Kudos to WMMG, WULF/WQXE and WMPI for a superb job with their continuous severe weather coverage last night. They were the only radio outlets in the Louisville listening area with a live on-air staff. WHAS radio simulcasted WAVE-TV's coverage. WXMA eventually simulcasted WHAS-TV's coverage around 11:45pm. I heard a steady amount of EAS Alerts on the four Cox stations, WAY-FM and WNDA.
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Severe Weather Coverage in Kentuckiana
- Thread starter scanman1809
- Start date
What a difference 110 miles makes...WIBC's Steve Simpson was on 93.1 in Indy taking calls & dishing out severe weather info at a dizzying pace. They get it in Indy, they get it in E'town...they even get it in Scottsburg (and if I had to guess, Larry Duke was also hammering away at it live from WIKI in Madison,IN). But somehow WHAS hasn't quite figured it out yet. They're new at this serving the public game...give 'em a few more decades...maybe they'll get the hang of it.scanman1809 said:
In my opinion, local radio in Lexington totally dropped the ball last Tuesday night. We even had a small tornado hit in the Georgetown area. It seemed like WVLK had someone there to break in at times, but regular programming was the rule with only occassional, often delayed, automated NOAA weather breakins. WLEX TV had pretty good coverage, however.
Being a "radio active" nerd, I had NOAA weather radio complimented by Ham radio and public service scanners giving me most of my info. I did note from Louisville that WHAS AM was relaying WAVE-TV, which was an improvement over previous storm non-coverage from them, but still not "perfect". I like to keep a watch on Louisville during bad weather as their conditions usually reach the Lexington area an hour or two later....
Being a "radio active" nerd, I had NOAA weather radio complimented by Ham radio and public service scanners giving me most of my info. I did note from Louisville that WHAS AM was relaying WAVE-TV, which was an improvement over previous storm non-coverage from them, but still not "perfect". I like to keep a watch on Louisville during bad weather as their conditions usually reach the Lexington area an hour or two later....
BobOnTheJob said:
Are you kidding? Screw service to the public when we can just pot up the TV feed and send everyone home! I can't help but wonder, were it not for the late Francene being at the station working on some production during off hours, we would have been treated to re-runs of Dave Ramsey the Sunday that the remnants of hurricane Ike blew through. Can't say I depend on WHAS for much of anything anymore.
In your area, it's primary role in severe weather is providing a stable reference signal so you can tell how near the lightning bolts are to you. Beyond that? Worthless...Bengalsfan said:
I don't know who was working that night on WULF but two things need to be noted; first off he did an amazing job conveying the information from the weather sites also he has a great set of pipes.
One station that drop the ball for some reason, and surprising at that, was WITZ Jasper. During the storm they had nothing but a dead carrier. I believe the studio and transmitter site are co-located.
One station that drop the ball for some reason, and surprising at that, was WITZ Jasper. During the storm they had nothing but a dead carrier. I believe the studio and transmitter site are co-located.
WAVE-TV deserves praise for their coverage that night, and this morning again. I'm getting so tired of this weather and staying up LATE. But it was WAVE who I watched over the air and online. They gave me plenty of warning, and I was ready when I heard the rolling train sound pass over my house. Tornadoes and funnel clouds DO sound like trains. That one did touch down about a mile east of my house in a deserted wooded area before it headed toward New Albany.scanman1809 said:
Glad you are OK. It's amazing how the cable system has 100+ channels all on equal footing and at least 1 local TV station dedicates the resources to serving the public. Yet there are only two (maybe 3-4 depending on your definition of good) good AM signals at night in Louisville and even with that minimal competition, WHAS still can't justify staffing during a severe weather crisis. When the power goes out, WAVE's great coverage is worthless, but WHAS coverage would be of great benefit on portable radios. It's not like this showed up unannounced. Leaves a fella dumbfounded...
So, WAVE's coverage was "great," but the fact that WHAS Radio carried that "great" coverage makes them "worthless"?
I'm having some trouble following that logic.
I was huddled up in my basement listening to Kevin Harned on a portable radio, and was glad he was there.
I'm having some trouble following that logic.
I was huddled up in my basement listening to Kevin Harned on a portable radio, and was glad he was there.
I was listening to the WAVE TV simulcast this morning on WHAS radio. Around 1:40 A.M. WHAS went off the air. Don't know how long they were off.
From what I read from KyDxIn, he said he watched & listened online to WAVE. I failed to notice that he quoted scanman who noted that WHAS did indeed carry this. I was mistaken. While I've been disappointed in WHAS many times in recent years, I commend them for sending someone into the station to pot up WAVE 3.WildcatGuy said:
As a person sitting in a basement hearing trees fall down outside, I didn't care who delivered the storm information. All I cared about was that the information was good. What I don't understand is why you're so hung up on who was reading the warnings?
