of incompetence. There’s no excuse.
>

 

[RadioRob]

> For those who
> were not in the path, like myself, I thought they covered it
> well.

I'm sure those who died and the many who were left homeless would disagree.

The point is **NOTHING** was done by neither Regent nor South Central prior to the touchdown. It was business at usual and only after the damage and death occurred that somebody at South Central had a conscious to do something and only for a few hours so not to ruin the rest of their Sunday. It’s obscene local radio didn't do a damn thing beforehand outside of an occasional announcement and EAS, if it worked at all at some facilities. Beyond that, you were on your own to enjoy a "Flashback Weekend" or Danny Wright among other imported and automated programming. Thank God for local television specifically WFIE and WEHT.

They call it a Tornado **Warning** because there's a chance one is in the area. In this case, it wasn't a chance but reality. Law enforcement as well as Jeff Lyons(WFIE) and Wayne Hart(WEHT) did what they could to emphasize this was a serious threat, a 3/4 mile wide F3 tornado on the ground for twenty miles usually is. Reality slammed us in the face again as the death count increased by one this afternoon.

It's a shame local radio role was only symbolic after the fact. But what do you expect when most of the signals are owned by two companies. Worst yet, it's what you come to expect when both radio companies have upper management and owners more concerned about preserving their end of year bonus than understanding the importance of operating in the public interest and serving the community. Granted this happened in the middle of the night and during a time of year no known for tornadoes, but local radio dropped the ball because of greed and pure ignorance. There's no excuse for this act of incompetence. Again, Thank God local television hasn't whored itself out like local radio.

 

[jimbo700]

> PTBoardOp94 wrote:
> I was listening to WWBL/Washington for Indiana Pacers
> coverage when the Severe Thunderstorm watch was issued
> around 10PM...there was no EAS issued on that station at
> that time...granted, the watch was for counties on the
> fringe of their listening area, but shouldn't stations serve
> their ENTIRE listening area and not just their target metro?

I'm not sure about the Evansville area specifically, but many stations
(in fact, MOST stations) don't auto-forward Watches.
They have their EAS set to auto-forward Warnings and Amber Alerts, but not watches.
Even at that, an unattended station will auto-forward an EAS message one time only.

 

[Oxnard]

The storm hit at 1:45am. Most people were asleep and probably wouldn't have heard anything if they did broadcast it. I understand your point, and I would rather have live bodies 24/7 on the radio. But, the fact of the matter is even if there were people in the studios the same people that heard the EAS and announcements would have heard the "coverage". And those are probably the ones who called family and friends, or found safety. I was watching NBC, fell asleep to SNL, woke up at 11:30 to turn off the TV and never once heard nor saw anything about the storm. Therefore, I didn't know it hit until I woke the next morning. For the people who were affected, how many of them would have heard it on the radio (had it been on the radio) if they were sleeping? Do you sleep with the radio on? That's why we have the sirens, and even those didn't do the job. There is a lot wrong with the state of radio right now, automation and consolidation leading the way. Fact is the time the storm hit has a lot more to do with the damage and loss of life than whether a radio station went wall to wall coverage before the tornado hit. Unless you are an all-news station, you are not going wall-to-wall coverage before the storm hits.


