Stations airing info

[N1WVQ]

To steal a post from the Boston board, are any of the smaller stations airing emergency information? I know WARL is airing AREAS (Attleboro Regional Emergency Alert System) updates & I think WOON is airing info. How about WADK, WNRI, WBLQ & WSAR?

 

[reelyreal]

'BLQ and 'SAR are both doing some great local storm coverage this evening.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

Question?........Was Gene Valacenti on Wjar last night simulcasting on his competeter WHJj?

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

'BLQ and 'SAR are both doing some great local storm coverage this evening.

I didn't hear any of the WBLQ coverage, but I agree about WSAR....they did a super job. Tip of the hat also to WPRO-AM.

Too bad WHJJ chose to mail it in by just simulcasting the audio of Channel 10.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Another thought on the blizzard coverage:

With all due apologies to aaronread, but.....It never occured to me even once to check out RIPR to see if they had any storm coverage going on.

The thought didn't even occur to me until this morning.

 

[reelyreal]

You know, that's a really interesting point. I listen to quite a bit of NPR programming (RIPR, WGBH, WFCR, WNPR) but when it comes to needing emergency information or breaking news information, I never turn to public radio stations. I wonder if that's a common sentiment.

 

[tvradiogeek]

for me its always been wbz,I'm also in that group who never thinks of public radio.

 

[aaronread]

With all due apologies to aaronread, but.....It never occured to me even once to check out RIPR to see if they had any storm coverage going on.

Ouch.

Yes, we did. We had live operators doing drop-in mini-newscasts at every local break all day Saturday. Our ND Catherine Welch had a bunch of reports on the national NPR top-of-hour newscasts (not just our locals, this was out to ALL the NPR affiliates) and we had three reporters out and about interviewing people.

 

[N1WVQ]

I'm in the not-checking-out NPR group. WPRO/WEAN-FM has been wall to wall & they were on 790 until they lost power. I did check WBZ but WRKO was airing an infomercial. WSAR had excellent coverage. For me, it's A.M. as the go-to.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

For me, it's A.M. as the go-to.

Same here. It was NOT an anti RIPR thing. Had RIPR still existed on 1290, I'm sure I would have hit upon it as I scanned the AM dial Friday night.

Although I'm sure RIPR's move to FM has done wonders for its listenership......they LOST me as a listener. When I DO listen to NRP these days, it's 89.7. Put very simply...It's just a much easier "catch" for me at my location.

On many occasions when I've tried to pull in 88.1....the signal was strong enough, but there would be distortion in the audio that would make it annoying to listen to for any length of time.

I finally gave up on 88.1.

 

[iyiyi]

Last couple of storms the 920//TV10, although when 920 dropped local after Sandy, WPRO kept covering the story.

Had power this time around but watched 10 while being empathetic to those listening to 920. Been there... Bill Rappeleye (sp?) was hilarious! Good job from 10! 12 kept going with local long after 10 went back to the network and their continuing coverage was much appreciated.

I agree that NPR is - all things considered - a no show for emergency news coverage...

-

 

[aaronread]

WPRO/WEAN-FM has been wall to wall & they were on 790 until they lost power.

Here's the thing about wall-to-wall storm coverage vs. RIPR's balanced approach of local newscasts and national news. The amount of useful information about the storm is EXACTLY THE SAME. The difference is that we aren't saying the same damn thing thirty different ways (frequently sucking up all the oxygen in the room from the breathless hype) under the pretense of providing a so-called "super-local service."

I mean, really. How many different ways can you say "it's a bad storm, don't go out in it"???

I apologize to my commercial brethren who have little choice but to do what they do, but I won't apologize for being highly unimpressed by it.

I'm also quite pleased that two of our sites (88.1 and 102.7) lost power but the generators kicked right in and chugged merrily away for two to three days; you'd never know we'd lost power. We have similar generators at 1290 and at One Union Station, but neither proved necessary. We have somewhat limited generator power at 91.5 (we have to know about the threat in advance and change over some wiring) but in this case we had it ready, but didn't need it there, either. And I have a nifty custom-built dish heating system that keeps our NPR downlink satellite dish clear of snow. It even held up under this storm, which is about as extreme as it gets, snowfall-wise.