Back when I was in radio, they always told us that the only thing that mattered was what came out of the speakers. Well, what came out of my speakers that night was the information I tuned it to get.
Back when I was in radio, they always told us that the only thing that mattered was what came out of the speakers. Well, what came out of my speakers that night was the information I tuned it to get.
I worked for WMPI in Scottsburg on April 3, 1974 when the tornadoes swept through this area, devastating Brandenburg and causing a lot of damage throughout Kentuckiana.
We could have potted up WAVE 3 that day too, and there would have been weather coverage coming out the speakers. But we would have been embarrassed to do that, even if we'd had permission!
All the "real radio stations" had sufficient staff to cover a real event that affected the area. We didn't have a lot, but we covered it with as many people as we could as best we could. We gave it a Scott County Indiana flavor- eastern Scott County, Lexington and Blocher, were hard hit that day.
Had we potted up WAVE- you would have heard the weather man say, "As you can see from the radar, these storms are widespread and moving quickly." Of course, that would have made sense on television. But on radio, the Television context is out of place.
Simulcasting the television is cheap and requires absolutely no talent. It doesn't give you any more perspective at all, unlike the award winning WHAS radio coverage of that day 37 years ago, which gave lots of listener perspective and one caller after another giving reports of damage in their own neighborhoods, something television couldn't begin to do.
That's what Bob was lamenting. We've lost something. But you're right, at least someone potted up WAVE. That's better than Coast to Coast. But it's not what it could have been.
We could have potted up WAVE 3 that day too, and there would have been weather coverage coming out the speakers. But we would have been embarrassed to do that, even if we'd had permission!
All the "real radio stations" had sufficient staff to cover a real event that affected the area. We didn't have a lot, but we covered it with as many people as we could as best we could. We gave it a Scott County Indiana flavor- eastern Scott County, Lexington and Blocher, were hard hit that day.
Had we potted up WAVE- you would have heard the weather man say, "As you can see from the radar, these storms are widespread and moving quickly." Of course, that would have made sense on television. But on radio, the Television context is out of place.
Simulcasting the television is cheap and requires absolutely no talent. It doesn't give you any more perspective at all, unlike the award winning WHAS radio coverage of that day 37 years ago, which gave lots of listener perspective and one caller after another giving reports of damage in their own neighborhoods, something television couldn't begin to do.
That's what Bob was lamenting. We've lost something. But you're right, at least someone potted up WAVE. That's better than Coast to Coast. But it's not what it could have been.
greg.hahn said:
Refer to your quote about it being cheap. It's very cheap for WHAS to carry the WAVE audio feed because WAVE pays them to be on WHAS, unlike the relationship between WHAS-TV where radio paid TV. Airing the TV audio feed may fall into the realm of service to the public, but it's not in the spirit of service to the public. It's simply a way that the folks at WHAS can say they are the severe weather station, when in reality, they are nothing more than a 50kW repeater. Were the 1974 super outbreak to happen again, I would dare say that there would be nowhere near the coverage on WHAS as there was.
And I'm sure that potting up the audio isn't needed. My bet would be that the WAVE-TV audio feed is on the Prophet switcher and it is set up to automaticly switch to it. Remember, there's nobody in WHAS' building after 9pm and on weekends. We can't very well afford to pay someone to come in an manually bring up the audio feed, can we?
You guys sound well-prepared for when 1974 comes back.
WildcatGuy said:
I have to agree with my fellow Wildcat fan on this one. And even if WHAS radio did have a news anchor and talk show host, would or could it be better than WAVE's coverage? My only question is why doesn't the other talk stations like WKJK, WLRS and WGTK do any kind of coverage at all?
That raises an interesting point.
Did WFPL do any coverage?
Did WFPL do any coverage?
Sad to see that, in this market at least, Clear Channel has been successful in tamping down expectations from the listeners on what is considered adequate breaking news coverage on their radio stations.
Another troubling trend I'm starting to see in Indianapolis is stations that normally have a weather forecast on at least once an hour simply removing all reference to the weather when severe weather conditions change. It seems that if the forecast can be recorded hours in advance, it will play. When conditions change, rather than update the information, they simply remove it. NOAA Weather Radio should install PPM Encoding...it would probably beat many of the broadcast station ratings.
B
BleuLou
Guest
With today’s advanced technology a radio station would be foolish to opt for an untrained air personality over a TV Meteorologist. When a tornado is approaching, time is of the essence and one does not have time to allow a “DJ” to attempt to interpret and pass along second hand information. I’ll take the TV audio or live radio chatter any day. Now, with that said, I do see the importance of live radio coverage AFTER the severe weather has passed.
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