TERRIBLE TRAFFIC REPORTS

[mediawatch22]

I was driving in Atlanta yesterday afternoon and was sampling the AM's and FM's. It was drive time and one of the traffic reports on WSB mentioned a ladder in the roadway on 75 Northbound that was causing a delay. To make a long story short, I heard about the same ladder on 75 Northbound on just about every station. But, here's the mind-blower....I heard the ladder being mentioned AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER ON ONE OF THE FM's (sorry, don't remember which one) but to make matters even worse the dialog was "I just got a report of a ladder in the roadway on 75 Northbound...."

WTF?

Way to go radio industry! It's dumb-ass mistakes like this that happen because of downsizing and lack of passion. Somebody has obviously never heard of a refresh key!

 

[nightmanager]

It's Atlanta. It was probably another ladder.

I miss Keith Kalland's traffic reports. Nothing we have now compares. No offense to Herb Emory and the gang.

 

[trhodes96]

It's Atlanta. It was probably another ladder.

I miss Keith Kalland's traffic reports. Nothing we have now compares. No offense to Herb Emory and the gang.

Wow... when I saw the headline for this post I immediately thought of Keith.

Great call Night Manager.

 

[mcradiofree]

Westwood One (metro traffic) is a shell of the company it used to be. Consolidation of regional offices, and downsizing, have taken it's toll on their ability to provide accurate info, not to mention, that very few reports are actually done live, most are sent over their "traffic transmitter". Most info you get from this service is almost 20 minutes old til it airs. If you think you have it bad in ATL, think how bad it sucks in Brimingham, and a host of other secondary markets, that get their info from the Atlanta office. Their ability to even garner info in these markets is severely limited. They have an on-line scanner package that is worthless at best, and an IT guy in charge of it who is an ego-maniac. Metro has a "one size fits all" approach that will eventually spell their demise. For now metro pays most of Westwood's bills, seeing how most of their "star" syndicated talent can't support their own salaries.

 

[jabba17]

It's Atlanta. It was probably another ladder.

I miss Keith Kalland's traffic reports. Nothing we have now compares. No offense to Herb Emory and the gang.

Didn't somebody a few years back in the GA General Assembly introduce legislation to rename Spaghetti Junction the "Keith Kalland Memorial Interchange"?

KK left us way too soon.

 

[trusty]

Didn't somebody a few years back in the GA General Assembly introduce legislation to rename Spaghetti Junction the "Keith Kalland Memorial Interchange"?

Rename? You mean it was officially named "Spaghetti Junction"?

 

[charlestondxman]

No, its actual name is the Tom Moreland Interchange. Every station in the Atlanta area does traffic reports. I've even heard some on 104.7 FM.

 

[Bengalsfan]

The "big three" (Clear Channel, Cumulus, Citadel) have had to cut back on expenses in order to have enough money in their race for the bottom of the heap....you think they give a damn about public service anymore like traffic reports and weather advisories? Hardly. Must continue to service the banks and all.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

When a city gets to be the size of Atlanta (a peculiar combination of LARGE population spread over a LARGE real estate) I don't know that radio as we know it technically can ever do justice to traffic reporting.

WSB tries their best and with the resouces of COX they have the largest mass of information at any one time of any operation around. I quit listening. They try to tell you ALL of it for all points of the compass. Capt. Herb and friends talk SO FAST youcan'treallyhearandunderstandallthejammedupwords! Ideally WSB would have five or six channels. Maybe during non-traffic reports they could simulcast. Then when traffic time comes, a channel serving the northside could give northside traffic, a Marietta channel could give northwest traffic, etc. That too has a problem: What if I am leaving Marietta to travel to Morrow or down to Macon. So I tune in the Marietta Channel and get great traffic info to begin my trip but I plan on going through downtown only to find a blocked connector that Marietta didn't tell me about. You get the picture.

I have to assume that some combination of GPS and phone-based texting by subscription will soon replace radio traffic reports. Just as you tell your weather radio what counties you want to hear about, you should be able to program you phone to only accept text messages about traffic for the neighborhoods and freeways that are of interest to you.... today. (Tomorrow my sales calls will be in another part of town and I want it programmed differently than today.) The Blue Tooth technology should advise your GPS display what it needs to show you about traffic NOW.

