TomZ said:
http://www.snopes.com/katrina/politics/blanco.asp
The screw-up was by FEMA, not Blanco. Which is why the head of FEMA resigned.
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SHOULD RADIO BE MANNED 24/7? SHOULD LIVE & LOCAL BE THE WAY?
- Thread starter bturner
- Start date
http://www.snopes.com/katrina/politics/blanco.asp
The screw-up was by FEMA, not Blanco. Which is why the head of FEMA resigned.
The only reason, historically, for stations to be staffed during all hours of operation was to control the transmitter. The words "to read tornado warnings" was never in the rules. You can actually do better emergency coverage now with the ability to go on the air by cellphone. If I'm on the 7th floor of a downtown office building doing a DJ show at 2am Saturday morning, what do I really know about the train derailment in a distant suburb?
I don't forsee the "full employment for radio DJs act" occurring anytime soon.
As for 9/11....I don't see the point. If the EAS squawk sould have gone off and an automated voice told me about the towers and Pentagon being hit, what would I have been insructed to do in Dayton, Ohio? Run to a fallout shelter?
I don't forsee the "full employment for radio DJs act" occurring anytime soon.
As for 9/11....I don't see the point. If the EAS squawk sould have gone off and an automated voice told me about the towers and Pentagon being hit, what would I have been insructed to do in Dayton, Ohio? Run to a fallout shelter?
borderblaster said:
At one point that morning, the government was trying to assess if this was a national attack, or aimed only at two cities. Once they realized it was directed at two cities, the national alert was not necessary. It's also about the ability of the President to address the nation. So far, he's always had the ability to do that. However, if a time came that something happened, and he was unable to get co-operation from the media, this would be a way for the government to access the airwaves without their permission.
"Manned" and "Automated" are two different things.
I've worked at a two station small-market cluster where there was an employee in the building from 5am to 10pm most days, but the programming was from ABC Radio Networks. News guy in at 5, sales staff at 8, and traffic director arrived at 2 (to avoid the sales staff!).
If we assume that all of the employees were capable of broadcasting "emergency information", would this be an acceptable staffing level? Or are we really talking about a "Radio DJ Full Employment Act"?
I've worked at a two station small-market cluster where there was an employee in the building from 5am to 10pm most days, but the programming was from ABC Radio Networks. News guy in at 5, sales staff at 8, and traffic director arrived at 2 (to avoid the sales staff!).
If we assume that all of the employees were capable of broadcasting "emergency information", would this be an acceptable staffing level? Or are we really talking about a "Radio DJ Full Employment Act"?
PTBoardOp94 said:
Can we assume that all on-air people are capable of broadcasting "emergency information?" I don't think so. Who decides what it "emergency information?" The DJ? The GM? Or the local emergency officials?
This is a complicated matter, and some thought has actually gone into the answers to the questions. And the answers, based on practical experience from the past ten years, is that the decision making isn't made by anyone at the radio station, but by the designated local emergency officials. As I said earlier, there are some who think radio people are authorized quasi-government officials, who should make decisions regarding public information. But the laws say otherwise. Radio is simply a transmission service that is meant to be made available to actual designated emergency personnel in times of crisis. That's how EAS is designed, and that's also how local emergencies, such as floods, earthquakes, and other similar events, are supposed to be handled.
I'm enjoying the thoughts being shared.
I'm thinking automated is fine depending on the staff.
I think the consideration here is not the radio station acting as quasi-government in dispensing information but a live body that can make a decision and respond. I have worked more than one station where Flash Flood Warnings and Tornado Warnings were never aired except for when the EAS fired off. In one market every radio station in town was satellite driven and unmanned and except for the initial EAS, not another word was said as the weather did its thing.
My point is: it seems radio stations should have a plan for informing the public at times where the situation is critical and the people are searching for information. If a staff at a radio station does other ttasks but can make a decisioon and has the intelligence to respond, it is fine. I just feel too many stations are either unable to meet this challenge due to lack of income or desire.
We're not always talking about a national emergency here, but primarily local emergencies, usually weather related.
The thing I notice is many of the TV stations seem to be able to it off when the need arises but in my experience, radio rarely rises to the challenge. I notice in the midwest and northern states even tiny market automated stations go wall-to-wall local information when bad weather strikes their local listening area. I suppose the listeners demand it. In the southern states, many times, its the guy on satellite talking about something he saw in USA Today while a tornado barrels into town.
I'm thinking automated is fine depending on the staff.
I think the consideration here is not the radio station acting as quasi-government in dispensing information but a live body that can make a decision and respond. I have worked more than one station where Flash Flood Warnings and Tornado Warnings were never aired except for when the EAS fired off. In one market every radio station in town was satellite driven and unmanned and except for the initial EAS, not another word was said as the weather did its thing.
My point is: it seems radio stations should have a plan for informing the public at times where the situation is critical and the people are searching for information. If a staff at a radio station does other ttasks but can make a decisioon and has the intelligence to respond, it is fine. I just feel too many stations are either unable to meet this challenge due to lack of income or desire.
We're not always talking about a national emergency here, but primarily local emergencies, usually weather related.
