Traffic reporting ... and Jack Hines

[oldmanradio]

Years ago, Jack Hines, then news director of KRLD, insisted that traffic on that station always be given in this order: Accident location ... direction ... and side street.

For example, 635 LBJ eastbound at Preston. Not eastbound LBJ at Preston.

At first, I thought, what the heck difference does it make. But it makes a big difference.

First, you report the street or highway for a particular accident or tieup. That way, the lstener can quickly and easily determine if that will affect his or her driving.

Next, the direction. In the above example, traffic should not be as big a problem if you are westbound, except for some onlooker delays.

Then the sidestreet, Preston Road, so you can judge whether you have time or want to exit the highway, in this case, LBJ.

Finally, the reporter can relay additional information about the problem such as backups, lanes closed, alternate routes, etc. For example, a couple of alternate routes for the above accident are Forest Lane and Spring Valley Road.

"Eastbound LBJ at Preston" is not as effective in my opinion. Saying "LBJ" imparts much more information with the first word than does saying "eastbound".

What do you think? Why?

Tony
Tony Lyndell Williams

 

[board monkey]

You have a point about direction and roadway name/number. I believe highways like 635, 35, 75, etc should be referred to as the number designation other then Stemmons, Central, LBJ etc. No one really cares what the sub-label for the roadway is. Just give the main info like 635, 75, 35. Thats what shows on most highway signs. Plus out of towners have no clue where the heck RL Thorntan or Marvin D Love freeway is.

To be honest, the direction and name of said roadway can be interchanged. If I'm heading eastbound on any particular roadway and someone opens up with "eastbound on blah blah blah" well It gets my attention. If they open up with the roadway and I'm not on that roadway, I could care less.

JMHO, FWIW.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

You have a point about direction and roadway name/number. I believe highways like 635, 35, 75, etc should be referred to as the number designation other then Stemmons, Central, LBJ etc.

When visiting Chicago or Los Angeles, I've noticed that traffic reports precede the numeric designation or freeway name with the article, ``the'', viz.,

``Delays on the Eisenhower...''
``Snarled on the Golden State...''
``45-minute backup on the 10...''

Also, I occasionally hear spots locally that incorrectly refer to US-75 as ``I-75''.

 

[dakareedog]

First, you report the street or highway for a particular accident or tieup. That way, the lstener can quickly and easily determine if that will affect his or her driving.

Next, the direction. In the above example, traffic should not be as big a problem if you are westbound, except for some onlooker delays.

Then the sidestreet, Preston Road, so you can judge whether you have time or want to exit the highway, in this case, LBJ.

Finally, the reporter can relay additional information about the problem such as backups, lanes closed, alternate routes, etc. For example, a couple of alternate routes for the above accident are Forest Lane and Spring Valley Road.

This, IMO, is the most effective way to reach the listener is in the way he thinks about his route. To give the direction before the highway is extremely ineffective because by the time the listener hears that the problem is on his route, he has forgotten the direction. I also believe a good traffic reporter should give both the Highway # AND name: EX. 635-LBJ. I don't say the # and name if it has to be repeated in the same traffic report. To me the way an accident should be reported is, and I must add this to Jack Hines above example by preceding the highway with the city. Ex: "Accident in Richardson, on 75-Central at Belt Line blocking the 2 right lanes, back-up is to Spring Valley."

 

[dakareedog]

Oops, I forgt the direction: Ex: "Accident in Richardson, on 75-Central northbound at Belt Line blocking the 2 right lanes, back-up is to Spring Valley."

 

[joebtsflk1]

This is an interesting topic for me, having spent five years in traffic reporting. Wished I'd seen this back then!

 

[MissyRadio]

Long time residents want the name-newcomers want the number so give both. Direction can be before or after.
Also, a good traffic reporter will talk about where you might be headed based on the direction of flow affected by the problem. For example:
"If you headed out to the south side of DFW Airport thru Irving this morning be prepared to slow down around Carl Rd. There is an accident on WB Hwy. 183 the Airport Freeway near Beltline that is causing a back up nearly to Loop 12. Might want to consider taking Hwy. 114 and approach DFW from the north."

Of course that's just my opinion. And it all depends on how much time you have and how many problems you have as well.

 

[board monkey]

One thing most of you are forgetting. MOST traffic reports are normally contained within a break of some sort. SO, you have "X" amount of time to give info along with a sponsor that may be anywhere from 10-20 seconds long in copy. So say you have a sponsor that is 15 seconds and a total of 30 seconds to give info along with some form of "lock out" at the end. Maybe 5 seconds. You then have to cut the fat out of the report, i.e. the name of the highway: for example "eastbound 635 at Preston there's a problem two right lanes blocked back up to Monfort".

