Possible tornado north side of Tampa- FLA sticks with Schnitt!

[Don62]

Where in Hades are they anyway?

They've gutted their newsroom so much, there isn't anyone at controls Saturday 5 p.m.

The local TV weather is all over the place saying a possible tornado is over Lake Tarpon. That's just a few miles west of the Citrus Park area, which is the north side of Tampa and in the immediate Tampa metro area.

A tornado warning and the once great WFLA is on automation with leftovers from a crappy weekday show.
Good going, Crap Channel.

 

[Don62]

Called the station to see where their heads were... no one on any AM station in Tampa is live and talking about the tornado warning that one of the TV stations says is in effect...

FLA said they issued a warning 15 mins. ago.

Funny. I just turned on the radio and found nothing on it at all. Nothing on 970, 1040 or any other major signal.

Tornado warning for northern Pinellas County, in other words, Clearwater, one of the biggest cities in the metro.

Plus just now, a new tornado warning has gone into effect for Hernando Co.

You'd think it might be worth dumping the political talk and at least simulcasting the local TV coverage, as the storm/ tornado heads over the north side of the so-called NT station's primary coverage area.

 

[Don62]

Spot after spot, more Schnitt ... and get this, WFLA goes to FOX NEWS for the top story of importance to Tampa: The S.C. primary.

All this with a possible waterspout inside of Tampa and other tornado warnings.

For some reason I thought having a radio would be a good idea as I was about to take a walk before all the heavy rain hit.

Fox news is still running, including an encore or flashback, but not one mention of a tornado warning that the TV stations have been announcing.

Next, at 6:05 p.m., we hear a traffic report.

Finally a mention of a tornado warning, longgggggggg after national news and other unimportant information.

I thought someone on the radio would be talking about the storm, not just a warning inside regular weather reports after all the commercials have run.

 

[naughtytalker]

Don, You need your batteries replaced. 970 WFLA is live assist with Tony Little in the newsroom. I heard his reports via live streaming audio at 970WFLA.com. NWS instant reports also aired often. Is there more you want for a moderate Florida thunderstorm. Should Clear Channel fire up the Cat-5 bunker? Get a grip.

 

[Don62]

It's much more than a moderate Tstorm.

If it's only a t-storm, why is the TV giving tornado safety tips? Why were they reporting about a possible waterspout in the Hyde Park area, inside Tampa?

You're apparently not in the city. TV is beating 970's but, and radio in general, again.

I did catch the end of a brief report on 970 with someone in the field, but that must have lasted less than a minute.

Otherwise, all I heard was the NWS emergency, that other stations ran.

Then back to regular programming. All Schnitt, all commercials, Fox news, traffic, weather with just a brief mention.

No mention of a tornado touching down in Hernando Co., where trees are down, according to Bay News 9.

I must be mistaken thinking the major NT station in a large market would pay just a little more attention to the warnings.

 

[naughtytalker]

You asked and answered yourself. "TV is beating 970's but, and radio in general, again." That's just economic reality, get over it - grasshopper.

 

[FiveStar]

The official reason/excuse/rationalization for the news cutbacks is that people don't turn to radio for news anymore. This is great example of why they don't.

Self fulfilling prophecy, I'd say....

 

[John Waywoods]

Hey Naughty Talker- FLA used to be the place to go to when the weather gets rough. It is now channel 8. The hell with terrestrial.

It used to be that the piped in programming was for the crappy weak AM signals. Now it is on the power-house signals. Their days are numbered.

You can get angry and tell people to get a grip as much as you want but you are not fixing anything nor making the case for crappy AM radio.

 

[billalm]

I think Don is going a little overboard here but I do somewhat agree. They are the historical LOCAL RADIO station to turn to for storm warnings. What I want to know is if there was indeed a Tornado WARNING, did the EAS activate off 100.7 (which I believe is the primary EAS station in Tampa) and in turn trigger alerts to every other station on the dial? That's the way it's supposed to work anyway whether there's human board ops or not.

...and if radio did fail with warnings today, I guess they learned nothing from the tornados last year that flattened some of the Villages, Lake, and Volusia counties.

 

[donhegel]

Don, where exactly is it that you live?

You seem to have been completely up to speed on what was happening. You seem to know exactly where all of the waterspout sightings were. But how is that possible with WFLA not doing their job.

You admitted to hearing the tornado warning on WFLA. What more do you want them to do?