The thing I notice is many of the TV stations seem to be able to it off when the need arises but in my experience, radio rarely rises to the challenge. I notice in the midwest and northern states even tiny market automated stations go wall-to-wall local information when bad weather strikes their local listening area. I suppose the listeners demand it. In the southern states, many times, its the guy on satellite talking about something he saw in USA Today while a tornado barrels into town.
bturner said:
Good discussion indeed. It made me think: Why should I depend on local media for emergency information? What if they're not up to the task? I figured it would be a good idea to find the FEMA or other emergency information source, and set up a Twitter follow with smartphone notifications. What I found is that I can't find any emergency notification sources on Twitter. They all have accounts, but they dispense general information and best practices and not emergency-only feeds. Seems like an opportunity being missed... I don't see any local media with an emergency-only account either. Or maybe such emergency-only feeds do exist and I just can't find them. I don't want to be notified every time they want to dispense some kind of information tip.
As hard as you may find this to believe, not everybody has a smart phone. Even fewer have Twitter accounts. Cell phones depend on dozens or hundreds of towers having power and connectivity in order to function, and being able to support a large number of people seeking help and/or information. Radio depends on a few locations that have a tradition of backup power and hardened facilities, and have the capability of reaching out to a vast installed userbase of appliances that require an easily obtained power source.
In times of distress, people need a calming voice, not a text message. They need to understand that they're part of a shared experience, and that help is on the way. They need to feel less isolated, not more isolated. Radio provides all that, at a very small cost in the grand scheme of things.
Broadcasters are licensed not to just print money for themselves, but also to serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity". Their actual licensing costs to the government are a pittance compared to what they spend getting their hands on that license. The government has a right to expect some in return for such a valuable piece of the electromagnetic spectrum.
There are lots of ways to "man" a station these days. By that I mean having a live body responsible for answering a hotline, and calling in the troops when necessary. It's important enough that the procedures should be in place at every broadcast facility, even if it means rebroadcasting content from a sister station, TV station, or other information service.
In times of distress, people need a calming voice, not a text message. They need to understand that they're part of a shared experience, and that help is on the way. They need to feel less isolated, not more isolated. Radio provides all that, at a very small cost in the grand scheme of things.
Broadcasters are licensed not to just print money for themselves, but also to serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity". Their actual licensing costs to the government are a pittance compared to what they spend getting their hands on that license. The government has a right to expect some in return for such a valuable piece of the electromagnetic spectrum.
There are lots of ways to "man" a station these days. By that I mean having a live body responsible for answering a hotline, and calling in the troops when necessary. It's important enough that the procedures should be in place at every broadcast facility, even if it means rebroadcasting content from a sister station, TV station, or other information service.
SirRoxalot said:
Only about 35% of Americans have a cell phone. It doesn't have to be "everybody" to be a good idea. And even older cell phones can get text messages from Twitter. People don't have radio on 24/7 but many of have our phones with us 24/7 in case of emergency. The Twitter feed could link to emergency information... and direct people to tune into specific radio stations for additional emergency information. Before I tune in, I have to know that there is an emergency.
Salty Dog said:
I don't think that's right. More than 25% of Americans use cell phones as their primary phone. There are more than 150 million cell phones in use now. So that's more than 35% of the population. I'd say the number, adjusting for the fact that some people have two cell phones (personal and work) is closer to 65%.
TheBigA said:
What I wrote was not even close to right. I meant to say, not that 35% of the U.S. populace has a cell phone, but that 35% of the population has a smartphone. Source: A Pew Survey earlier this year.
http://news.consumerreports.org/ele...mericans-own-smart-phones-than-passports.html
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flashback
Guest
there was a situation here in indoianapolis where there was a tornado warning or tornado alert on the overnight sunday night /monday morning .i was listening to WXNT where there were no people in the building and the whole time i never heard even the occasional warning from the weather service.i switched over to WIBC and the news guy was saying something about covering the situation for the last 2 ofr 3 hours.
fortunatly nothing major happened that i know of but if something major did someone at the stations that had nobody in person could have saved lives.
fortunatly nothing major happened that i know of but if something major did someone at the stations that had nobody in person could have saved lives.
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flashback
Guest
^if they had an indication there was a potental emergency.in this case the first i heard of it was when i turned to WIBC after it had been going on for hours.it just sounded like a thunder storm outside.if people had been listening to WXNT the whole night they would not have known there was a tornado situation.
flashback said:
That's their fault. Based on the latest ratings, the people of Indianapolis know where to go for news, and it's obviously not WXNT.
Radio is a choice that people make, and broadcasting weather reports is a choice a radio station makes. If WXNT chooses to confirm the dependability of their competition, that's their choice.
TheBigA said:
From what I can see, about 15% of the people of Indianapolis (metro) listen to WIBC. The other 85% could use some help. In the event of an emergency, I know what station to tune to, but sometimes you don't know that there is an emergency. It's not like I'm going to listen to radio 24/7 just in case there is an emergency. An emergency notification that I should turn on the radio still makes sense to me. No, not everyone has a phone on them all the time but if I got such a notification, you can bet I'd start calling people.
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flashback
Guest
i wasn`t listening for news when i was listening to WXNT that nioght.it was because i like the overnight phil hendrie show.a heads up would have been nice.
Salty Dog said:
All stations can't be all things to all people all of the time. And a small station can't staff for emergencies. That's simply the reality of the situation.
The way local EAS works (and I've heard it myself) is if a tornado is coming, a weather alert interrupts regular programming automatically.
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