> > For those who
> > were not in the path, like myself, I thought they covered
> it
> > well.
>
> I'm sure those who died and the many who were left homeless
> would disagree.
>
> The point is **NOTHING** was done by neither Regent nor
> South Central prior to the touchdown. It was business at
> usual and only after the damage and death occurred that
> somebody at South Central had a conscious to do something
> and only for a few hours so not to ruin the rest of their
> Sunday. It’s obscene local radio didn't do a damn thing
> beforehand outside of an occasional announcement and EAS, if
> it worked at all at some facilities. Beyond that, you were
> on your own to enjoy a "Flashback Weekend" or Danny Wright
> among other imported and automated programming. Thank God
> for local television specifically WFIE and WEHT.
>
> They call it a Tornado **Warning** because there's a chance
> one is in the area. In this case, it wasn't a chance but
> reality. Law enforcement as well as Jeff Lyons(WFIE) and
> Wayne Hart(WEHT) did what they could to emphasize this was a
> serious threat, a 3/4 mile wide F3 tornado on the ground for
> twenty miles usually is. Reality slammed us in the face
> again as the death count increased by one this afternoon.
>
> It's a shame local radio role was only symbolic after the
> fact. But what do you expect when most of the signals are
> owned by two companies. Worst yet, it's what you come to
> expect when both radio companies have upper management and
> owners more concerned about preserving their end of year
> bonus than understanding the importance of operating in the
> public interest and serving the community. Granted this
> happened in the middle of the night and during a time of
> year no known for tornadoes, but local radio dropped the
> ball because of greed and pure ignorance. There's no excuse
> for this act of incompetence. Again, Thank God local
> television hasn't whored itself out like local radio.
>

 

[shoreliner]

> The point is **NOTHING** was done by neither Regent nor
> South Central prior to the touchdown.

The EAS is what prompts radio stations to go live
with warnings. In the case of a TORNADO WARNING there is not much time
to do anything. If the EAS (via the Nat'l Wx Service) did their job
then radio would know what is happening. No radio station that I am aware
of can afford to run a doppler radar installation on the chance that the
weather service will be "late" with a Tornado warning. The best you
can get is a simultaneous report which is what the TV stations had. If
the city had spent the bucks to put in that telephone emergency service
that they talked about a year ago there is still no gaurantee that someone
would have been awake in city hall to activate it. So I think you are a
bit off base when you insist that it is radio's job to play weatherman.

 

[stormfreak44]

WFIE vs. WEHT

I was still up when it hit, but I was home so I wasn't listening to the radio. I will say something about the TV coverage though. Wayne Hart and WEHT did a fantastic job throughout the event, but Jeff Lyons and WFIE dropped the ball. They did indeed go to wall-to-wall coverage, but when the tornado was on the ground, their coverage was pathetic. It wasn't timely at all - when WFIE was speculating that a tornado might be on the ground, WEHT was tracking exactly where the tornado was and already reporting damage at Ellis Park. It was as if WFIE was on a 5-minute delay or something. Wayne Hart may come off as a dork at times, but that dork saves a lot of lives by being on the ball and taking situations seriously. Jeff Lyons was delivering the same information well after Wayne had already said the same thing, and doing so in a way that seemed to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Some folks have criticized Hart for being too overdramatic, but I think the aftermath of this twister has proven that there's no such thing as being overdramatic when an F3 is ripping up lives and spitting them out.

Also, someone mentioned the sirens not waking people up. Contrary to popular belief, the sirens are not intended to wake people up. Their purpose is to alert folks who are outdoors that something is coming. When indoors, you need to depend on TV coverage, local radio, and (ideally) a NOAA Weather Radio. When you're awake, you can pick and choose TV and radio coverage, but a NOAA Weather Radio is the only way to go if you want to be alerted of severe weather while you're asleep. The means of warning people are there, but the public has to take some responsibility in taking the necessary precautions to stay informed. A NOAA Weather Radio should be a staple in every home, just as smoke detectors are. And people need to learn to alert friends and family members whenever severe weather is striking. Even if everything turns out to be okay, it's much better to err on the side of safety. People won't be mad at you for waking them up at 2 AM if you're potentially saving their lives.

 

[magicmk]

> > The point is **NOTHING** was done by neither Regent nor
> > South Central prior to the touchdown.
>
> The EAS is what prompts radio stations to go live
> with warnings. In the case of a TORNADO WARNING there is not
> much time
> to do anything. If the EAS (via the Nat'l Wx Service) did
> their job
> then radio would know what is happening. No radio station
> that I am aware
> of can afford to run a doppler radar installation on the
> chance that the
> weather service will be "late" with a Tornado warning. The
> best you
> can get is a simultaneous report which is what the TV
> stations had. If
> the city had spent the bucks to put in that telephone
> emergency service
> that they talked about a year ago there is still no
> gaurantee that someone
> would have been awake in city hall to activate it. So I
> think you are a
> bit off base when you insist that it is radio's job to play
> weatherman.
>

