No that's YOUR problem with local radio. You don't want local news, you don't want weather, you don't want to know what's going on around where you live, you want MUSIC. That's should be secondary for local radio.
You should send that message then to Clear Channel, Citadel, and all these other companies that use voicetracking and automation.
I cannot even begin to count how many times local radio stations have disregarded severe weather watches and warnings in their primary service area.
When tornardo sirens were blaring in Monroe County, MI, just across the border from Toledo, OH, I didn't hear a single weather update over a 15 minute period on Toledo's so-called "news radio" station, 1370 WSPD, which is owned by Clear Channel.
The scary thing is -- a LIVE and LOCAL talk show was on the air the entire time!
Minutes before, while I was driving through the Toledo area on I-75, the sky was an ominous yellow / orange color, the wind was calm, and there were tall, dark storm clouds to the north and west.
The talk host was too busy blathering on about the city council's expenditures on foreign-made landscaping equipment.
So, I tried 760 WJR from Detroit. The so-called "50,000 watt voice of the Great Lakes."
I didn't get much in the way of weather information -- just their PM drive host Mitch Albom whining about the prospect of his show being interrupted to give out severe weather information.
I couldn't get 950 WWJ in my location -- the incredible amount of static completely wiped out their signal.
I finally got a weather update by tuning to the Toledo market's Country station, K100.
So, those of you who act like local radio is some great bastion of information during emergencies are full of it. If YOUR station is, hats off to them. My experience, though, is that most local stations could care less -- and half the time they don't even run EAS alerts.
Sadly, it does take something like 9-11 or Hurricane Katrinia to whip local radio into shape as far as dispensing emergency information is concerned.
