Weather bulletins

[vchimpanzee]

Assuming people took shelter as directed, how many radio stations last night actually came through to provide these people with information?
It is to be assumed you can't watch cable if you are in a proper shelter, so how, especially in the digital TV era, can people get the information they need?

I was mad at My TV 12 for interrupting the sound in the movie "Phone Booth" at its climactic moment just for a WATCH--a watch with far more counties listed than there are in the station's viewing area. There is no purpose whatsoever in using EBS until there is a WARNING. And even though the bulletin started during the commercials, because of the very long list of counties and because they repeated that list, I couldn't hear what was happening when the movie came back. I could only see it, although I had a vague idea of what was going on.

I didn't take anything seriously until I turned on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and it wasn't there. I have more to say about that on the Raleigh-Greensboro board. I didn't actually miss anything last night, I am happy to say. "Desperate Housewives" was a rerun, it turned out, and I have more to say about that on the other board as well. Fox Charlotte was considerate enough to use a crawl and a map, and I saw all the animated Fox comedies. and WBTV interrupted only during a commercial (at least when I was watching; Andy Rooney was delayed by the game and if there were any bulletins during "Undercover Boss" they were crawls. Thanks to Andy being delayed, I had to TiVo "The Simpsons", but I could not have followed a lot of what was going on otherwise. For reasons detailed on the Raleigh-Greensboro board I could not have simply taped Andy and watched "The Simpsons". It is true that every time I saw a map of where a possible tornado was going, it was headed straight for ME. My county wasn't listed in any of the bulletins, though, until after the danger had passed. Then my county was under a mere severe thunderstorm warning, but aside from really vivid lightning off in the distance, all I got was some rain, which got heavy after a while, and some lightning and thunder.

 

[eacalhoun1]

Assuming people took shelter as directed, how many radio stations last night actually came through to provide these people with information?
It is to be assumed you can't watch cable if you are in a proper shelter, so how, especially in the digital TV era, can people get the information they need?

I was mad at My TV 12 for interrupting the sound in the movie "Phone Booth" at its climactic moment just for a WATCH--a watch with far more counties listed than there are in the station's viewing area. There is no purpose whatsoever in using EBS until there is a WARNING. And even though the bulletin started during the commercials, because of the very long list of counties and because they repeated that list, I couldn't hear what was happening when the movie came back. I could only see it, although I had a vague idea of what was going on.

I didn't take anything seriously until I turned on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and it wasn't there. I have more to say about that on the Raleigh-Greensboro board. I didn't actually miss anything last night, I am happy to say. "Desperate Housewives" was a rerun, it turned out, and I have more to say about that on the other board as well. Fox Charlotte was considerate enough to use a crawl and a map, and I saw all the animated Fox comedies. and WBTV interrupted only during a commercial (at least when I was watching; Andy Rooney was delayed by the game and if there were any bulletins during "Undercover Boss" they were crawls. Thanks to Andy being delayed, I had to TiVo "The Simpsons", but I could not have followed a lot of what was going on otherwise. For reasons detailed on the Raleigh-Greensboro board I could not have simply taped Andy and watched "The Simpsons". It is true that every time I saw a map of where a possible tornado was going, it was headed straight for ME. My county wasn't listed in any of the bulletins, though, until after the danger had passed. Then my county was under a mere severe thunderstorm warning, but aside from really vivid lightning off in the distance, all I got was some rain, which got heavy after a while, and some lightning and thunder.

I'll try to be as brief and "summarizing" as possible:

First, if someone is REALLY interested in keeping up with the weather -- particularly during severe weather events -- they need a NOAA weather radio. It WILL do a better job of alerting you to severe weather, because you will get the warning FIRST (before anyone else) from the National Weather Service. Plus, most if not all of these radios can be made portable because they either have battery back up or they are outright battery operated.

You were mad at "MY TV 12" for an EBS interruption -- First EAS replaced EBS back in the late 90s and so far as the NC EAS Plan is concerned, broadcasters are required to activate EAS for Tornado Watches and Warnings. The requirement does not apply for Severe T-Storm Watches and Warnings, though broadcasters can activate at their discretion. I do wonder how MANY TV stations -- like WBTV, WSOC, WCNC -- get around the EAS activations. I suppose their live "cut-ins" or wall-to-walll coverage negates the EAS activation?