You were aware of the situation, and were able to make yourself safe enough to enjoy every broadcast media outlet's coverage of the terrible tornados.

The Emergency Alert System automatically takes over on WFLA and alerts everyone of approaching rain and wind.

I am just happy to say that on a day when 0 people were tragically killed in a thunderstorm, you were safe and informed enough to have access to radio, television, and internet message boards.

By the way, I was also watching TV when the warning began. Was anyone who was aware of the warning NOT watching TV? Maybe not so much of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[DToTheJ]

What I want to know is if there was indeed a Tornado WARNING, did the EAS activate off 100.7 (which I believe is the primary EAS station in Tampa) and in turn trigger alerts to every other station on the dial?

According to www.floridadisaster.org/EMIT/Accreweb/Documents/Operations/communication/ESATCOMOperSOG.doc+tampa+eas+radio+wmtx&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&ie=UTF-8]this ESATCOM page[/url], WMTX is indeed the designated station for disaster warnings.

 

[Don62]

You seem to have been completely up to speed on what was happening. You seem to know exactly where all of the waterspout sightings were. But how is that possible with WFLA not doing their job.

You admitted to hearing the tornado warning on WFLA. What more do you want them to do?

You were aware of the situation, and were able to make yourself safe enough to enjoy every broadcast media outlet's coverage of the terrible tornados....

I am just happy to say that on a day when 0 people were tragically killed in a thunderstorm, you were safe and informed enough to have access to radio, television, and internet message boards.

No thanks to WFLA....

My wife was driving back from somewhere in her car. When she arrived here, and she had been tuned to 970 (and was on the phone with someone often as well, so she wasn't glued to the station), she had no idea there was a tornado warning.

From all she could tell, it was business as usual.

Bay News 9 had weather men showing on the map where they think a tornado was, and issued warnings.
Later, they advised people in southern Hillsborough and Manatee counties to take cover because a severe thunderstorm was to hit in the Riverview-Parrish-Myakka area.

WFLA had nothing on this. When severe weather has broken out in other markets, stations usually have someone come on and discuss what's going on. You'd think FLA had a TV at the station and knew what was happening. Or at the very latest, go to a TV simulcast, since the biggest radio owner is too cheap to really run radio anymore.

I guess I've been spoiled in living in cities that didn't have Clear Channel buy up all the important stations.
You know stations that actually spend more than a minute on short reports of weather warnings.
THen go back to regular programming, as hearing some hack or Limboob wannabe discussing why John Edwards is so bad. THat's more important anyway.

I thought 970 was the news and weather leader. With fewer and fewer people working there, they've obviously relinquished that mantle. It's clear they cared more about keeping the spot load up and the stale uninteresting programming going than investing any effort into warning its listeners about a potentially hazardous storm.

 

[FiveStar]

Don, where exactly is it that you live?

You seem to have been completely up to speed on what was happening. You seem to know exactly where all of the waterspout sightings were. But how is that possible with WFLA not doing their job.

You admitted to hearing the tornado warning on WFLA. What more do you want them to do?

You were aware of the situation, and were able to make yourself safe enough to enjoy every broadcast media outlet's coverage of the terrible tornados.

The Emergency Alert System automatically takes over on WFLA and alerts everyone of approaching rain and wind.

I am just happy to say that on a day when 0 people were tragically killed in a thunderstorm, you were safe and informed enough to have access to radio, television, and internet message boards.

By the way, I was also watching TV when the warning began. Was anyone who was aware of the warning NOT watching TV? Maybe not so much of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Hey, that's the ticket! Everything turned out OK! No harm, no foul! Yep everyone was watching TV, sure enough! People are just watching TV on Saturday night anyway, so why even try to compete? Take the path of least (cheapest) resistance, that's what I say! Good to know we've got someone willing to stand up for Clear Channel, by God! Screw public service! The only thing that matters is making money for shareholders anyway....

 

[Wazzie]

Well by God, come Monday I'm going to have the AM radio taken out of my car and have cable TV installed. Because everybody knows that Bay News 9 is the leading source of information in Tampa Bay.

BTW, I like how Don's wife was driving in stormy weather, listening to the radio AND talking on her cell phone. I'm surprised she wasn't baking brownies too.

 

[DaleGriffin]

Why didn't Don call and tell his wife what was going on? I remember "back in the day" a father would call in check on his family during time of severe tragedy and weather. I guess Don relinqueshed that mantle in order to monitor radio stations he hates, yet listen to 24/7. I wonder if Don got mad at his wife for listening to WFLA in the car.

