The Future - AM + Streaming only (no FM & HD)

[davideduardo]

The cluster where I worked that had its own radar and meteorologist is now owned by Cumulus, which canned the meteorologist in the Great Headroll of 2008 and 2009. It has been using TV audio ever since. It's a downgrade, but, when I'm in my basement shelter during a tornado warning, I still get a good picture of what’s going on and where. I agree with you that “you can see the damage right now” is irritating to hear on radio, but I'm usually turning off the radio and going back upstairs to watch the coverage on TV after the storm blows past my house.

Fortunately I am in a market where the better TV cluster has three graduate meteorologists, and one of the works with a local radio station too. But in the event of a major quake or extreme flooding with total power loss, there would be no accessible TV and I am not sure how much backup any of the radio stations have.

We have to keep in mind that the radio industry is working with about 30% of the revenue it had in 2000; even then it was split in more ways due to translators and Docket 80-90 more than doubling the stations in the market.

 

[TheBigA]

For the majority of people, the cell phone has a very finite "one charge" usage limit. That will only work for the immediate first few hours, and depends on being replaced with something with a longer life span.

Typically, the emergency itself only lasts a few hours. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the emergency was about a day. However the power was off in some areas for two weeks. You don't need emergency information for those two weeks.

The other thing is the OP is talking about providing audio-only emergency information. That's not what DHS is interested in. They want to provide video information, starting with radar of storms (if that's the emergency) or some form of visual content, and the phone can do that. The weather program on my phone provides radar of approaching storms so that I know when it will hit my area. That's more useful than some AI voice telling me to seek cover.

 

[davideduardo]

Well...maybe some drones dropping 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper with simple maps showing where the water and food stations will be set up and maybe some reminders of what not to do after a natural disaster.

Would just need a stockpile of drones + laser printers + ink + paper that can be moved into position and put to use printing emergency info.

And people well trained on doing all that work who could get to the place where such things could be printed in quantities likely exceeding 10,000 as well as equipped drones fit for releasing small batches of paper sheets. And wherever all that was, it would have to be driven to the emergency location.

And before that, someone able to draw a reasonable map of the area for the original.

That is a logistics nightmare.

 

[davideduardo]

Typically, the emergency itself only lasts a few hours. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the emergency was about a day. However the power was off in some areas for two weeks. You don't need emergency information for those two weeks.

If roads are closed, water is cut off, etc. you do. The most severe hurricane to hit the US in recent years was in Puerto Rico and some areas were inaccessible for months!

If we are talking about a major emergency, the normal "first aid" remedies will not work.

The other thing is the OP is talking about providing audio-only emergency information. That's not what DHS is interested in. They want to provide video information, starting with radar of storms (if that's the emergency) or some form of visual content, and the phone can do that. The weather program on my phone provides radar of approaching storms so that I know when it will hit my area. That's more useful than some AI voice telling me to seek cover.

After a hurricane, quake, flood or fire, nobody needs video unless it is maps for evacuation or emergency centers. This is where the conundrum of limited charges on phones kicks in.

We can all get warnings in multiple ways up till the event except for quakes. There is no current issue there. It is post-event that is a very weak link due to cell phones not having discardable batteries.

 

[Kent]

It would seem only marijuana and unrestricted-in-any-way guns are legal in Missouri

We also like our alcohol. Anheuser-Busch being started in Missouri was always a point of pride, and it helped keep our liquor laws lax.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Typically, the emergency itself only lasts a few hours. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the emergency was about a day. However the power was off in some areas for two weeks. You don't need emergency information for those two weeks.

The other thing is the OP is talking about providing audio-only emergency information. That's not what DHS is interested in. They want to provide video information, starting with radar of storms (if that's the emergency) or some form of visual content, and the phone can do that. The weather program on my phone provides radar of approaching storms so that I know when it will hit my area. That's more useful than some AI voice telling me to seek cover.

And during that storm, and Irene before it, in Philly at least, multiple radio stations began carrying audio from the TV stations with which they had partnerships (usually for daily weather and such). Easy, they ran for about a night or so, for those who were in an immediate power loss situation while the storm was ongoing and happened to have a radio. When the "critical" emergency phase passed, they went back to normal. I'm sure some people were ticked they didn't hear whatever music they liked...so be it. It wasn't all that long, and served a need for the window it was called for.

Personally, I have a couple of portable phone chargers handy and ensure they're charged up ahead of bad weather predictions. It would keep us all in the family charged up for a few days at least, and we've never been away from a charging option that long. We were out for a week+ with Sandy, but our cars were fine, so we charged in them while driving around after the storm had passed. Even in an ice storm that took us out for a few days, the chargers worked initially, then the car kept us going from there.

I really don't get this underlying bizarre proposal.

 

[Kent]

There is a finite limit on such temporary service based on people's batter life, the number of times running the car to recharge batteries can be done and, of course, the extent of damage limiting any kind of power for recharging.

For the majority of people, the cell phone has a very finite "one charge" usage limit. That will only work for the immediate first few hours, and depends on being replaced with something with a longer life span.

No system is going to be perfect in times of disaster. Yeah, a battery powered radio is going to last longer than a cell phone, but, as the Big A mentions, radio coverage isn’t what it used to be, if it ever was in the first place. I rarely hear tornado coverage lasting longer than a couple hours, and I live in Tornado Alley. I'd have no problem pulling out the battery operated radio if I thought it would do me some good, but I know better. I suppose I haven’t gotten rid of it for a reason, but I couldn’t tell you which box it's in as I haven’t unpacked it since I moved into my house seven years ago.

