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

[Butters925]

Well its Saturday and another Parade and haha another storm in the gulf.....Im tracking it on underground weather and its showing a moderate to heavy storm headed for the parade route.....its should be here in an hour! So after everything posted on here over the past week, you have to wonder if anyone will drop the ball this week!!!

 

[Don62]

The other "over-the-air" TV stations were stuck in regular programming and offered little information. I'm sure radio had nothing. What would the FCC think about that? Or, do they even care?

One of the stations - not sure if it was Fox or the NBC affiliate- led off with the weather on their 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. newscast. Went with the severe weather a full 10-15 minutes.

So much better than the supposed "News" radio station sticking with crappy syndicated programming, running all the endless spots full, running network news full (5+ mins. and no mention of severe weather!), straight to traffic, then a nod to possible severe weather wrapped inside the normal weather update.

 

[vibe]

Since so many people are in their cars w/o decent storm coverage/warnings due to automation and station management being to cheap to hire a $7.00/hr "babysitter", I'm surprised that XM/Sirius hasn't found a way to provide the local cable news feeds to their subscribers? Maybe a situation where a sub gets to choose 2 or 3 local markets for their cable news while in their cars. SNN6 had very good coverage of this weather event as well because of tornado threats in their coverage area.
For the Tampa-St Pete area couldn't one take the soon to be vacant analog ch 6 frequency (87.7) used by Orlando and use it to rebroadcast the local cable news feed and get that frequency awarded since it is in the public's best interest?

 

[Butters925]

most of Sirius/XM radio's FM transmitters default at 88.1 and not 87.9 so they can't link up to the position on the dial.

 

[TerryKay]

Also, it is not mandatory for Class A and LPTV to convert to digital in February, 2009. So if there is a Class A/LPTV signal on channel 6, 87.75 TV audio would pose as an interference source. I don't know if it's still active, but at one time there used to be an LPTV on channel 6 east of downtown that relayed "The Box" or some knockoff sat-fed music video junk, and I think changed sat format later.

In fact, the LPTV lobby, what lobby there is for such, has filed complaints based on the digital-to-analog converter boxes that allow over-the-air DTV signals to be viewed on analog televisions. They state that since most LPTV signals are not carried by cable providers, this violates the All-Channel Receiver Act (ACRA).

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Since so many people are in their cars w/o decent storm coverage/warnings due to automation and station management being to cheap to hire a $7.00/hr "babysitter", I'm surprised that XM/Sirius hasn't found a way to provide the local cable news feeds to their subscribers? Maybe a situation where a sub gets to choose 2 or 3 local markets for their cable news while in their cars. SNN6 had very good coverage of this weather event as well because of tornado threats in their coverage area.
For the Tampa-St Pete area couldn't one take the soon to be vacant analog ch 6 frequency (87.7) used by Orlando and use it to rebroadcast the local cable news feed and get that frequency awarded since it is in the public's best interest?

There's not sufficient bandwidth for local stations in every market. XM does have a channel called XM Emergency Alert which covers severe emergencies select areas. During the SoCal wildfires, they were simulcasting KFI and KOGO temporarily to help the locals out and XM's own staff was relaying information on getting to safety.

They also have traffic and weather channels for over 20 cities, and if there is a severe storm, it is reported on those channels.

 

[drt]

The day after Christmas, there was a horrific head on collision near my parents' house, the collision killed 4 people and was about 50 feet into Hernando country at the Sumter county line. I was at my parents' house and we knew with all the ambulances and fire trucks going by that something big was happening. The first thing we did was to tune Bay News 9, nothing, then the strongest AM station in the area 540 WFLF- nothing, then WFLA -970 and their top of the hour traffic and weather didn't mention it; so finally I tuned in to XM channels 229- Orlando and 228- Tampa/St. Petersburg and both were giving details of the accident and also indicating that U.S. 301 at the Hernando/Sumter county line was closed and would be closed for at least another 3 hours. About an hour later Bay New 9 did cover the accident and then WFLA channel 8 did mention it on their 11am midday report. (the accident happened at 9am and the dateline was Webster, since that portion of Hernando county has Webster mailing addresses, which probably confuses the Tampa and Orlando stations, since each maket does not want to cover any counties not in the market.

Thankfully the XM traffic and weather channels are filling a niche that most commercial broadcasters can't be bothered with covering any more.

 

[TerryKay]

Also, XM and Sirius have been required to participate in EAS for about a year now, too. It's kinda funny to hear an EAS test knowing it's via a subscription sat service but I've caught those 2-3 times in the past eight months of my XM subscription.

 

[Don62]

Looks like Tampa isn't the only market where CC has trimmed personnel to the bone so much that important severe wx warnings are ignored and not relayed to the public.

The major "heritage" NT station in this market (where CC own far too many stations) preferred to air Coast to Coast overnight and didn't have anyone in the building, apparently, to interrupt "our regular programming" to inform its listeners that a tornado was about to hit a major suburb in that market.

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,96342.0.html

I agree with posters there that incidents like that will likely lead to rule requiring personnel in the building.
Isn't that what broadcasting is all about? Or is it just to make a quick buck to to he-- with everything and everyone else.

 

[FiveStar]

Actually, the most likely outcome is to blame whoever was in the building for not getting it on the air, even though they probably were already juggling multiple responsibilites and most likely don't have the experience or training to get the word out effectively. The first (and last rule) of Clear Channel management is to never admit that their personnel cuts have threatened the quality of public service.