I can understand Rob's sentiment... I don't think anyone expects radio to be an AM/FM version of the Weather Channel, but the point is that part of "serving the community" is to pass along imminent emergency information. There used to be a time when radio stations were aggresive in being their listeners' primary source for severe weather information. If a particularly nasty storm erupts at night and wakes me, I'm not out of the habit of turning to a live and local radio station to see if they have any info to pass along (the television isn't battery operated if the power's out). Granted, it was 2am, most people were asleep and most radios and tv's were probaby turned off, but I don't see how that excuses some who let an automated EAS system do the work for them and then contribute absolutely nothing else.

 

[nchs83]

> > > The point is **NOTHING** was done by neither Regent nor
> > > South Central prior to the touchdown.
> >
> > The EAS is what prompts radio stations to go live
> > with warnings. In the case of a TORNADO WARNING there is
> not
> > much time
> > to do anything. If the EAS (via the Nat'l Wx Service) did
> > their job
> > then radio would know what is happening. No radio station
> > that I am aware
> > of can afford to run a doppler radar installation on the
> > chance that the
> > weather service will be "late" with a Tornado warning.
> The
> > best you
> > can get is a simultaneous report which is what the TV
> > stations had. If
> > the city had spent the bucks to put in that telephone
> > emergency service
> > that they talked about a year ago there is still no
> > gaurantee that someone
> > would have been awake in city hall to activate it. So I
> > think you are a
> > bit off base when you insist that it is radio's job to
> play
> > weatherman.
> >
>
> I can understand Rob's sentiment... I don't think anyone
> expects radio to be an AM/FM version of the Weather Channel,
> but the point is that part of "serving the community" is to
> pass along imminent emergency information. There used to be
> a time when radio stations were aggresive in being their
> listeners' primary source for severe weather information.
> If a particularly nasty storm erupts at night and wakes me,
> I'm not out of the habit of turning to a live and local
> radio station to see if they have any info to pass along
> (the television isn't battery operated if the power's out).
> Granted, it was 2am, most people were asleep and most radios
> and tv's were probaby turned off, but I don't see how that
> excuses some who let an automated EAS system do the work for
> them and then contribute absolutely nothing else.
>


The best that I've been able to gather, there was one station with a live body in the studio, on the air, tracking the storms and that was WSJD-FM 100.5 (Princeton). Scott Allen was there from about midnight on with storm coverage and had the Vanderburgh county warning as soon as it was released by the NWS. Granted, WSJD's signal doesn't hardly reach where the tornado touched down, they at least made the effort to be on the air giving updates to their listeners. Too bad no one in Evansville paid any attention or cared.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

> I can understand Rob's sentiment... I don't think anyone
> expects radio to be an AM/FM version of the Weather Channel,
> but the point is that part of "serving the community" is to
> pass along imminent emergency information.
> There used to be
> a time when radio stations were aggresive in being their
> listeners' primary source for severe weather information.
There are still stations like this...WIBC/indy is the only one I'm aware of that markets itself as such. Some others advertise the NWS automated voice as their voice of storm team coverage. (Yuck)

I'm told One local station began rebroadcasting NOAA weather radio for "only" a severe tstorm warning

 

[ohioradio]

> For the people who were affected, how many of them
> would have heard it on the radio (had it been on the radio)
> if they were sleeping? Do you sleep with the radio on?
> That's why we have the sirens, and even those didn't do the
> job.

I work in radio and I must say that I do have a NOAA weather radio at home. IF I hear a warning the first thing I do is kick on the local station (I live and work in different markets). I expect the local station to follow up the EAS broadcast. Much the same in Evansville. Let's say people DID hear the sirens then turned on the radio for more information only to hear regular programming. That's wrong.

I work for a group of Clear Channel stations. While not all stations are staffed around the clock there is always SOMEONE in the building that can feed severe weather advisories to the other stations.