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How do we contact the Shadow/Metro Traffic service in Chicago to complain?

mobilevulgus

mobilevulgus

Here is the letter I want to email someone in Shadow/Metro traffic service in Chicago:

About "Dan Franks" Traffic guy (WIND)

Gentlemen, I have to say that your choice of hiring the traffic newsman calling himself "Dan Franks" on WIND AM has got to rank as one of the worst hires in Chicago radio history. His is the single worst radio voice I have ever heard on the air. In fact, his cadence and presentation is so bad that his words are unintelligible. Even Dorothy Humphries was easier on the ears!

Let's begin with his general opening when he is replying to another on-air personality. He says this person's name in such a swift monotone that it almost seems an insult. He then almost always starts his next words -- often words such as "checking the roads" -- at an octave higher in a way that is jarring to say the least.

After his first octave change his cadence often takes on such a mechanical up and down movement as to make his words impossible to understand. It's several words in low and several in high then several in low again alternating with mechanical frequency. It is so frequent that all the listener can hear is a buzz of up talking then down talking then up talking again making his actual words hard to pay attention to.

With his amateurish cadence he sounds like a ten-year-old in front of the class room trying to read a juvenile book report. This guy has absolutely no ability to sound natural nor to modulate his voice so that his words can be discerned.

And on top of the bad cadence, he so rushes his speaking that his words often run into each other to the point that it is often hard to understand when one word begins and another ends. I do understand that the traffic has to be quick but this guy is simply unable to do this without sounding like a bumbling idiot.

Then there is his constant, constant utterance of the word "gonna." As is "You're gonna have a slow down at the..." or "we're gonna see slick conditions tonight..."

This guy needs to be taken off the air and sent to some speech classes or public speaking course. He is horrendous, so bad, in fact, that every time I hear this incompetent's voice I can't get to the radio fast enough to either mute it or change the station. And that, I'd dare say, defeats the whole purpose of a traffic news cast.

Get rid of this guy. He is horrible.
 
By the way, maybe someone here knows the answer to a second traffic question I have?

There are only a handful of Shadow/Metro traffic on-air voices and they appear on several stations. But the same people use different fake names on each station. This "Dan Franks" moron on WIND calls himself something else on WGN, for instance.

So, why do they make up fake names? Is it to avoid the Dorothy Humphries syndrome of the traffic person becoming a personality as she did when Kevin Matthews was on the air years ago? Is Shadow/Metro trying to make sure that their traffic reporters don't become "someone"? Or is it that the stations want to make it appear as if they have their own traffic and are not using an outside service so the traffic on-air readers try to appear as if they are a bunch of different people?

Whatever is the case, it is silly and annoying.
 
Back in the 1990's, I knew a traffic reporter in Baltimore. He relocated to Tampa, Florida. I heard him say once that he was on several different stations in Tampa and was required to use a different name on the second station.
 
Metro Traffic is a horrible place to work. I remember hearing about a clause in one guy's contract that in effect said if the plane crashed, he'd be responsible for the broadcasting equipment.

They have you sign lengthy non-competes, pay slave wages and are only concerned with the spots being read - not the accuracy of the reporting.

The last thing they want is for you to become a personality. A traffic reporter with credibility would be encouraged to use the same name on multiple stations. A nameless gnome is interchangable and easily replaceable. If you manage to impress someone at one of the stations, you can't legally work there for a prohibitive time regardless of the lack of impact to Metro. Normally, a non-compete is used to protect the investment of the employer. Metro invests nothing in the reporters and suffers no loss of income due to one leaving. With Metro, the non-compete is to limit your options.

The upside for the broadcasters is that Metro insulates them from a liability (aircraft hazards) and usually provides a service for no cost (but for inventory).
 
On WGN, this horrible traffic guy I am talking about calls himself "John Allen." This guy does all his "work" in the late nights rarely starting before 10PM and usually on weekends.

He really is one of the most unable hacks I've ever heard in such a large a national market.

Arbitorn, thanks for the Shadow Traffic info.
 
LOL, I guess Prais is one of those prosaic "if you don't do it, you can't complain" types. Your logic is severely lacking, though, Prais. For instance, your logic (or lack thereof) would state that if you haven't been raped, then you should take no stand against rape. An extreme example, yes, but it is no different than saying you cannot complain about a horrible broadcaster if you aren't a broadcaster yourself.

Still, I do have a history of some acting, some public speaking, and voice over recording, so I DO have some small background by which I can assess the horrible inabilities of this bad traffic reporter.
 
Sorry, Pal,. MY logic is MY LOGIC, not yours. Nobody on this board can fix WGN for you. They will do just great without your input. Overall, WGN is better, much better than anybody else, anyway.

There are about 80 stations on your dial. Just twist it and Mr Allen will be gone.. and your kvetching will end.
 
Prais said:
Sorry, Pal,. MY logic is MY LOGIC, not yours. Nobody on this board can fix WGN for you. They will do just great without your input. Overall, WGN is better, much better than anybody else, anyway.

There are about 80 stations on your dial. Just twist it and Mr Allen will be gone.. and your kvetching will end.
Click to expand...



"Prais" the Lord & pass the ammunition!
 
And I always complained about the broadcast voice of Joe Collins. I still think he sounds like he's in High School, but he knows his traffic reporting.
 
Prais,

You said; "There are about 80 stations on your dial. Just twist it and Mr Allen will be gone.. and your kvetching will end. "

Apparently you aren't paying attention. This bad traffic reporter I am "kvetching" about is not on just one station. He is all over the dial. And, if you bothered to actually read the original post, you'll have seen that I already turn off the station when this idiot's voice comes on.

But, now I get it. You ARE this idiot guy I am complaining about. You must be or why would you be so exercised over my complaint about him!?

This traffic guy sucks. He is the worst broadcaster I have ever heard. If he got fired I'd find it an improvement to the radio.
 
Um, first, be serious. I'm over 60 years old. You are a "lousy" (as they say in Chicago) detective. You made a long list of bad guesses, so I'll tell you.

You can complain all you want. I really don't care, but have found that generally people with big complaints (especially such silly stuff) prove to be wannabees. I bet YOU are one.

Next, I HATE Chicago, especially THE CROWD and the traffic, and (except for wgn) the radio. Though I grew up there, I got out long ago and am very happy. We live over 150 miless from that rat-infested sewer.

I've been out of radio since I sold the 4 stations I OWNED for over 10 years, back in 1985. I also sold a few construction permits (including what turned into WNDZ),then I bought and operated 2 funeral homes, and sold them. THAT is a high profit business that makes radio look like a lemonade stand.

Now...Put YOUR resume where your mouth is. What have YOU done?

PS, traffic, HA!
The radio sale paid for a YEAR vacation with my wife, 3 college educations for my kids, and quite comfortably, is funding my happily ever after in a few ventures MUCH more profitable than radio.

The funeral home sale did some even happier things. Among other properties, I own 6 tall towers around Michigan - where I collect RENT
from a few broadcasters and lots of other folks who need the height. I got that idea from my friend in Evanston, the late Ed Wheeler (who you may Google). No license, no ascrap bill - no know-it-all whiney employees, but lots of monthly checks made out to my company.

I moved out of Chicago in 1967. Look around radio-info and other boards and you'll learn alot.

Thanks and Cheers!
 
I visit Chicago generally once a year for a few days (my sister lives in the area) and the thing I find most annoying about the traffic reports as a visitor is that everything is given in highway names, while my map has route numbers along with most of the signs, so I have little idea what road they are talking about. Then, they give the report in terms of travel times between certain points, I have no idea if the times are normal or indicate a problem.
 
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