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WPLN, WRLT, and WNRQ have come back on the air in the 1 AM hour. WFFI has been off for a while, and still is. I also noted that WTNK 1090 and 93.5 in Hartsville were off the air this afternoon when I passed through Lebanon, where both are normally strong.
As for Storm Coverage - I realize that it is a pastime to lambaste the local stations, but I found the coverage perfectly adequate. I was very impressed with WWTN host Paul Winkler, who put aside his investment show to cover the weather situation on Saturday evening. He went well past his time slot, and was probably live for at least 5 or 6 hours taking calls.
I thought WKDF did a very good job today. They were running one or two songs at a time, and devoting plenty of time to covering flood information and taking phone calls. Scrolling through the band I also noticed WNRQ doing similar coverage.
As for Storm Coverage - I realize that it is a pastime to lambaste the local stations, but I found the coverage perfectly adequate. I was very impressed with WWTN host Paul Winkler, who put aside his investment show to cover the weather situation on Saturday evening. He went well past his time slot, and was probably live for at least 5 or 6 hours taking calls.
I thought WKDF did a very good job today. They were running one or two songs at a time, and devoting plenty of time to covering flood information and taking phone calls. Scrolling through the band I also noticed WNRQ doing similar coverage.
Interesting - right now, no sign of 100.1 WRLT or 93.7 WFFI. I think 90.3 WPLN is just sending out a dead carrier right now (perhaps something went wrong on Mainstream Drive), same with 105.9 WNRQ, and WSIX's HD transmitter seems to be off as well.
(or, I just have a really finicky HD radio)
(or, I just have a really finicky HD radio)
Paying people to come and say it's raining when people can CLEARLY SEE it's raining. C'mon think like a corporation. You'd be LOSING MONEY doing that. Think of THE SHAREHOLDRRS... Sheesh, you people.
nashbear said:
Well, it took them long enough! When things started to go haywire on the roads and homes were being submerged Saturday afternoon, WTN was all over it and WLAC was running Rush and Beck reruns!
I forgot...It was kind of fun Saturday hearing all the callers on WTN calling out WLAC for not going with wall-to wall coverage!
I pray all is well up there now. I didn't realize it was that bad until I saw the images come out of Nashville.
B
bigrobmjca
Guest
I thought WTN did better than anyone. John Mountz, J Patrick and everyone else did a fantastic job. Even Phil Valentine called in as he tried to come into the station as well. I loved it when Ralph Bristol took over on Sunday.
Radio blew this one big time. I wouldn't be surprised if some lives were lost on Saturday because there was no one to tell people in their cars what was happening. NO ONE!!!! The same thing happened in New Orleans during Katrina. These in the box music stations run by corporations who don't give a lick about Nashville need to SHUT THE DESKTOP MUSIC OFF, hire a live person to come in, AND SERVE THEIR COMMUNITIES DURING A STORM!!!!!!!!! You will make money doing it!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO! STOP! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU"RE KILLIN' ME HAHAHAHAHHAHA (GASP) HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...spew said:
spew said:
Are you for real? Do you have anything to back up this assertion?
My power was out for much of Saturday afternoon, and I listened to WWTN doing wall-to-wall coverage from the early afternoon, well into the later evening hours. Other stations were covering the storm on Saturday, and even more so on Sunday.
Even in another universe where your first assertion that "NO ONE!!!!" was doing storm coverage was correct, there is absolutely no proof or logic in the assertion that lives could be lost as a result. People who were stranded in their vehicles on 24 (for example) likely had nowhere to go once they got caught in the traffic backup behind the flood waters. Being at the front of the backup, they likely got stuck in that position well before even a fully-staffed media outlet could have picked up on the incident.
FCC, CFR; § “In exchange for obtaining a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” This means that it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license.”
KG6VSW said:
If you are going to evaluate a station as to whether it is simply a money-sucking-parasite on society's rump or if it is truly a service oriented organization worthy to hold a license to use some valuable space on the dial, you cannot in good conscience make that judgment based on one day, one event.
You may be able to prove that no one died Saturday that was in listening range of a Nashville station, thus they are guilty of NO FOUL.
And it may be that no one was tuning in Saturday with any expectation of finding some useful on the air. A truly worthy station "trains" its community to expect valuable information. If storm after storm you go on the air and give a report that thought the air seems stormy, this is what is going to happen and it will not be severe, people begin to learn to trust the station. And maybe three years down the line you go on the air and announce: "Folks I know it doesn't look all that bad out there right now, but here is what you can expect one hour from now, it will get really ugly in about four hours, and about 7 hours from now the weather man says you may soil your underwear because the lightning and thunder are so intense, but he also says it will not develop tornadoes because the combination of moisture and temperature will not be right.
Pretty soon you have a habitual audience that knows to listen to you.
As bad as the weather was last weekend in Nashville, I suspect an awful lot of people never turned on the radio because they knew they were going to get nothing worthwhile for their effort, just more "straw in the stocking a Christmas" cookie cutter sound. Has our industry trained the listener to expect "trinkets of gold" in the current era?
Don't know what time you tuned in but the weather was bad,REAL BAD for 2 days and I found music, paid shows, count down shows and a ball game on. At one point Mix had WKRN on and WWTN had info but that was about it. To be fair no I didn't listen for 2 days solid but in the time I DID this is what I heard and what I heard was sad! Watt posted..."...each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” This means that it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license.” Did EACH station operate in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” NO!
Watt Hairston said:
Awww, gee whiz, Watt.
Why did you have to go and spoil it all with facts?
Wind said:
Well said, I noticed the same thing. A few stations, during the severe weather before the major flooding, were voiced tracked with jocks that made zero reference to the weather. Most of the others were on autopilot. WJXA had a live jock that was talking about the weather between the WKRN cut-ins. Once the flooding began, WWTN picked up the story and did a good job considering the circumstances (IMO).
While the coverage wasn't outstanding, the assertion that "NO ONE" was covering the weather is not accurate, nor was the other claim I addressed. If one was truly seeking information on the radio, a few clicks of the "seek" button would have been sufficient.
*I agree that it would be nice to have staffing prepared for these situations*. With that said, the rule that Watt quoted is a tad vague on this subject. Who is to say that simply airing the EAS messages, or cutting to live television coverage isn't sufficient for the "public interest, convenience and necessity"? If the FCC really wanted to stations to have live staff "for the public interest", why didn't they just specifically state that?
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