No wonder WFLA does so well in the ratings, Don and his wife obviously get books.

Don, if anyone would have been killed would you be blaming WFLA or Clear Channel as whole?

 

[Don62]

Why didn't Don call and tell his wife what was going on? I remember "back in the day" a father would call in check on his family during time of severe tragedy and weather. I guess Don relinqueshed that mantle in order to monitor radio stations he hates, yet listen to 24/7. I wonder if Don got mad at his wife for listening to WFLA in the car.

No wonder WFLA does so well in the ratings, Don and his wife obviously get books.

Don, if anyone would have been killed would you be blaming WFLA or Clear Channel as whole?

Very intelligent, Dale.

So market's leading NT station at Saturday 5 p.m. should just pay lip service or scant attention to any severe weather, and rely on stale syndicated shows.

No no no. Don't touch that show. Let the Limboob wannabee ramble on.
Don't interrupt Fox news at the top of the hour.
Keep the spots running. More important than anything else.
Let Fox News go for a full 4-5 mins. Just include the possible tornado inside a regular weather update.

Don't do anything to interrupt the schedule.

Totally ignore the audience listening in cars and elsewhere. Just assume no one's listening, or if anyone really cares about severe weather, they'll turn on the TV.

Yup. Works real well in a car.

As I said, no one else on Tampa radio that day was providing weather updates. Speaks a lot about radio and its "public service."

So much for being a market leader.

 

[billalm]

Just because they're a "market leader" or are known as the "news leader", not everyone listens to or even knows about 970. Most young people don't even know what AM is anymore let alone name one in Tampa Bay. So let's forget about WFLA for a moment and focus on the 20 or so other stations. I'm not letting them off the hook either. If there's ever an emergency I shouldn't have ONE choice on the dial. I better hear that EAS kick in or EVERYONE with a license is at fault.

 

[Don62]

Let's ask the radio pro Dale this:

Your station would have pretty much ignored this weather warning? Run only the EAS notice? That would be good enough for a market leader?

Or only provided updates once in maybe a half hour, like WFLA did?

The TV spotted a tornado and funnel activity. Spent probably an hour discussing it. No commercial interruptions. Said where it was moving.

WFLA couldn't do even 1/10th of that. If you relied on radio, you would not have had any idea of what was going on. Just a heavy rainstorm. After all, WFLA would have warned people if something was happening, right?

I assume many were listening to WFLA.

Don't you think a station's listeners, many of whom might have been driving into the storm, deserved to hear what was going on?

We're not talking about 2 a.m. on a Saturday. It was 5 p.m. I forgot. You once said weekends don't matter to radio.

Or would you side with Crap Ch. management, who likely insisted on doing nothing to interrupt their lousy canned programming?

 

[Don62]

Just because they're a "market leader" or are known as the "news leader", not everyone listens to or even knows about 970. Most young people don't even know what AM is anymore let alone name one in Tampa Bay. So let's forget about WFLA for a moment and focus on the 20 or so other stations. I'm not letting them off the hook either. If there's ever an emergency I shouldn't have ONE choice on the dial. I better hear that EAS kick in or EVERYONE with a license is at fault.

In interest of accuracy, FLA did run the EAS, like other stations.
But that came like a half hour after the local TV meteorologist was describing a tornado moving into the metro area.
I may just be a little of an oddball, but I assumed local radio stations would have had information on this event, not just sporadic short reports.

 

[DaleGriffin]

Let's ask the radio pro Dale this:

Ok I will play. I get paid to play radio I guess that makes me a pro, right?

Your station would have pretty much ignored this weather warning? Run only the EAS notice? That would be good enough for a market leader?

I have a staff meteorologist and dedicated news team, given this situation we would have had updates and an e-blast sent out prior alerting folks to what was up.

Or only provided updates once in maybe a half hour, like WFLA did?

Frequent updates and cut-ins as needed.

Don't you think a station's listeners, many of whom might have been driving into the storm, deserved to hear what was going on?

You said there were updates others here said so also, your bitch is it wasn't done enough.

Or would you side with Crap Ch. management, who likely insisted on doing nothing to interrupt their lousy canned programming?

Bitter much.

Ok Don, you called me out. I answered let's see if you can do the same.

Question: Who are you oh wise anonymous Don62?