Tornado Coverage

[TheLaffer]

KPLEX...

You brought up a good example of Wichita Falls. I went to work in WF just a few weeks after the tornado hit. I was told that two of the staffers at the station I went too had never experienced tornados and got the hell out of town.

I did have the chance to hear firsthand stories about how the media in WF covered the tornado. First, there was only one station that had a generator, that was KWFT - 620 (now licensed to Plano). Right after the storm hit, they were out on the streets describing some of the massive destruction. There was also tape running at the station I went to work for (an FM country outlet, still there), which was only a few blocks away from the tornado. In that tape, I could hear the announcer say that the tornado had touched down near the mall, and to take immediate cover. There is a shout in the back ground, and then you can hear lots of screaming as the station is evacuated, then silence, as the power went off.

I saw the films from KAUZ-6, where the station opened up the doors in the studio (on a hilltop ) and had a clear view of the tornado as it passed well to the north of the station.

KWFT remained on the air, using their generator, and around midnight that night, KLUR FM got back on the air, using the KAUZ generator, which had enough power to fire the exciter. That was it. I was told it took 3 days to get KNIN-990 (now in Farmersville) back on the air, and another week for the AM on 1290. The KLUR crew worked out of the transmitter building, working mostly with Channel 6, feeding information from their news team.

I also got to see some of the films that were shot that never made it to air. One was a film of a young lady emerging from what was left of her home.... The tornado had completely ripped every piece of clothing from her body. She emerged with bruises and a few cuts.... and she was a cousin of a girl I had dated in Amarillo. I was able to get that film and give it to her to do with what she wished.

I learned alot about how important radio was in a disaster. Lessons that some of the newcomers desparately need to learn.

J

The naysayers and suits will proclaim last friday was an isolated incident,and theres no need to reexamine a stations committment to news, until there's a an incident like Wichita Falls ,1979. Why wait?

If you leave the station because a tornado is heading your way does this mean your incompetent? Bad or Good?

 

[sebenste]

Hey everyone,

Great discussion. Keep it up! My $.02, with a little background.

I'm a professional meteorologist by trade. I've been in broadcasting,
and also developed and carried out our severe weather alert system here at Northern Illinois University. We've been lauded for it, so I hope this carries some weight in what I am about to say.

First, the Storm Prediction Center had the entire Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in a MODERATE risk of severe thunderstorms this past Friday, for the possibility of "strong" tornadoes. This outlook was issued at 2 AM on Thursday central Time, and reissued at 12:30 PM or so that afternoon, tweaking the area and highlighting the danger to the metroplex, something they don't do unless they're confident something could happen.

Next, the local National Weather Service office issues a Hazardous Weather Outlook, and updates it at least twice a day. This focuses on the threats in the local area. They are sent on the major news wires. All the radio stations should have gotten it. Here's a copy:

FLUS44 KFWD 122044
HWOFWD

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
345 PM CDT THU APR 12 2007

TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-131100-
ANDERSON-BELL-BOSQUE-COLLIN-COMANCHE-COOKE-CORYELL-DALLAS-DELTA-
DENTON-EASTLAND-ELLIS-ERATH-FALLS-FANNIN-FREESTONE-GRAYSON-HAMILTON-
HENDERSON-HILL-HOOD-HOPKINS-HUNT-JACK-JOHNSON-KAUFMAN-LAMAR-LAMPASAS-
LEON-LIMESTONE-MCLENNAN-MILAM-MILLS-MONTAGUE-NAVARRO-PALO PINTO-
PARKER-RAINS-ROBERTSON-ROCKWALL-SOMERVELL-STEPHENS-TARRANT-VAN ZANDT-
WISE-YOUNG-
345 PM CDT THU APR 12 2007

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT NORTHWEST OF
COMANCHE...MINERAL WELLS...DECATUR...GAINESVILLE LINE...AS AN UPPER
LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM GATHERS STRENGTH OVER THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES.
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS.

BY DAYBREAK FRIDAY MORNING...A FEW STRONG STORMS MAY AFFECT AREAS AS
FAR SOUTHEAST AS A SHERMAN...DENTON...DALLAS-FORT WORTH...
STEPHENVILLE LINE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
INDICATIONS ARE THAT A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION MAY BE
SETTING UP FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ESPECIALLY FOR AREAS
ALONG AND EAST OF THE I-35 CORRIDOR.