I'm not so pleased about our webcast: that did go down for several hours Friday night. But now that's next on the list for hardening and redundancy.

Although I'm sure RIPR's move to FM has done wonders for its listenership

Yes, it has. The move to 88.1 is not without its problems. And believe me, one of my top priorities is trying to figure out a way to cover the entire state with our programming. But we've nearly doubled our cume by moving to 88.1FM. You can argue with PPM methodology all day, but that's a hard number to ignore.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

I mean, really. How many different ways can you say "it's a bad storm, don't go out in it"???

People are impatient....they're not going to want to sift thier way through 20 or 25 minutes of national news and features before you get to the nugget or two of storm information that they really want. This is where commercial radio's "wall-to-wall" super-local coverage SHINES.

Plus....let's face it....people are stupid. You HAVE to keep pounding things into thier heads before it registers.....things like "It's a bad storm....don't go out unless you have to."

 

[aaronread]

People are impatient....they're not going to want to sift thier way through 20 or 25 minutes of national news and features before you get to the nugget or two of storm information that they really want. This is where commercial radio's "wall-to-wall" super-local coverage SHINES.

Not really. People THAT impatient aren't going to turn to radio at all, they're going to turn to websites. Probably on their smartphones.

Plus....let's face it....people are stupid. You HAVE to keep pounding things into thier heads before it registers.....things like "It's a bad storm....don't go out unless you have to."

Arguably true. But we like to think our listeners are a little smarter than the average bear. ;D

 

[iyiyi]

I mean, really. How many different ways can you say "it's a bad storm, don't go out in it"???

People are impatient....they're not going to want to sift thier way through 20 or 25 minutes of national news and features before you get to the nugget or two of storm information that they really want. This is where commercial radio's "wall-to-wall" super-local coverage SHINES.

Plus....let's face it....people are stupid. You HAVE to keep pounding things into thier heads before it registers.....things like "It's a bad storm....don't go out unless you have to."

WRONG!!!

People in severe weather situations are frightened, worried, anxious... Many are alone, without power, maybe in need of food or medicine... They turn to the media for information, advice and companionship. Knowledge that people in a position to handle the situation are aware of things and are dealing with the issues...

People are not stupid and have no need for anyone to pound anything into their heads. There were no "people problems" in this storm. When you are behind the mic in a situation like that, you want to be gentle and understanding, both in suggestions and guidance!

-

 

[VelvetR]

People in exceptionally rural areas tend to listen more to local radio (where there actually is any) because:

1. Less likely some mega-group will own the station and program it from a thousand miles away.

2. They'll hear voices they know and trust

Sadly, most urban areas no longer really have local radio. Perhaps a return of ownership caps to some meaningful level would foster local programming though economics argue that's gone for good in most places.

 

[aaronread]

One of my co-workers in Riverside, where 88.1 can be questionable depending receiver quality, lost power for nearly a day and relied on an Eton crank-powered radio for information for several hours. She was listening to WPRO (AM) for most of that time and was, in her words, disgusted by how little info they provided. They were mostly opening phone lines to let people gripe and bitch about how their power was out, or their road wasn't plowed yet, etc etc etc. She mentioned one memorable caller who insisted, quite loudly, that his driveway hadn't been plowed for THREE WHOLE DAYS. Given that this was Saturday morning, and the snow didn't start until mid-day Friday, I guess the statement was technically true but a tad hyperbolic. I was also told that at one point on WPRI-TV, Ted Nesi (who's a nice guy and I like him) was reduced to reading Tweets on the air several times an hour. Talk about getting desperate to fill the time.

Granted, could we have done better than interruptions to "The Splendid Table" on Saturday? Yes, we probably could have; that has not been in doubt in our post-mortems. Although it's been a lively debate about exactly how we could've done better given our existing resource set. (shrugs)

Personally, during events like this, I would prefer we have national programming that's interesting and informative...even if it's not weather-related...so long as we have frequent updates/information at the appropriate break points. After a certain point, wouldn't people welcome the distraction somewhat?