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Weather

M

makeradiowaves

Guest
Stop using the weather as a crutch stations! Nobody is being informed of what the weather will be from the radio anymore! You have 50 different ways to get the weather immediately! I heard someone on air say "coming up we'll check out the weather and more of your favorite hits"- that is soooo outdated! Do you really think that a listener is going to listen thru 8 minutes of bad commercials to "wait" for the weather and temperature that they can get anywhere???? Same thing with the time folks! No one needs to hear the time anymore! It is right on my dashboard. Get more freakin compelling will you? There are a thousand things going on in Buffalo that could be talked about, and radio continues to stick to the same outdated programming, same stopsets at the same time, same liners. Nothing compelling. We wonder why people don't BUY an HD Radio???
 
makeradiowaves said:
Stop using the weather as a crutch stations! Nobody is being informed of what the weather will be from the radio anymore!
Click to expand...

Not everyone owns a smartphone...or even an Internet connection at home or work...though I'd say most folks under 40 have these.

Radio is quite helpful during time-sensitive, dynamic severe weather alerts - e.g. severe thunderstorms, tornado warnings - when EAS activation is warranted. Then, radio can be a handy feature given the delays that might happen between weather notification providers and SMS on a cell phone.

Now if a car radio could have the NWS SAME technology overlaid with GPS location awareness, that would be a decent capability.

Richard in Allentown, PA (ex-East Aurora)
 
People NOT buying an HD radio has nothing to do with whether or not we give the time or a weather forecast. Please see the HD board for countless reasons why no one is buying HD.
 
Yet, when Buffalo radio stations do listener research, regardless of format, weather comes up as one of the top three programming features, if not the most important feature.
 
JustPastBuffalo said:
Yet, when Buffalo radio stations do listener research, regardless of format, weather comes up as one of the top three programming features, if not the most important feature.
Click to expand...

I understand traffic reports in Nashville fall under the same category, from a well-respected PD who once programmed there. He ran 2x/hour traffic reports even in middays.

Gotta know your market!
 
You sir, are incorrect. I could go on for hours explaining why your statements are destroying radio but I 'll attempt to do it here in a few sentences. It just bad rational for voice tracking and satellite programing.
According to what an Arbitron official told me, giving the time is an excellent opportunity to identify your station and get credit for the quarter hour. Back in the Drake days, " It's four O three at the big 14" gave credit to the first quarter hour and giving way to establishing the entire hour. Even 20/20 news was a time and identity check. No you don't have to do constant time checks thru the hour (except in morning drive) but it certainly doesn't do any harm and can establish local identity. Grandpa had a clock and wristwatch in his car but still depended on his radio for time checks. That has not changed. And maybe in this faster paced world it has become even more important.

There still isn't any practical way (that I know of) to get weather information (or traffic) in a car if you are driving. To be honest, if I'm home I do get the temperature off the net or cable but I don't have a thermometer in my car. That hasn't changed either. People have had outdoor thermometers for many years. Giving the local temp is just another way of establishing local identity. Next thing turn off the phones. You don't need to talk to the listeners and will save on the phone bill. One station I worked for, actually has done that!

Now, I realize establishing local identity may be the furthest thing from your mind. Localism is the only thing off air has going for it. I know the big companies and book keepers don't want to admit to it despite what their consultants are telling them (under their breath). In your world why not just turn off the transmitters and sell the frequencies off to two-way?
 
chas108 said:
I understand traffic reports in Nashville fall under the same category, from a well-respected PD who once programmed there. He ran 2x/hour traffic reports even in middays.

Gotta know your market!
Click to expand...

It's not WNY but WXKW / "New Jersey 101.5" has carved out a great niche with a rigorous 24/7 clock for weather & traffic in a format that's talk by weekday, music by weekend.

It's weather every 10 minutes at :02, traffic every 15 minutes at :03. Round the clock.

It is stations that are not prepared for off-hours weather/traffic emergencies that are not adding value and will be relegated to history's dustbin.

And that's a local service - somehow your eyes & ears have to be local, even if your voice is not...