THERE IS A MODERATE RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS FRIDAY...MAINLY ALONG AND
EAST OF THE I-35 CORRIDOR. THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE VERY LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND A FEW TORNADOES FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

A WARM FRONT WILL GRADUALLY ADVANCE NORTH ACROSS THE MODERATE RISK
AREA FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE FORECAST VERTICAL WIND PROFILE...WILL
BE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS...ESPECIALLY NEAR THIS BOUNDARY.

ELSEWHERE...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS WITH LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AS THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOP ALONG THE SURFACE DRY-LINE AND THEN MOVE EAST ACROSS THE
AREA.

PATCHY FROST IS POSSIBLE SUNDAY MORNING...MAINLY NORTHWEST OF A
GOLDTHWAITE...MERIDIAN...EMORY LINE.

A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN TO THE AREA LATE MONDAY NIGHT
THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY...AS ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM AFFECTS THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
LIMITED SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED AFTER MIDNIGHT ACROSS
NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what the Storm Prediction Center had to say about it:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2007/day2otlk_20070412_1730.html

If you are in the "blue hatched area of doom", take a hint: If you claim to be the news leader or whatever...or want to be...make sure you are staffed with the people who can "get the job done" when this happens. Obviously, from the forecasts above clearly indicated, you had 24 hours of warning that a major event could happen. Sometimes they don't pan out---it's the nature of weather forecasting. But the tools we have these days gives us a lot better confidence of what will happen through tomorrow in a general sense than even just 10 years ago.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ has the day 1, day 2, day 3, and 4-8 day severe weather outlook from the Storm Prediction Center. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/ has the Dallas/Fort Worth localized hazardous weather outlook.

And then, if you really want to school everyone, get GRLevel3:

http://www.grlevelx.com

One of the best radar and warning display software tools I have ever seen, for $80.
Shows storm tracks, how big the hail is, you can zoom in and loop 100 ways to Sunday.
It's on my computer, and I am a proud user of their sister GR2 software, with more of a meteorologist data slant to it.

OK, I am typing this at 7:15 PM Monday. April 16. What is SPC calling for on Tuesday?
Current day 2 outlook is here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html

If you read this after 1 AM Tuesday, click here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

What? Supercells to the DFW area tomorrow per the day 2?

That had better be a MORNING meeting at your radio stations
tomorrow, gang...

And BTW, as a backup, get a NOAA All-Hazards radio. You have great coverage down there:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

And Amazon dot com has the Midland WR-100B (we have 50 of them here) on sale for $30. They work great, I highly recommend them. We bank our lives on them during tornado warnings; they're in standby mode all the time. At home, it should be like a smoke detector--have one where you can hear it at all times if in the house.

P.S. Caught the WFAA-TV/DT online broadcast and watched the radar on GRLevel2
in real-time. They did a GREAT job! Can't speak for anyone else, that's all I could get.
Food for thought...enjoy your severe weather tomorrow.

 

[sebenste]

One more thing. The local Fort Worth severe weather page from the National Weather Service is here:

http://www.srh.weather.gov/fwd/specialwx.php

 

[ArcherSports]

Hmmm. Interesting question. I guess it depends on one's perspective. In the case of KLUR (the station I worked for), there were no news reporters for the station, it was just a country station (albeit one with a 55 share).

If one is a news reporter, then you stay at your post. If one is a just a jock, then you run like hell. Back then I was a jock and a sportscaster. I think had I been on the air, I would have stayed til the power went out. But I'll never know that.

If you leave the station because a tornado is heading your way does this mean your incompetent? Bad or Good?

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

All in all DFW is back to its normal weather pattern after 2 years of exceptional drought. That means every 4-5 days we will likely have Thunderstorms on the average. Lessons have been learned,even from those who did a helluva job. Keep in mind,as much as we criticize one station over the other,there ARE some who give a damn and do the best they can with what they have,that includes WBAP,KRLD,KLUV,ETC. Some are just at the mercy of an automatic EAS,and if that fails..well you get the idea. Unfortunately that has happened at times. I am sure when the next major weather event hits, you will hear more stations stepping up,and all will be equal in coverage.

