Traffic reporting in Austin

[bentheredonethat]

I very rarely listen to FM radio anymore - thanks BBC!

When I do however, it's during drive time and I am looking for traffic reports.

Does anyone else find it annoying that traffic on the CC channels are literally "Watch for x collision here - get more info at 967kissfm.com"

If I am in the car, wth good does that do?

Anne Hudson makes me turn red and scream...

 

[wild949austin]

Your lucky, at least Clear Channel still play traffic reports on their stations.

Emmis owned stations stopped playing traffic reports on all their stations last year, except for KLBJ AM. and no one still knows why

 

[Maize Brothers]

I feel like I'm bashing Clear Channel alot today.

CC doesn't care as much about the content of their traffic reports as they do the attached :15 piece of sales inventory. They once sold a "Total Traffic Network" regionally and nationally to monetize this stand alone "service element". Isnt WOAI traffic on weekends done from Houston? Or is it just me.

It's about r-e-v-e-n-u-e and m-o-n-e-y. Length of the report? Seriously, 15 seconds? You can't tell me traffic here in SA or in Austin can be summed up in 15 seconds.

 

[daypart]

I feel like I'm bashing Clear Channel alot today.

CC doesn't care as much about the content of their traffic reports as they do the attached :15 piece of sales inventory. They once sold a "Total Traffic Network" regionally and nationally to monetize this stand alone "service element". Isnt WOAI traffic on weekends done from Houston? Or is it just me.

This was answered in the other thread you posted the question in. The weekend/overnight Houston and San Antonio traffic reports are produced in San Antonio. The Austin cluster still does its own thing.

In SA, the overnigh/weekend reports amount to little more than "Watch for construction at..." If there were a 2-hour backup on I-35, I suspect you'd never hear about it on a CC station if it happened on a weekend or overnight.

 

[intx]

I actually really like Anne. Lotsa spunk and a great personality. I find the list of wrecks helpful so I know where to avoid. It's the "Mopac and I-35 are slow in both directions" kind of updates that drive me up the wall because that's the case every day.

The Houston radio and TV stations are able to give drive times and speeds thanks to Houston's fancy TranStar system that tracks the amount of time and the avg speed it takes to get from Point A to Point B. That, in particular, is useful, I think.

Emmis cut traffic on its Austin FMs because management claims that's not why folks tune in. By slashing the updates, they get to play a smidge more music in AM and PM.

 

[fredcantu]

When you lock yourself into "traffic every 10 minutes" it gets old when nothing unusual is going on.

 

[Leebo65]

It seems like a Live, Local Broadcast could announce traffic problems as they come in. That would be cool and useful. Man it takes a non-radio person to think outside the box.

 

[captex]

92.5 has traffic reports about 15 to 20 min after the hour and have another traffic report in the same hour. i sometimes change from 92.5 to 103.5 and back and forth. and sometime keep it on 92.5 longer. they also have weather updates twice a hour. i don't know about 104.9 the horn having traffic and weather. bob 103 is ok on classics.

 

[bentheredonethat]

When you lock yourself into "traffic every 10 minutes" it gets old when nothing unusual is going on.

True - but 95% of the time I am stuck in traffic and they mention an insignificant accident in the burbs, and ignore the multi-car collision that has 1st street closed in both directions.

 

[Maize Brothers]

Don't you need access to traffic cams to know what's happening? Or do you keep it on the Time Warner traffic camera channel all day? I remember a traffic cam in SA pointed into a backyard where chicks were sunbathing a number of years ago. And the cameras pointed straight down to the ground obviously are a big hit, too.

Even the people paid to watch traffic think its a total waste, obviously.

Total traffic center? Care to chime in? Gabe?

 

[MisterRadio]

The previous poster who said its all about the advertising money is pretty much correct. The content is really not the important issue to them. I do know that CC in Austin does at least try to give some good info. They watch the traffic cameras and get info off the traffic scanners (filtered through San Antonio of course). They even have a guy that drives around and reports in about the traffic he sees (again sent to San Antonio and relayed back to Austin on a website). All that being said, the programmers are convinced that any report more than 20 sec will turn off the listeners and cause people to change the station. To realistically give helpful traffic information it would take about 2 minutes plus per report and they would have to have several reporters driving or flying around town sending in reports and that will never happen. The suggestion to go to the website for traffic info is admittedly pointless because who is going to pull out the laptop in the car, but they see it as a way to drive more traffic to the web which is a big push in the radio business these days (you know, instead of actually trying to get listeners). The only reasons the reports are even on the radio are 1) the perception that the station is doing something helpful and 2) to sell the :15 second ads which can be very profitable. If they couldn't sell it, the reports would be gone in a flash.