Also, the TV meteorologists and their management I believe always find themselves in a "no-win" situation when it comes to severe weather. These storms typically affect a small geographic area, but if that small area is heavily populated and lots of destruction, injury or even death occur from a tornado then that "small geographic area" really pales in comparison. Many TV viewers feel slighted or intruded upon by the weather bulletin interruptions or even "wall to wall" coverage (which as much as I'm intrigued by severe weather, I think goes a little far), but when a viewer becomes the victim of the weather I'm sure he/she was thankful for the coverage. Others -- seem to quickly get annoyed by the coverage.

 

[test123]

You were mad at "MY TV 12" for an EBS interruption -- First EAS replaced EBS back in the late 90s and so far as the NC EAS Plan is concerned, broadcasters are required to activate EAS for Tornado Watches and Warnings. The requirement does not apply for Severe T-Storm Watches and Warnings, though broadcasters can activate at their discretion. I do wonder how MANY TV stations -- like WBTV, WSOC, WCNC -- get around the EAS activations. I suppose their live "cut-ins" or wall-to-walll coverage negates the EAS activation?

Here is a link to the NC Emergency Alert Handbook...http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCAB/asset_manager/get_file/16546

It states...

Local stations should carry or broadcast any information provided by the NWS concerning weather events. Each station's management makes the decision to activate for other weather warnings or watches. It should also be understood that nothing in this plan prohibits any station from initiating its own EAS announcement originating from observations of its own personnel.

I don't believe stations are requires carry anything from EAS except National Alerts, Required Monthly Tests and self generated Required Weekly Tests...

T123

 

[Mike Sheridan]

For most of us the weather was a non-event except for an unlucky few who happened to be in the path of worst of it. The problem is you're never really sure where the worst is going to hit. For some reason it usually finds a trailer park which is why I never want to live in a trailer.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I do have a correction. I missed a few words on "Sons of Tucson" when the sound went out, and that may have been when the worst of the storm was moving through. And that's a good show.

But without missing anything really during prime time, I got all the information I needed. Okay, having two TVs on helps. I also know that storm was heading straight at me, and only because it weakened before it got to me was I never under a tornado warning. During such situations wind blowing and thunder does make you nervous.

That lightning was spectacular.

I still say My TV 12 could have fulfilled whatever requirement with a crawl. I have to remember to find out what happened in "Phone booth". That was THE climactic scene.

 

[quadraphonic]

Dude you need to blog. You're letting Radio-info make all this money off o' your work.

 

[jtudor]

I still say My TV 12 could have fulfilled whatever requirement with a crawl. I have to remember to find out what happened in "Phone booth". That was THE climactic scene.

What really irritates me is that when stations are doing weather crawls, even in highly serious weather events, when a commercial break comes in, they kill the crawl and let the commercials take over.

I understand that the commercials are what pays the bills, but is not the public safety very important too? I would not think highly of any advertiser who complained that weather bulletins were supered over his commercial.

That may be an unwritten rule, but those rules have changed a lot over the years. I remember when you not only would never run two car dealers back to back, or any other competitor, you also would never even run two car dealers in the same stop set. Now everyone on radio and TV both runs them back to back with no problems, and sometimes even two dealers of the same brand, maybe even 3 or 4 car dealers back to back.

Rules can be and often are changed.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I still say My TV 12 could have fulfilled whatever requirement with a crawl. I have to remember to find out what happened in "Phone booth". That was THE climactic scene.

What really irritates me is that when stations are doing weather crawls, even in highly serious weather events, when a commercial break comes in, they kill the crawl and let the commercials take over.

I understand that the commercials are what pays the bills, but is not the public safety very important too? I would not think highly of any advertiser who complained that weather bulletins were supered over his commercial.

My assumption was they did that because they'd have to give backa portion of what the advertiser paid for anything that distracted viewers from watching the commercial.