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Storm coverage on the radio

Wouldn't it be nice to know that you can count on the radio to help you during potential disasters?
I don't know much about you local area but I believe radio did pretty good in the Hurricane that hit Asheville. I worked there in the early 1980's and it was not a really a "big money" market then. Based on the level of destruction, and the revenue in that market, I believe radio did better than most folks could expect
 
Multiple posts with same manually pasted scripture multiple times.
Do you actually mean WBT-FM? WLNK is a music station that is unlikely to have just storm coverage, and it is not a strong station.

WBT-FM is on the old WLNK frequency on 107.9 and, being a talk station, would be more likely to do this.


Yeah, I believe that's who he meant.

Romans 11:33-36 KJB

Josh

Church Podcast: Pleasant View Baptist Church | SermonAudio
Personal Podcast: Back To The Old Paths
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generally speaking i think people use radio differently than they did pre 2000. even seniors can use smartphones. storm converage can be tedious. tv offers pictures, but once we know the roads are bad we leave. tons of other options. helene was a different animal for asheville as not only power, but cell service was spotty. radio played a role there as documented. radio is no longer school and business closings, road conditions, and power outage reports. it's an escape from that.
 
generally speaking i think people use radio differently than they did pre 2000. even seniors can use smartphones. storm converage can be tedious. tv offers pictures, but once we know the roads are bad we leave. tons of other options. helene was a different animal for asheville as not only power, but cell service was spotty. radio played a role there as documented. radio is no longer school and business closings, road conditions, and power outage reports. it's an escape from that.
I 100% agree with you. But a big reason why they use radio differently IMHO is that radio left them. If, over the past 26 years (using your date of reference) radio wouldn't have dropped the ball, it would be difficult now. People would still tune in during an emergency. Now? No one even thinks about the radio. That corporate ownership's fault. And I'm pretty sure it's too late to go back. ☹️
 
I 100% agree with you. But a big reason why they use radio differently IMHO is that radio left them.

You're saying it has nothing to do with that device you're using right now? Nothing to do with that device in your pocket? Here's the truth: There is nothing broadcast radio can do, no amount of staff they can hire, that will cause you or anyone to throw away their digital devices. Stop making excuses. Radio didn't change. You did. You and everyone else. Be honest with yourself. It's killing broadcast TV too. The same exact thing. Budgets are being cut, people are getting laid off, because viewership is down.
 
I totally disagree. The cell phone and its capabilities was not a result of radio not providing information. It had everything to do with getting the informaion on demand versus waiting with radio. AMRocks, you simply want to just hate radio, admit it.
 
Its also all about the market.. and whats happened there in the past. if the market has a history of a station doing storm/severe weather stuff and maintains it, people will listen. We do that in Laramie and have for years. Thats why we have an auto start break up generator and we are on it when it happens.. freak June snowstorms, tornados........ during the freak June snowstorm, the owner was on the air under generator power in his PJ's at 1030 at night while i was doing social media stuff. Doing weather/breaking news coverage isnt too hard wikth a small staff or budget as long as you have willingness from staff and outside the box thinking
 
AMRocks, you simply want to just hate radio, admit it.

There's also this hate about corporations. It's "rage against the machine." But the fact is that corporations built radio. RCA, General Electric, AT&T, Westinghouse. These were the founding companies of what became radio as we know it. They were the big technology companies of their time. They were all much bigger than any of the radio companies today. People didn't complain about corporations then. Of course none of those corporations own radio now. They got out of it over 30 years ago. If you think broadcast radio is too corporate, try to deal with Spotify or Apple or any of the big tech companies today.
 
The "problem" with storm coverage is a multilevel financial issue..How many radio stations have a full time news person / department? If you have such a person how long could he / she go without help? Is there a call screener for folks to report stuff?

IMHO the only really good radio operation in Atlanta is WSB and it's tied in with the TV and AJC. If you are lucky enough to have a good radio news operation in your market you are lucky. Back last century there were several stations in the sub 20 markets that made money with local news. They usually were part of a TV news operation. Now TV - radio co owned operations are few and far between. If the radio station is owned by a publicly held corporation, the share holders will not stand for departments that don't generate positive cash flow.

There are some independent owners that have decent local news operations but they usually do it as a set to the community and are not leveraged.
WBT on 107.9-FM has a strong full time news department, with several anchors and reporters. And they also source news from TV partnerships with WBTV and WJZY Queen City News. And they also bring on The Weather Channel for weather information and FOX News for national coverage.
 
I will complain that WLOS channel 13 in Asheville refused to air the NC emergency weather briefings from the Governor Josh Stein all week long, but WYFF channel 4 in Greenville did the right thing and broadcast these briefings, despite being a South Carolina station. WBTV, WCNC, and WSOC in Charlotte also properly carried the emergency briefings. You would think since Asheville just endured Hurricane Helene that WLOS would have been a more responsible broadcaster and serve the public interest by providing essential emergency alert information.
 
Haven't had any personal contact with WLOS since I sold them advertising for their evening magazine in 1980. Could this be something to do with Western NC's MAGA folks issues with Democrats?
 
WBT on 107.9-FM has a strong full time news department, with several anchors and reporters. And they also source news from TV partnerships with WBTV and WJZY Queen City News. And they also bring on The Weather Channel for weather information and FOX News for national coverage.
They have re$ource$. If they didn't do storm coverage there would be a problem.
 


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