When the tornado went through Rolling Fork, MS, I tried to find radio coverage of it, and I found nothing. Maybe there was a station or two covering it, but every station I found streaming in the area was either in the middle of its syndicated programming or was in the middle of x-songs in-a-row. No reason to whip out the radio when that’s all you get.

 

[radiofan2023]

Well...maybe some drones dropping 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper with simple maps showing where the water and food stations will be set up and maybe some reminders of what not to do after a natural disaster.

Would just need a stockpile of drones + laser printers + ink + paper that can be moved into position and put to use printing emergency info.


Kirk Bayne

 

[RadioFan2J3]

When I was at the Miami Federal Building for my First Class FCC License test, I wandered by a door that indicated it was the VOA Miami bureau. I went inside and talked briefly to the man who was there. I don't know that there was anything more a newsperson with rudimentary audio equipment.

Do you remember what year that was?

 

[gr8oldies]

Do you remember what year that was?

Yes, March 1980

 

[gr8oldies]

Well...maybe some drones dropping 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper with simple maps showing where the water and food stations will be set up and maybe some reminders of what not to do after a natural disaster.

Would just need a stockpile of drones + laser printers + ink + paper that can be moved into position and put to use printing emergency info.


Kirk Bayne

OK I get it. You're trolling us.

 

[gr8oldies]

Typically, the emergency itself only lasts a few hours. When Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, the emergency was about a day. However the power was off in some areas for two weeks. You don't need emergency information for those two weeks.

The other thing is the OP is talking about providing audio-only emergency information. That's not what DHS is interested in. They want to provide video information, starting with radar of storms (if that's the emergency) or some form of visual content, and the phone can do that. The weather program on my phone provides radar of approaching storms so that I know when it will hit my area. That's more useful than some AI voice telling me to seek cover.

Disagree. You still need to know about shelters, places to take a shower, what restaurants or fast food is open, places to get water or charge phones. When I lived in the Dayton, Ohio area, we had remnants of Hurricane Ike go through, cutting power for anywhere from a day to 3 weeks. I remember a call-in from a guy who was having a giant cookout, anticipating power being out for awhile. It was "I'm cooking all my meat, bring your meat or if you don't have meat, come and eat".

 

[kfbkfb]

OK I get it. You're trolling us.

no, sometimes the oldest/simplest ways are still the best way to help solve some problems, if all of the other communications systems are down, a piece of paper with a map with emergency info and water/food locations could be very valuable.


Kirk Bayne

 

[gr8oldies]

We also like our alcohol. Anheuser-Busch being started in Missouri was always a point of pride, and it helped keep our liquor laws lax.

If there's no age restriction on carrying guns in public, why not alcohol? What 3rd grader doesn't need a beer before class?>

 

[gr8oldies]

no, sometimes the oldest/simplest ways are still the best way to help solve some problems, if all of the other communications systems are down, a piece of paper with a map with emergency info and water/food locations could be very valuable.


Kirk Bayne

Have you seen a post-tornado scene? The maps would get lost in all the other debris. Let alone how are you going to power the printers?

 

[davideduardo]

Disagree. You still need to know about shelters, places to take a shower, what restaurants or fast food is open, places to get water or charge phones.

And in a major hurricane (think New Orleans as just one of many examples) there are things like entire areas flooded or damaged with trees and power lines down, roads filled with debris and closed for days (or longer), no phones of any kind and inaccessibility by emergency services.

With quakes, you can have huge zones with fallen bridges, collapsed buildings, shorted out substations and power lines (the wires hit each other in the quake and burn), depleted emergency batteries and inaccessibility due to rubble, fallen power poles, split roadways, etc.

In a fire, you have entire areas leveled, often meaning other areas are not accessible. Floods have obvious lack of utilities, communication and transportation.

All can last entire days... in some cases weeks or more.

When I lived in the Dayton, Ohio area, we had remnants of Hurricane Ike go through, cutting power for anywhere from a day to 3 weeks. I remember a call-in from a guy who was having a giant cookout, anticipating power being out for awhile. It was "I'm cooking all my meat, bring your meat or if you don't have meat, come and eat".

Yes, and you went through the aftermath. Until you have experienced finding the big electric sign from the gas station over a mile away on your neighbor's roof and finding your 20 foot high avocado tree up on your own roof... and no power for nearly two weeks, you don't know about hurricanes.

And the hilltop with three 1000 foot TV towers and a half-dozen 300' to 400' FM towers stripped completely bare, with the asphalt paving ripped off the ground and into scattered chunks....

 

[vchimpanzee]

Disagree. You still need to know about shelters, places to take a shower, what restaurants or fast food is open, places to get water or charge phones. When I lived in the Dayton, Ohio area, we had remnants of Hurricane Ike go through, cutting power for anywhere from a day to 3 weeks. I remember a call-in from a guy who was having a giant cookout, anticipating power being out for awhile. It was "I'm cooking all my meat, bring your meat or if you don't have meat, come and eat".

I looked at a local paper's web site and they had all this for the Moore County incident, but according to the coverage I saw, there were people who had no way to find out what was going on. It didn't say if or how they were finally reached.

 

[davideduardo]

no, sometimes the oldest/simplest ways are still the best way to help solve some problems, if all of the other communications systems are down, a piece of paper with a map with emergency info and water/food locations could be very valuable.

As I said, the logistics of setting that into motion are 1) complicated, 2) involve preparation far from the disaster scene and 3) in the hands of government inertia. That means that the problem will be over before the first paper maps are distributed.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Have you seen a post-tornado scene? The maps would get lost in all the other debris. Let alone how are you going to power the printers?

Bennettsville, SC, 1984, on the way to the beach. Worse than I expected. And that wasn't anything compared to some of the recent tornadoes.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

Yes, March 1980

Okay, that makes sense and I believe before Office of Cuba Broadcasting was set up.