 

[Robert Bass]

As much as I'd like to believe the drought is officially over, NOAA predicted this would be an overall dry spring in North Texas. Water restrictions are unfortunately still in place in numerous locations.

R

 

[Steve Eberhart]

Most knowledgeable people will tell you that when something of this magnitude occurs, and Monday's school shooting certainly pertains, all rules are off. If you are not going wall to wall with coverage on a tornado that is reported in multiple communities of the area causing damage - one must wonder when would you?

 

[ArcherSports]

Steve,

Your reply brought back a memory of when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. I was on the air playing those great country hits in Amarillo, but I had the TV on CNN watching the launch, and monitoring NBC Radio (remember them) when the launch occurred.

We had decided that we would not carry the launch live, as by then space shuttle launches were commonplace (little did we know). As soon as I saw the plume of smoke, I knew something was wrong. I stopped the record (yea, we still played records), opened the mike, and said we were joining NBC coverage in progress... just as the network said that something had appeared to go wrong.

We were first in the market to have the story on... in fact, it was nearly an hour before the 'news station' in the market joined the story.

We had an AM/FM combo. Both stations carried the story for about an hour. After that, the FM went back to music, but told people to tune to our AM for more details. We stayed with the network, and local cut-ins with our news director for the rest of the day (finally ending coverage around 4 pm).

Here is what made the difference. Every staffer at our station knew that he could make a decision to interrupt programming without any repercussion. Its the shoot first and ask questions later mentality, but it worked for us. I made the decision to interrupt programming, and then alerted the PD, who alerted the GM. We all met, and decided to stay with the coverage. We got very good reception to our decision, in the local newspaper, and on TV, so it was well worth the time.

Here is the bottom line. As an announcer back then, I knew that I had the authority to make a programming decision, and not get busted for it.
Granted, this was market 195, and not market 5, but still, I think that the corporate mentality in just about any of the top 200 markets is substantially different today than it was 20 years ago when it comes to disaster coverage.

Your thoughts?

 

[Media Mogul]

Hmmm. Interesting question. I guess it depends on one's perspective. In the case of KLUR (the station I worked for), there were no news reporters for the station, it was just a country station (albeit one with a 55 share).

If one is a news reporter, then you stay at your post. If one is a just a jock, then you run like hell. Back then I was a jock and a sportscaster. I think had I been on the air, I would have stayed til the power went out. But I'll never know that.

If you leave the station because a tornado is heading your way does this mean your incompetent? Bad or Good?

I personally wouldn't leave the station. Typically I anchor the severe weather coverage and the newsman is making calls getting people on the air and finding damage reports. (I no longer do news, but in an emergency like that I believe it is all hands on deck..) There are so many people who still take their radios into the basement, and if one life is saved, it is worth it for me.

I continue to be amazed at the number of jocks that are just like, "Uh... what do I do..." or "Screw the tornado... we've got hits to play.." or sales managers who don't want to interrupt programming because their spots don't get played.

I will say this... sometimes there are people that just need to get out of the way and let people with somewhat of a news background or weather experience do their thing.

If there is a tornado in our listening area, it's wall-to-wall. No excuse for anyone who doesn't...

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Steve is right and the comments thereafter. 4 Tornadoes officially touched down in the area,that is excluding the severity of numerous thunder storms as well. It's pretty much an emergency condition I dare say. The image of Ken Baker being chewed out on Warm'97 alomost 20 years ago comes to mind. A station is licensed to serve its community. Playing music is not serving it. That is why with ownership clusters,pairing up stations to keep the public informerd is needed,but what really is needed is leadership. Who makes the call? Pd/ Om? GM/Who is designated if they are for some unknown reason un available? If you had advanced warning like the National Weather service stated 2 days in advance,you should have had your team ready,regardless of the days of the week. Like I said Lessons are learned,and hopefully someone with authority took the time to evaluate,and learned. Next time it just might be too little too late.

 

[TheLaffer]

Weclome aboard, gpzyzyzf.