Richard in Allentown, PA (ex-East Aurora)
 
You folks are totally missing the point. On air people are using it as a crutch. I can get detailed weather on a droid, iphone, blackberry anytime i want, right away. And that's just in the car! I agree weather is important in Buffalo, which is why i have advocated an all weather station (a local version of the weather channel)- I am totally for local content, but content you CANT get in most places. And research???? Research that has killed radio programming? That same "research" also says stopsets need to be at :20 and :40 past. I am saying that local content is the ONLY way to go.....but do it with compelling content....don't revolve a whole 10 minute break about the 6 lines your gonna read from the weather channel on air.
 
First of all, PUT DOWN THE DAMN PHONE WHILE YOU'RE DRIVING. I can't tell you how many idiots have drifted in and out of lanes in front of me, sped up & slowed down, and generally driven like they're drunk, only to be seen yammering on their phone - or, worse, texting - when you finally get a chance to go by them (two lanes over). And don't tell me about all the new "in-dash" features - they still as distracting, and most depend on visuals to relate information.

For the people playing at home, yeah, they have a computer. For the people at work, the info ain't gonna hurt, and might make it easier to decide if and where you're dining for lunch today. For people in the car, info like weather and traffic, delivered in a timely fashion in an audio format that doesn't require any interaction, is simply gold.

If you're that involved with your smart phone, you're probably not listening to radio anyway. BTW, here are some facts you might find interesting:

  • The number of American wireless customers now exceeds 290 million, a penetration rate of approximately 95 percent.
  • Approximately 31 percent of all wireless customers now have smartphones, and that number is projected to grow to 67 percent by 2015.
  • According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), high-speed wireline Internet connections have flattened. Growth in the first half of 2010 was 1 percent, totaling 82 million connections. Meanwhile, mobile broadband connections in the same period grew by more than 27 percent to more than 71 million connections.

So, about a quarter of the people out there have Internet access via their smart phone. I'd bet that not all of them use it. How many parents have it - and rarely use it - just because their kids want it on their plans? Sorry, in Buffalo, it ain't a crutch. Weather here is a way of life.
 
I LOVE hearing a local weather report WITH CURRENT TEMPERATURE. It shows that the Radio announcer is LIVE and not something on "tape". (A "VT", or "Voice Track" as we say in the biz.)
 
Agree with everyone but "Waves", especially the live and local point. Same with school closings. Yes, I can go to the computer but why would a radio station want to drive people away? And, no, I don't have a Smartphone. :p
 
Yeziknoradio said:
I LOVE hearing a local weather report WITH CURRENT TEMPERATURE. It shows that the Radio announcer is LIVE and not something on "tape". (A "VT", or "Voice Track" as we say in the biz.)
Click to expand...

While I can appreciate the larger point that makeradiowaves makes (and it’s a good one about the need for radio to be compelling, particularly in the digital age, which offers so many other good options), I tend to agree more with some of the very well-stated responses here — especially those by Rox, Yez and my good friends therealjm12 and John C.

In my research (which I reported here a few years ago: Study findings: Listener opinions and use of local radio), among the survey questions I asked of radio listeners was: “What are your most important reasons for listening to radio?”

Well, lo and behold, among all survey respondents, across all markets, the weather (forecast and/or current temperature) was cited by almost half of respondents (slightly higher among females and upper-age demos) and came in third place.

The top five:
Local news: 56.3
Music: 56.3
Weather: 49.5
Traffic: 43.9
Local talk: 30.2

Granted, my survey was conducted a few years ago (but not all that many — so I suspect results would be largely similar today). I’ll concede to waves his point on time checks, however — as, according to my survey, only around 10 percent turned to radio for the current time.

The bottom line for me (echoing Yez above): Even if it’s primarily for image, the local weather forecast with the current temperature means live and local — and that’s rarely a bad thing.
 
Yeziknoradio said:
I LOVE hearing a local weather report WITH CURRENT TEMPERATURE. It shows that the Radio announcer is LIVE and not something on "tape". (A "VT", or "Voice Track" as we say in the biz.)
Click to expand...

I'll vote for that too. Especially if I'm travelling and am listening to a station that's 60 miles or more away, and will affect me in the next hour or two. At home, the local temp is good...but I take it with a grain of salt, since it's almost never the same as where I am at that moment.
 
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