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TELEVISION NEWS TRAFFIC REPORTS -- Disscussion

O

OnTexasTime

Guest
TELEVISION NEWS TRAFFIC REPORTS -- Disscussion

Do you think a large enough percentage of the audience really benefits from the traffic reports on the TV News Stations? I find the radio station traffic reports helpful when I am in the car and driving in DFW, but find myself not getting any real benefit from the TV reports.
 
Besides the traffic reports being some decent eye candy(esp. top-heavy tammy dombeck), I get more off the radio or my sirius..
 
Ditto that previous post. The only reason I watch traffic reports in Houston is to see the eye candy. KPRC's new gal has an unbelieveable body and is obviously coached to flaunt it. As for her traffic reports, she appears dumber than a rock. She is constantly tongue tied and doesn't seem to really know all the roadways, but I'll watch her and no one else. As for the other morning news traffic reports, I change channels if I'm watching TV. Like the previous post, when I hop in the car, I tune to my Sirius traffic channel for Houston and I get it on the go as any common sense person looking to avoid traffic would do.
 
Wow, just the kind of response that I would expect from 2 guys. How interesting. Is there any benefit to TV Traffic reports? Sure there is, especially if a major problem has occured. Let's say a freeway you use to get to work has been shut down. So before you even get on, you are thinking about what alternate route you can take. I can go at least 5 different ways to my job and if the guys on FOX 4 tell me that EB LBJ is shut down, I know that I can just take the Bush instead. (I say FOX 4 here in Dallas because they do traffic more often than anybody else in town including most radio stations...plus the guys are easy on my eyes ;) )
 
Research repeatedly shows that morning viewers want weather/traffic/headlines/weather/traffic/headlines/weather/traffic/headlines/weather/traffic/headlines, etc. etc.

In fact you could probably have the weather and traffic anchors toss back and forth between each other all morning and the viewers would be completely happy.

In radio it's known as high cume/low TSL. People come and go from the television and are only half paying attention to what's on the screen.
 
OnTexasTime said:
TELEVISION NEWS TRAFFIC REPORTS -- Disscussion

Do you think a large enough percentage of the audience really benefits from the traffic reports on the TV News Stations? I find the radio station traffic reports helpful when I am in the car and driving in DFW, but find myself not getting any real benefit from the TV reports.
Click to expand...

Traffic Reports?
What Traffic Reports?
I live in Lubbock!
 
I like the TV traffic reports, too, so I can start planning my route before I even get in the car.

Of course, radio reports are better once you're in the car. But outside of morning/afternoon drive on weekends, they can be hard to find.

In Detroit, one radio station had traffic every 10 minutes, 24/7. The TV stations all had full-fledged traffic/road destruction reports on their weekend morning shows. But no TV stations did afternoon traffic (at least at the time).
 
Agreed with all points about the female eye candy in DFW, and agreed the guys on Fox 4 are on frequently (don't agree about the "easy on the eyes," but I'll double-check with my wife ;D).

Are the traffic reports useful? Yes, as was mentioned already, if I know before I pull out of my driveway, I can head a different way. Also, don't forget there are plenty of people at home still watching when their loved ones are on the way to work. My wife knows the route I usually take and will call if she sees something worth calling me. As someone who heads to work near the AAC, and who lives along the I-20 corridor, the radio folks (Laura Houston, especially) tend to miss what's happening in South Dallas County. Somehow Tammy, the Fox 4 duo and even Morticia tend to relay South Dallas traffic reports quicker.
 
Garrett, very funny reply. I'm originally from Lubbock. If you want to get anywhere in Lubbock, you do this:
First, get on Loop 289............... ha ha ha !!

I'll never forget in 1989, I got a new job and went up to Dayton, OH for two weeks of training. Their local newscasts had a traffic girl sometimes out in the actual traffic on I-75 (??) doing live reports. She was talking about how bad traffic was in Dayton and I thought to myself, "you haven't seen traffic girl" until you've lived in the DFW area. :)

Then in about 2000, I was in Tulsa, OK with my job and my boss and I had an appointment in downtown
Tulsa that afternoon. All the people in our company told us to make sure we get out of downtown Tulsa by 4.30 that afternoon or the BA (Broken Arrow) Expressway will start clogging up. :) My boss who lived in L.A. at the time and me living in Dallas couldn't keep from laughing on that comment.

Traffic is all relative to where you live.
 
Traffic reports on TV? Its plain ol' PR and the a throwback to the early days of TV with the "weather girl". Radio traffic reports are frequest ( every 6-8min) therefore more accurate when you have to leave instead of staying glued o the TV. Conditions change rapidly(especially DFW),thus what you saw on TV prio is most likely is gone 5 min. later.
 
KPLEXCOMPLEX said:
Traffic reports on TV? Its plain ol' PR and the a throwback to the early days of TV with the "weather girl". Radio traffic reports are frequest ( every 6-8min) therefore more accurate when you have to leave instead of staying glued o the TV. Conditions change rapidly(especially DFW),thus what you saw on TV prio is most likely is gone 5 min. later.
Click to expand...

Unless you live in D/FW where the radio traffic reports are often pretty poor. Considering the freeways are dotted with live TxDot cameras all over, it's amazing how slow they are at relaying information.