 

[fortt3]

Granted, Herb an the crew do talk fast, but be fair -- they don't actually try to cover all of ATL every 6 minutes in morning and afternoon drive time. They'll do the Big 4 (75/400/PIB/85) and nothern suburbs one report and the other parts in the next report. They may mention Reagan Parkway in Gwinnett and not mention an incident on it again for a half-hour. I wish my radio had a rewind button. I'd love to be able to repeat TIVO-like the last report or two or three.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

they don't actually try to cover all of ATL every 6 minutes in morning and afternoon drive time. They'll do the Big 4 (75/400/PIB/85) and nothern suburbs one report and the other parts in the next report. They may mention Reagan Parkway in Gwinnett and not mention an incident on it again for a half-hour.

You have just described the challenge of doing big-city traffic on the radio.

If my commute is 45 minutes, they may tell about my route just before I strap my car onto my behind; I drive for 45 minutes including plowing through a jam-up I could have avoided if I knew it was there, and then after I park in the company lot, they talk about the problem ON MY ROUTE 4 minutes later.

For THAT trip for THAT day, radio traffic reports did not exist for me. And yet every six minutes I had to sit through auctioneer-paced reporting that might as well have been Chicago or Pittsburgh traffic for all the good it did for me.

There has to be a better way.

 

[jabba17]

That's one plus for rimshots--WNGC only does traffic for the NE quadrant of the metro (400, PIB, I-85/985, Stone Mtn Fwy, plus surface streets), so you get more detail, more often, and no reports about "sunshine slowdowns" out of Douglasville. Ditto for WDUN.

I would imagine WTSH only covers the NW, and the Bear the southside.

 

[BarryATL]

WTOP-FM in Washtington DC is their 24 hour newsradio station. They have one of the HD channels doing nothing but 24/7 traffic. Last time I drove through DC I loved it. If I missed something, it would repeat in a few minutes.

 

[OgOgglby]

At least WSB has someone up in the air, and I appreciate that they still care enough to do that. As long as those little red lines on the AT&T Navigation system on my iPhone suck as bad as they do now, I'll still listen to the radio for news. And why doesn't the ****ing DOT put some Ga Navigator cameras on 400?

 

[secondchoice]

At least WSB has someone up in the air, and I appreciate that they still care enough to do that. As long as those little red lines on the AT&T Navigation system on my iPhone suck as bad as they do now, I'll still listen to the radio for news. And why doesn't the ****ing DOT put some Ga Navigator cameras on 400?

IIRC when the NIBYs & Sonny killed the "northern Arc" a lot of the funding for improvements to GA 400 somehow got killed too. I know the cameras came a little later but somehow the two are related. Someone who understands the workings of GA DOT can explain. Also 400 is a GA highway so fed dollars are harder to get. GA DOT has to foot most of the whole bill

 

[agentUrge]

I'll tell you what, i don't know who handles the traffic reports for Sirius/XM but they're usually off by about 30 minutes. Often sounds like they record reports and then run them 4-6 times before they update them. God awful here in Altanta. Sometimes I'd rather listen to Chicago traffic..at least it changes.

 

[charlestondxman]

Yep, that's what they do. They have a center in New York and LA to do their traffic reports, and the rest is done in Washington. It was better back when they did one city at a time. Now, they do 2.

Their 10 or 15 reporters in Washington (which still do local stuff there) did the whole country except NY and LA.

 

[jabba17]

Yep, that's what they do. They have a center in New York and LA to do their traffic reports, and the rest is done in Washington. It was better back when they did one city at a time. Now, they do 2.

Their 10 or 15 reporters in Washington (which still do local stuff there) did the whole country except NY and LA.

And occasionally you get someone who talks about traffic on "Pon-say Day Lee-OHN Avenue in DeKaLLb County"...

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

And occasionally you get someone who talks about traffic on "Pon-say Day Lee-OHN Avenue in DeKaLLb County"...

But isn't that what the natives call it? Radio all across America usually uses the local pronunciation of their area.

 

[secondchoice]

And occasionally you get someone who talks about traffic on "Pon-say Day Lee-OHN Avenue in DeKaLLb County"...

But isn't that what the natives call it? Radio all across America usually uses the local pronunciation of their area.

Maybe the natives of DC. The county in Georgia has the “L’ is silent (DE CAB). The corn seed company uses the “LL”. I know I had to recut several commercials while working at KIUL Garden City KS. The “day” is silent on the avenue in GA. I just call it "ponce".