I was at home during the storm outbreak, and got most of my wx information on TV, so I'm not an authoritative souce. For me, WBAP was always the station to turn to for severe weather information. Knowing that a tornado was on the ground in WBAP's city of license I would expect that they would have wtw coverage, not some loud-mouth boorish idiot from NYC on the air. EAS warnings or not, what if I tuned in outside the EAS broadcasts? On KRLD, I would have found good information. On 'BAP, I would have had more of Levin's vendetta against all things not neo-conservative.

KRLD sounds like it hit it out of the park. Smarter minds than I will have to decide WBAP's fate on this board Overall, though, with the exception of KRLD, it sounds like Steve's memo to the GM should be required reading at every station, and more than a few folks should be taken out to the woodshed for failure to broadcast in the public interest.

Speaking of Levin...I think they have too many New Yorkers on WBAP. Especially Levin. I really do think a lot of Texans are fed up with him Just another loud mouthed yankee. I mean how much of the Rush Limbaugh's preaching can you take everyday? No wonder'Bap is so low in this last trend.

 

[Horns]

It is sad that Cumulus has bought WBAP/KSCS. I used to live in North Texas and those stations go back to my childhood. I wouldn't expect anything great out of Cumulus. I am a professional meteorologist and used to do weather for a radio station in Central Texas that was bought by Cumulus. I would call in 3X a day to give them a "localized" forecast and provide severe weather coverage day and night. I was the only one on the radio providing coverage when the Jarrell tornado was forming and hit. When Cumulus took over, I got fired via an e-mail. I wasn't making much money, just doing it for fun and community service. I was told Cumulus wasn't going to pay anyone to do the weather and my services were no longer needed...via e-mail. After about 15 years of service to that station and its listeners, they simply said, "don't call in tomorrow morning." That's radio these days.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I belive it's CITADEL that's purchased WBAP/KSCS.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Whoa...it's CITADEL buying WBAP and all the ABC stations, not Cumulus, thank God...unless I missed something in the last few days.

 

[gpzyzyzf]

Speaking of Levin...I think they have too many New Yorkers on WBAP. Especially Levin. I really do think a lot of Texans are fed up with him Just another loud mouthed yankee. I mean how much of the Rush Limbaugh's preaching can you take everyday? No wonder'Bap is so low in this last trend.

Laffer....you must have been in the business long enough to realize that: a) trends are just that....trends and that b) Arbitron is a terrible way to figure out what a radio station is doing. As soon as this market gets the PPM.....everyone will be able to have a better idea of what is really happening in the market!!

 

[TheLaffer]

Speaking of Levin...I think they have too many New Yorkers on WBAP. Especially Levin. I really do think a lot of Texans are fed up with him Just another loud mouthed yankee. I mean how much of the Rush Limbaugh's preaching can you take everyday? No wonder'Bap is so low in this last trend.

Laffer....you must have been in the business long enough to realize that: a) trends are just that....trends and that b) Arbitron is a terrible way to figure out what a radio station is doing. As soon as this market gets the PPM.....everyone will be able to have a better idea of what is really happening in the market!!

You're correct. It iS just a trend. It takes several BOOKS to show real growth or decline. For the past two years WBAP has been on a decline. More books down than up.

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Whether you agree or disagree the local politcal climate is changing. Look at the last election. The GOP got hit,and locally Dallas county the stalwart
of the state GOP lost heavily. The election before that a new Sheriff was elected,; a woman, and a Democrat! Polls show the country has been evenly divided for almost the last 6 years. Political views are moderating. This spells gloom for talk shows,especially the one sided "let's beat up on the "Clintons for the upteenth time" type of talk shows. Listeners are tired of it and seek to listen to something else. Rush went down. Can you believe it? Talk shows pretty much have peaked awith a slight uptick if a strongly contested election draws near. Remember when Stern was #1 in the mornings in many markets and two years before he went to Sirius he wasn't? Its like the music formats,people are tired of hearing the same ol same ol,no matter what a focus group says.

Talk shows will be here for awhile unfortunately,but they need to re-examine themselves abou their content ,and delivery style,before they lose it all together.

