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Kirk Mellish censored in web blog

T

taylorengineer

Looks like Kirk is catching some heat from the TV weenies for his factual and accurate reporting on the weather situation last weekend.
His blog has been censored- the part about Ch 2's 3D super color doppler radar, has been removed. And the rest has been tamed considerably.
Way to go Mellish!! Maybe these insipid programmers at CH 2 will demand responsible weather reporting.........
Naw......maybe not..........
 
I saw that and was wondering if he would catch any heat.
I believe Boortz mentioned that Channel 2 spent $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to make that technology market exclusive. So, yeah I'm sure the higher ups weren't thrilled with that little editorial.
 
In brief, he said the color rotating cylinders depicting tornadoes on the ground are not all that accurate, maybe as much as a mile off.
If I remember correctly he also said not all the rotating cylinders depicted by the computer actually touched the ground. If they had, Mellish
says there would have been far more tornadoes than were actually confirmed. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Mellish but he made the right call
on this one. If he was indeed censored, shame on the suits!
 
Several years ago, Boortz used to criticize all local TV news, including WSB-TV. Then one day, he came on and said the people at WSB-TV weren't talking to him. He said, "Yeah, I criticized them, but it's still the best newscast in town :D.

I have to say I agree with Taylorengineer that Kirk Mellish is the market's best for predicting severe weather. A week before the tornado, I heard him say we might be in for some severe weather at the end of the week. And I remember years ago when a tornado caused extensive damage in Dunwoody. Mellish correctly predicted severe weather the day before, and others did not.
 
Read further down in Mellish's blog and you'll see him invoke the phrase "TV clowns."

I think he's no better than the rest, a performer who is there to get ratings.
 
"In brief, he said the color rotating cylinders depicting tornadoes on the ground are not all that accurate, maybe as much as a mile off."

I can attest tho this. When that nasty hail storm rolled through E Atl last Saturday that 3D thing had a tornado essentially right on top of my house. Obviously a twister didn't even touch down that day.

And I agree, I think all of these weather guys are overrated. It should be obvious that after a certain point they are totally guessing. For some reason I hear Mellish and think of the probable odd ways he gets his kicks, but that's probably just me.
 
I enjoyed "Hellish" Mellish a couple of weeks ago when his afternoon forecast had a tornado watch until 8; they had moved it back to 7pm 4 hours before and cancelled it almost 3 hours before.
 
bclark71. said:
Read further down in Mellish's blog and you'll see him invoke the phrase "TV clowns."

I think he's no better than the rest, a performer who is there to get ratings.
Click to expand...

No doubt - ratings are a consideration at WSB. But to put Mellish and Ken Cook in the same league as Glenn Burns is laughable.
But then.....Mellish could never do TV....his presentation would never be as good as Glenn's. They both do their jobs very well - Mellish is a scientist - Glenn is a weather personality. Ken Cook is not nearly as personable as Glenn and is not Glenn's equal as a television personality.
Mellish has been known to toot his own horn.....in that aspect, at least, he is showbiz.
I, for one, thank WSB(radio.....not TV) for providing quality news,weather, and traffic with the best staff in Atlanta - even if they are not perfect and miss a cue or stumble on a word every now and then.
 
From his blog
PREVIOUS SECTION HERE HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR INTERNAL POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Click to expand...

Wow! Sounds like to we there is a small (WSB)TV vs. (WSB)Radio war going on here.

I don't know who decided to change it...Mellish or his superiors. If it was not Mellish, then WSB-AM is guilty of censorship. They need to not only restore the blog an apologize to all of their listeners, but they need to host an on-air debate between Mellish and the WSB-TV meterologists (and include the meterologists from the other stations, The Weather Channel, and CNN), no holds barred. It sounds like to me a healthy debate over technology and weather coverage during severe weather is needed.

Also remember that although WSB-TV and WSB-AM share a studio, they don't share the same legal ownership or management. But they do work within feet of each other. It sounds like to me bad tensions were about to brew (physical or verbal threats?), and it needed to be taken down to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
 
jal41 said:
From his blog
PREVIOUS SECTION HERE HAS BEEN CENSORED FOR INTERNAL POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Click to expand...

Wow! Sounds like to we there is a small (WSB)TV vs. (WSB)Radio war going on here.

I don't know who decided to change it...Mellish or his superiors. If it was not Mellish, then WSB-AM is guilty of censorship. They need to not only restore the blog an apologize to all of their listeners, but they need to host an on-air debate between Mellish and the WSB-TV meterologists (and include the meterologists from the other stations, The Weather Channel, and CNN), no holds barred. It sounds like to me a healthy debate over technology and weather coverage during severe weather is needed.

Also remember that although WSB-TV and WSB-AM share a studio, they don't share the same legal ownership or management. But they do work within feet of each other. It sounds like to me bad tensions were about to brew (physical or verbal threats?), and it needed to be taken down to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
Click to expand...

You've gotta be kidding me. On several points:

1) An on-air debate between weather guys? Would you watch or listen? Seriously? Would you expect others to? ???

2) Channel 2 does NOT "share studios" with 750. Same building, yes. Same calls, yes. Some cross-pollenation of content and/or talent when it comes to traffic and weather. That's about all the sharing that goes on. Radio folks aren't often found on the TV floor, and vice versa.

3) Threats? Take a deep breath...Feel better? Nobody's getting in to a fight over a weather blog, and if they are, someone's ego's gotten a little too big. (Imagine Mellish and Burns squaring off in the parking lot...David Chandley standing by to take on the winner...)