There also seems to be a lack of understanding current traffic patterns (or I guess thinking traffic patterns are what they were 10 years ago). I'm amused almost every night while crawling along southbound 75 between 635 and dowtown hearing "northbound 75 traffic, the heavier side this time of day, is moving along fine." After 5PM, most nights, the heavier volume on 75 is southbound between 635 and downtown. 4 out of 5 times a week, northbound traffic speed is 2-3 times what the southbound speed is. With a lot of folks having moved back into the city (uptown, etc.), various downtown evening events (Stars/Mavs/AAC event, symphony, etc.), or any sort of incident on a downtown freeway or outbound downtown on I-30/I-35/I-45, the traffic on 75 most evenings is more congested southbound rather than northbound at 5PM on. Before then, northbound is heavier with all those downtown folks who get off a 4 or 4:30 getting on the road first.
 
It depends on the service..Traffic Pulse or Metro. Traffic pulse is far better currently. Traffic Pulse feeds Ch.8 Metro ch.11 You can't watch a TV in the car driving. Radio traffic reports are far more frequent when you need it as oppose to TV. The TV is plain and simple eye candy PR.
 
Hey, if you have a computer, go online to get the real-time traffic with traffic cameras all over town (both Hou & DFW and maybe Lubbock by 2065) before you head out in the morning. I stand by my previous post regarding Ch 2's new traffic babe. She doesn't speak well, but who cares. It's all about the entertainment. For the record, I'm no sexist (I live in an all female household with wife and daughters), I'm just a realist and it's fun to not be politically correct for a change.
 
I have always been a fan of FOX 4's Good Day's Team Traffic. At least that Chip guy seems to know what he's talking about.
 
Todd Carruth said:
I have always been a fan of FOX 4's Good Day's Team Traffic. At least that Chip guy seems to know what he's talking about.
Click to expand...

that's the one I listen to in the morning. I say listen to, because I am normally getting ready in the morning with the news on. With FOX 4 you don't have to see all the pictures to know what they are talking about.

Todd Carruth -- that name is so familar, wonder where I have heard it. ::)
 
Traffic on TV is a great idea. Let me explain:

Years ago I remember wondering why Channel 8 in Dallas ran traffic reports. They'd have a guy from metro voice over a map of traffic problems during the 5pm news. It didn't make much sense to me since most people didn't have TVs sitting in their office tuned to the news before they left work for the day.

Then I grew up a bit and started to see the genius behind it. First, there were (and are) plenty of people with TVs at work tuned to news. Stock brokers and such do that all the time. These are highly paid people that are quite attractive to advertisers.

Second, when the TV stations wised up and started to fly traffic helicopters, I realized that even though I had no need for this information, I would turn and watch to see what was going on. The addage that people always slow down to look at a wreck is true. Bringing it to TV is no different. We'll stop what we're doing and look at it.

Finally, when I started working a job where I was faced with driving through rush-hour traffic in the morning and afternoon, I tuned in. It was far better to see what the wreck was on TV than just briefly hear about it on the radio. At work, I had the added benefit of being able to see it before I left.

I think the changes in our world have mandated that TV start to cover traffic just like radio. It's obviously a draw now that it didn't used to be.

Interestingly enough, I think the best-known traffic people in the DFW area are now on TV, not radio. Susie Humphries, Dick Siegel and Laura Houston have been supplanted by Tammy Dombeck, Alexa Conomos, Chip Waggoner and Todd Carruth. Like their old radio counterparts, these TV personalities are far more than just the traffic reporters on their shows. In fact, Alexa anchors channel 8's noon show and fills in on anchoring Daybreak frequently. Alexa is also eye candy, even if Scott Sams never thought so. Tammy "boom boom" Dombeck is definitely eye candy on Channel 5, but I can't stand her. Chip Waggoner and Todd Carruth do a lot more banter with the anchors on Channel 4 and frequently seem to bring their own entertaining elements to the show. They are also very good and delivering a comprehensive traffic report that tells me everything I need to know before I walk out the door.
 
I listen to my scanner 450.5875....All the traffic news reporters come to this channel before reporting to find out what is OLD news and talk to each other about traffic conditions.This is in the DFW area...
 
Once again traffic situations change rapidly by the time you get in your car and you can't watch TV while driving,unless you want to be mentioned in a traffic report.
 
Very true about changing situations (unless it's construction or a big event like a jack-knifed 18 wheeler). Your suggestion of watching TV in the car brings up an idea that I have often wondered about. If TV audio was available on your radio, would you listen?
 
Todd Carruth said:
If TV audio was available on your radio, would you listen?
Click to expand...

For News, Weather, even traffic, and some sports yes. Some entertainment programs would be lost on the radio.

I am listening to the mornings news on TV as it is now. My TV turns on at 5AM, I get up by 5:30am and start getting ready and leave out around 6:15am. For the most part I am only listening and not watching. I would continue to listen in the truck if available. Lots of times I turn the TV on at work around 7:45am and keep it on for another 45 mintues or so. Listening more so than watching.

I was a long time viewer of Channel 8 and with all the changes I gave up on them in the mornings and moved over to Channel 4. One thing I noticed when I got to 4 in the mornings was that they did a better job with words of telling the News and Weather.
 
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