 

[radio.placebo]

One thing most of you are forgetting. MOST traffic reports are normally contained within a break of some sort. SO, you have "X" amount of time to give info along with a sponsor that may be anywhere from 10-20 seconds long in copy. So say you have a sponsor that is 15 seconds and a total of 30 seconds to give info along with some form of "lock out" at the end. Maybe 5 seconds. You then have to cut the fat out of the report, i.e. the name of the highway: for example "eastbound 635 at Preston there's a problem two right lanes blocked back up to Monfort".

Ahhh, the ongoing conundrum of reporting traffic. Certain PDs want solid, reliable traffic -- sometimes not only with alternate routes, but also delay times -- and they want ALL the big problems -- including that freeway closure on central, the three problems on LBJ, the wreck involving careflight in Haltom City, and the school bus accident in Denton --
oh, and they need it in a hard out of 25 seconds...

What? Is that asking too much?

 

[texas_prwriter]

...and they need it in a hard out of 25 seconds...

What? Is that asking too much?

That makes me laugh, only because I know it's true. (And my non-radio career has similar demands, so I feel the pain...)

My two cents only here as a listener who spends 40 hours a month commuting between Fort Worth and Dallas: If time is of the essence, screw the name of the freeway (R.L. Thornton, LBJ, etc.) and give the route number. I mean does anyone know the Jim Wright Freeway (820 in northwest Tarrant County) the Ronald Reagan Highway (20 through Arlington), Angus G. Wynne (360 in Arlington and Grand Prairie) or Martin Luther King (287 between downtown Fort Worth and Lake Arlington - which by the way is still called the "Poly Freeway" by old-timers in FW)? I had to Google where the Sam Rayburn turnpike was when I heard it mentioned the other day, and I've lived here for 30 years (granted, I think it got that name in the last year or two, but somehow I missed it).

For me, nothing is worse than hearing a traffic report when out of town where names that aren't obvious are given. Imagine never having been to Fort Worth and hearing during rush hour that northbound East Loop 820 is shut down between the East Freeway and Airport Freeway. Even the great Jack Hines well thought-out instruction couldn't have cleared up that one!

 

[cowboyup]

Also, a good traffic reporter will talk about where you might be headed based on the direction of flow affected by the problem. For example:
"If you headed out to the south side of DFW Airport thru Irving this morning be prepared to slow down around Carl Rd. There is an accident on WB Hwy. 183 the Airport Freeway near Beltline that is causing a back up nearly to Loop 12. Might want to consider taking Hwy. 114 and approach DFW from the north."

Of course that's just my opinion. And it all depends on how much time you have and how many problems you have as well.

WB, southside, 114, loop 12, airport, 183, Beltline, Carl rd, north, dfw...I have tired head just reading this. If I was in my car paying attention to traffic and trying to comprehend all this...well I wouldn't. Then again I'm not that smart...I'm in radio.

 

[oldmanradio]

Also, I occasionally hear spots locally that incorrectly refer to US-75 as ``I-75''.

Yes, I've hear that too.

When I thought about selling my home last summer, I noticed that on the outdoor flyers that the realtor had listed "easy access to LBJ and I-75".

Just a minor mistake and most would not notice it, but it drove me nuts. I insisted it be reprinted.

Tony
Tony Lyndell Williams

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Also, I occasionally hear spots locally that incorrectly refer to US-75 as ``I-75''.

Yes, I've hear that too.

When I thought about selling my home last summer, I noticed that on the outdoor flyers that the realtor had listed "easy access to LBJ and I-75".

If the house were in in Carbondale, IL, maybe it would be equally accessible to I-635 in Dallas and the real I-75 in Toledo.

My other nitpick is hearing a URL (far too often heard on WBAP) such as this:

``www.address.com'' BACKslash directory_name

It's a slash, front slash, slant or virgule -- it coitoinly ain't a backslash!

 

[scrtr84]

Also, I occasionally hear spots locally that incorrectly refer to US-75 as ``I-75''.

Yes, I've hear that too.

When I thought about selling my home last summer, I noticed that on the outdoor flyers that the realtor had listed "easy access to LBJ and I-75".

If the house were in in Carbondale, IL, maybe it would be equally accessible to I-635 in Dallas and the real I-75 in Toledo.

My other nitpick is hearing a URL (far too often heard on WBAP) such as this:

``www.address.com'' BACKslash directory_name

It's a slash, front slash, slant or virgule -- it coitoinly ain't a backslash!

Bob you just hit on one of my pet peeves. Giving URL's on the air gets too confusing. This is truer, the longer the address is. I also think it's not necessary to use the "www" part of a URL on the air. For one thing it's redundant. Plus many a jock tends to say "ww" instead of "www". Just say the address name and the domain extension. For example, say radio-info-dot-com, not h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-www-dot-radio-info-dot-com. Anything more than that isn't easy enough to remember by listeners on the go.