Re: WFAA's Flood Coverage goes down the drain again.
> For the record, CBS-11 did extensive weather cut-ins and ran
> crawls updating the weather situation throughout Sunday's
> games. In fact, I got an obscene email from an irate viewer
> who was upset that we were interrupting his March Madness.
> Not sure why he thought I was the person he needed to rant
> to, but since he wrote me personally I responded personally.
>
>
> As I suggested, probably one of the same nitwits who whined
> over the preemption of soap operas for 9/11 coverage.
>
> I doubt he'll be watching us anymore, basketball
> notwithstanding.
>
> As for 8...they're in a very tough position. Troy is nearly
> an impossible act to follow. Overall, Pete and Steve did a
> pretty fine job - as did 5 and 4.
>
> I can't think of anything worse to handle early-on in
> extended coverage than flash flooding. Unlike a tornado,
> supercell, or a snowstorm, there's no tracking it. Not only
> is your weather person stuck with radar, rainfall totals,
> and pretty much nothing else, your assignments editor might
> send your reporters to a likely spot only to find the big
> problems are miles away - on the wrong side of a swollen
> creek. Makes for alot of vamping till the video is up. And
> this storm was much worse than anyone really anticipated.
>
> Jody
Jody,
You're right, covering flooding is usually a matter of chasing false alarms until the water gets too high. I was one of the local reporters covering the Columbus Day floods in Abilene in 1981 when I was with KTAB, and I can tell you there was a lot of running around in headless-chicken mode until the water stopped rising. (Driving through windowsill-high water in an old Buick station wagon was an interesting experience.)
As far as what I saw on Sunday, I have to admit, I thought KDFW did a pretty good job of covering the floods and keeping everyone informed. Why is it that the anchor who appears the most solid on the air, Richard Ray, is relegated to weekends, while Steve "I Can't Catch My Breath" Eagar is on during the week? At any rate, he, Ron Jackson, and Scott Wallace in Sky 4 did a good job keeping everyone informed until the reporters got to their destinations. KXAS didn't appear to do anything, which surprises me less and less as time goes on. Steve MacLaughlin doesn't appear to care as much about local weather as David Finfrock, and you'd think Finfrock would have come in for something like this anyway. Or maybe I missed it during all my channel-flipping. WFAA impressed me the least, and I have to say I just flat don't like Pete Delkus. Having John McCaa anchoring the coverage helped, but like others on this board I think Steve McCauley should have been given the ball and allowed to run with it. (I did like his "negative tilt," though...kind of like his "McFarlane Signature.")
And I get the feeling this is just the start of things for the spring. <P ID="signature">______________
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound as they go by." - Douglas Adams
dan</P>