Geez. Get a life, dude.
 
fussbudget said:
In brief, he said the color rotating cylinders depicting tornadoes on the ground are not all that accurate, maybe as much as a mile off.
If I remember correctly he also said not all the rotating cylinders depicted by the computer actually touched the ground. If they had, Mellish
says there would have been far more tornadoes than were actually confirmed. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Mellish but he made the right call
on this one. If he was indeed censored, shame on the suits!
Click to expand...

Those "Rotating Cylinders" mean that the doppler radar is indicating rotation with-in the severe thunderstorm... it doesn't tell if there is a tornado on the ground. 2,5 and 46 have the rotating cylinders on their dopplers. I havn't seen one on 11. Most dopplers around the world have this feature... and most weather guessers say this on-air during weather events...

Watch the next severe weather event. There will be a couple of those cylinders that will pop up. And remember, that it takes several minutes for the doppler to make a sweep and refresh the info... so sometimes the cylinders will be a mile off, because the radar hasn't refreshed the information yet. But Mellish probibly doesn't know this as radio is on the ground floor and tv is on the 3rd floor at White Collumns... and as superman said, its rare to see tv people on the radio floor and vice versa.

Mellish may be good at what he does... same with Burnsy. But I'm like John Wetherbee's forecasts better than Mellish. And If I had to put together a dream team of weather guys... Cook, Chandley and Gene Norman.
 
Overheard in the WSB breakroom last Tuesday:

Glenn Burns: My Doppler HD2 is bigger than your Mellish Meter!
Kirk Mellish: Oh yeah? Do you want me to pound you with a left hook echo?!
Glenn Burns: Don't make me indicate rotation allover your rear end!
Kirk Mellish: I'll whip your butt anywhere north of a Cedartown to Gainesville to Toccoa line!

Karen Minton is going to be the ring card girl.
Johnny Beckman is considering coming out of retirement to take on the winner.
Chuck Dowdle is in charge of the office pool.

Ugly, ugly stuff. Can't they all just get along?
 
Forgive me for not relying on Melish, channel 2 or any blogers here. But I picked up the phone and asked a meteorologist at the GA DNR and at the Peachtree City National Weather Service... can you point to what doppler radar shows and say (as Burns did with a half dozen or so storms) and say here is the tornado, heres where the radar shows the tornado on the ground, this is the tornado decending here... etc. and they both told me NO. That nobodys doppler radar theirs, TVs, radios, none can be used like that. There is verbage that can be used which is accurate and scientifically valid. Burns sometimes used it correctly to his credit, as did the other guy with him. Brad? But too often they did not. The NWS guy said you can say "storm rotation", "strong rotation", a "tornado signiture indicating a possible tornado" but not anything stronger than these or "a tornado may form at anytime or may be on the ground". I agree the new graphics are fun and cool as %^&& but they just depict the same old info better in the art sense, not sciencewise. The NWS said there were two twisters Saturday a weak one in Butts county and the Polk county one. Its nice to get a non-broadcaster meteorologist opinion. But dont believe me, call them or see their website. www.srh.weather.gov/ffc/ I guess radio has the right (I am not a lawyer) to do that to his blog becuase its on their website. But they or whomever aboe them responsible for censoring facts should be ashamed. But then journalism is dead in America its all corporate media showbiz. Happy Easter everyone.
 
"Now thats funny, I dont care who you are". Good for you bclark71, a little perspective goes a long way. As Colbert would say: "Moving on..."
 
bclark71. said:
Overheard in the WSB breakroom last Tuesday:

Glenn Burns: My Doppler HD2 is bigger than your Mellish Meter!
Kirk Mellish: Oh yeah? Do you want me to pound you with a left hook echo?!
Glenn Burns: Don't make me indicate rotation allover your rear end!
Kirk Mellish: I'll whip your butt anywhere north of a Cedartown to Gainesville to Toccoa line!

Karen Minton is going to be the ring card girl.
Johnny Beckman is considering coming out of retirement to take on the winner.
Chuck Dowdle is in charge of the office pool.

Ugly, ugly stuff. Can't they all just get along?
Click to expand...

Post of the Week Award
 
Check out today's AJC for the article about the softward guy, retired from MICROSOFT, who lives at Suwanee and has written the software that Channel 2 was using last Saturday to make the weather look like something from a medical school anatomy class.
 
Personally, I would take Johnny Beckman over many of today's TV meterologists. Not that he was perfect, but Johnny never seemed to overhype weather forecasts, especially when it came to snow. Overall, I trust what Kirk Mellish says, especially when it comes to snow. He seems to be more reasonable and more accurate when forecasting predicted snow accumulation, unlike many of the TV meterologists who run around like chicken littles and forecasting bigger snowfalls.
 
bclark71. said:
Overheard in the WSB breakroom last Tuesday:

Glenn Burns: My Doppler HD2 is bigger than your Mellish Meter!
Kirk Mellish: Oh yeah? Do you want me to pound you with a left hook echo?!
Glenn Burns: Don't make me indicate rotation allover your rear end!
Kirk Mellish: I'll whip your butt anywhere north of a Cedartown to Gainesville to Toccoa line!

Karen Minton is going to be the ring card girl.
Johnny Beckman is considering coming out of retirement to take on the winner.
Chuck Dowdle is in charge of the office pool.

Ugly, ugly stuff. Can't they all just get along?
Click to expand...


Every time I hear "When the weather turns Hellish, depend on Mellish" I am always thankfull his name isn't Smitty. ;D
 
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