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Radio post wildfires?

Big A - Please, read my words. I was not applying them (this time) even mostly to you or David (who I see posted as well.) LOL. But, I have missed you on here for a few hours.

I do not recall previously suggesting or advocating any random, rowdy or even rogue reporting and I am certainly not advocating calling in any troops from your blue state to stop our probable red state radio uprising. I have actually been reviewing the laws and rules for a few days. Even post 9-11, from where I am coming from on this, there are not many laws or rules. Radio stations did very little, if anything wrong here. Have I implied they did? Now, as for lecturing? Me? Not a chance. I can't compete with you on that. For the record, I chickened out on the eight grade debate team. Upon casual reading, your first two responsive sentences appear to be an emotional reaction to what you "think" I am saying. I am sure you did not intend to reflect such a response.

Actually, I think, we pretty much agree on proper protocol...

....which leads me to your latter sentence. There is no excuse. (Correct.) The government (local in particular) has and will be having to answer many serious questions. (Agreed.) They better not lie, by the way. (Added to sound authoritative.) The governor is highly concerned about this. (And how.) He will NOT be "going after" any DJs. (I will ask him, but maybe he doesn't listen to radio anymore.)

FTR - I will clarify. Radio people (and TV) TRIED to get answers to give to people.....see my point? I stand (in time out) corrected for lecturing. I failed that class too. Should have written bad articles for the newspaper.
 
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DavidEduardo said:


Again, a radio station alone can not help significantly in situations like this. Even all local station's combined can not. (I have to say, if the proper information were available, perhaps a life would/could have been saved. Certainly, I see your point in an overall big-picture scenario, but again, allow me to suggest that if the proper information was on the air or TV from the proper sources at the proper times, there would/could have been even the slightest potential for a different outcome. I think everyone realized that. If not, then we would all ask ourselves why do we see weather alerts and reports interrupting TV shows during storms?)

This is because in situations ranging from tornadoes and hurricanes to fires and floods it is necessary to have the core information and that comes mostly from various government agencies. Because this is essentially true in all cases, the EAS was established to channel official information to radio and TV listeners and, more recently, to cable subscribers and cellphone users. I Agree.

Radio alone can't do the job you want done. At any given time in the daytime, less than one out of every ten persons is listening to all radio stations. At other hours even fewer are listening. (Painful, but true. - but I submit that television and radio (including radio in cars) should and COULD have been a better source and that people WERE desperately trying to find information on both and would have and did make a specific effort to when they heard the winds, warning sirens and emergency vehicles vs. regular passive usage on a normal night. Note: I am NOT blaming radio specifically. However, East Tennessee Radio could/would have interrupted programming on their three stations, including a tourist info translator even if they had just connected with a TV stations live feed, like some of the Knoxville stations did or obviously been able to get the emergency information that was not properly being transmitted or released.)

That's why in areas of the Midwest, there are tornado siren systems and folks have self-activating weather radios in high risk areas. EAS and the electronic media are a backup and a reinforcement, but not the first source because they do not reach most of the people at any given time. (Bingo!)

I lived for nearly 3 decades in Puerto Rico where hurricanes were quite common. Still, in what was a vibrant radio and TV market, there was nobody on the staff of even the all-news stations (I was involved with two of them) capable of analyzing weather data or formulating evacuation recommendations. Stations were ready to report, but would never, ever dare to take people's lives into their own hands[ So we worked with the folks who did know and relayed the information we were given, and reported on the resultant news.

As BigA says, broadcasters are not vigilantes, taking justice into our own hands. Our love for our profession and our passion for our listeners makes us do the right thing which is to let the best qualified experts provide the necessary advice and information in times of emergencies and tragedies. (That is what I was saying, as well. And I believe that, in time, there will be proof that this was the intent, by many involved.)

If the governmental agencies failed, then we have a political and social issue, not a radio issue.
Click to expand...
Excellent!
 
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