 

[theshadow]

I will have to admit, the tornado coverage on KRLD was some of the best I have heard on radio yesterday. Brad Barton did a great job keeping people informed, and the others on the ground did a great job as well. I will admit that the constant beeping in the background seemed like overkill at times, but other than that, I was very informed.

Agreed. Mucho kudos to Brad and all the staff there. How radio SHOULD be. A RARE
thing these days. Imagine...a radio station actually serving its community!

My family and I were going out to eat with friends that eve, and it was great to hear
the timely coverage on KRLD, while WBAP sucked, and promptly went in the toilet.

Everyone thought things were going to change when Tyler came back, and the big 820
was to become what it used to be. Ain't happenin' pardner! I would never go to them
anymore for news OR traffic. KRLD kills WBAP in the afternoon with traffic. What folks may
not realize is the 'BAP afternoon traffic reports (except for top and bottom of the hour)
are TAPED!. Yep...TAPED! And this for the traffic leader! Why? Because God forbid they
should have to break into his pompous royal jack*** Sean Hannity's show for a traffic
report!. So those reports at :20 and :50 were taped about 9 after and 40 after. How's
that for up to date for commuters?! :'(

Regarding switching over and hearing Levin, another perfect example of bowing to
advertising greed and syndication before community service. Levin is a complete jerk.
The most annoying voice on the radio.

 

[grantchester]

"Horns" wrote: I was the only one on the radio providing coverage when the Jarrell tornado was forming and hit.

Yes, I remember that day, Horns, and you were the first on the air with the warnings as the storms formed. I also remember that morning at 6:00am, after I had mentioned the NWS warning of a slight chance of severe storms, and the testy tone you took with me for contradicting your forecast (which did not call for storms).
But that was nothing like the bashing I took for contradicting Brad on the air one night. I said Brad wasn't predicting snow, but that some other meteorologists were. I was called on the carpet, threatened with firing, and told to never contradict Brad again. Then, it snowed 5 inches. Never heard an apology for that one...
g

 

[TheLaffer]

I will have to admit, the tornado coverage on KRLD was some of the best I have heard on radio yesterday. Brad Barton did a great job keeping people informed, and the others on the ground did a great job as well. I will admit that the constant beeping in the background seemed like overkill at times, but other than that, I was very informed.

Agreed. Mucho kudos to Brad and all the staff there. How radio SHOULD be. A RARE
thing these days. Imagine...a radio station actually serving its community!

My family and I were going out to eat with friends that eve, and it was great to hear
the timely coverage on KRLD, while WBAP sucked, and promptly went in the toilet.

Everyone thought things were going to change when Tyler came back, and the big 820
was to become what it used to be. Ain't happenin' pardner! I would never go to them
anymore for news OR traffic. KRLD kills WBAP in the afternoon with traffic. What folks may
not realize is the 'BAP afternoon traffic reports (except for top and bottom of the hour)
are TAPED!. Yep...TAPED! And this for the traffic leader! Why? Because God forbid they
should have to break into his pompous royal jack*** Sean Hannity's show for a traffic
report!. So those reports at :20 and :50 were taped about 9 after and 40 after. How's
that for up to date for commuters?! :'(

Regarding switching over and hearing Levin, another perfect example of bowing to
advertising greed and syndication before community service. Levin is a complete jerk.
The most annoying voice on the radio.

I agree, KRLD has much better traffic information. Better voices delivering the traffic too. The Traffic girl in the morning on KRLD is very good. Kim West (or as someone on here spelled it KYM)The overnight traffic person on KRLD is very good. Brad Barton is the best i've heard on Radio. A lot of the traffic reporters on WBAP have really bad southern accents and just don't deliver well. There is a woman on WBAP on weekends between 6am to ? that is just Baaaaad. I'm tellin' you this hurts 'Bap.

Monty Cook is good on WBAP. The overnight news person on KRLD and WBAP are decent, but that truckin show and Levin...get'em out of here!!!! KLIF has somebody on in Mornings and afternoons that sound real good. But the newspeople on KLIF nights all nights just awful! If Cumulus is paying the traffic guy on KLIF well why can't they bring in good seasoned newspeople on nights and overnights on KLIF?

I like the traffic person on the Edge. Got to have my Radio Diva in the afternoons. I've given up on The Bone! :'(