WSB AM 750 CLEAR WINNER WITH STORM COVERAGE

[jonblaze]

And who were they competing with exactly? Best in a field of one? They were simulcasting Channel 2 for much of the first two hours after the storm (with reporters saying "as you can see" about every ten seconds) while they were scrambling Hullinger and Sangster into place. I would certainly avoid using the term winner to describe anything about that storm coverage. If anything it was a commentary on the pisspoor state of news coverage in what is supposed to be a major market. Every other station has bailed out, so 750 "wins" by default, but I wouldn't go around bragging about that.

What does everyone expect? All the on-air talent to live at White Columns? The weather that struck downtown, was by surprise. Everyone should know that if what happened on Friday was something the weather service said was going to produce wide-spread tornadoes (Like the Super Tuesday Outbreak), then the big dawgs would of been called in earlier. But the tornado caught EVERYONE off guard. Channel 2 has a full staff at that time anyways, and of course has Glenn Burns in place, so as the AM is getting folks into place, why not take channel 2? The goal is to get information out there. I'd rather listen to channel 2 instead of a newsguy telling me the same info over and over. It may not of been the best thing ever, but it kept listeners informed on what was going on.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

One of the ESPN reporters covering the SEC tournament said SEC and Georgia Dome officials chose not to inform the people in the Dome out of fear of panic.

All things considered, I thought Raycom's TV staff did a superb job of covering it -- especially considering they were there to cover a sporting event, and they *really* had to scramble for people.

As far as the weather goes, this was a textbook tornadic thunderstorm. All the media should have started calling their people in several minutes before the NWS issued the Tornado warning. True, no outbreak was predicted for Friday, but the storm did form some distance to the northwest of Atlanta.

Unfortunately, I didn't tune into 750 Friday night, so I can't comment directly on their coverage.

CNN didn't even bother to cover it. They were airing some Barak Obama interview I think.

 

[Art Sutton]

And who were they competing with exactly? Best in a field of one? They were simulcasting Channel 2 for much of the first two hours after the storm (with reporters saying "as you can see" about every ten seconds) while they were scrambling Hullinger and Sangster into place. I would certainly avoid using the term winner to describe anything about that storm coverage. If anything it was a commentary on the pisspoor state of news coverage in what is supposed to be a major market. Every other station has bailed out, so 750 "wins" by default, but I wouldn't go around bragging about that.

What does everyone expect? All the on-air talent to live at White Columns? The weather that struck downtown, was by surprise. Everyone should know that if what happened on Friday was something the weather service said was going to produce wide-spread tornadoes (Like the Super Tuesday Outbreak), then the big dawgs would of been called in earlier. But the tornado caught EVERYONE off guard. Channel 2 has a full staff at that time anyways, and of course has Glenn Burns in place, so as the AM is getting folks into place, why not take channel 2? The goal is to get information out there. I'd rather listen to channel 2 instead of a newsguy telling me the same info over and over. It may not of been the best thing ever, but it kept listeners informed on what was going on.

My point is not the fact WSB Radio did the best with what they had by putting Channel 2 on the air til they could get people out there...it's the fact that was the best they could do. It's the top billing station in the nation's 9th largest market and 4th largest revenue market for goodness sake.

All day and a few days before, the National Weather Service had predicted that very severe weather was forecast for the area. I read those forecasts myself. The statements were as concrete as NOAA will issue....along the lines of conditions were setting up for extremely severe weather.

Even in our small markets, when something of this nature is issued, our operators are put on notice. Be prepared at moment's notice and even have people staying at the station in case something happens.

No one expected that WSB Radio knew a tornado would drop down at a specific time at the Georgia Dome but it sure as hell shouldn't take them 2 hours before they could do their own coverage and storms were already occuring well west of Atlanta and moving in that direction.

As far as presentation is concerned, professionals shine in such situation, amateurs miss cues, stutter through comments, intros, etc. You want your folks to sound good when a situation like this comes up because that is when your audience will be the largest and you have a chance to make a good impression on people who might not normally listen.

In today's world, what they did seemed normal but it pales compared to what the station did just 5 years ago when in all likelihood they would have already had wall to wall coverage with tornado warnings already affecting their primary coverage area. That's when you have people on the phone talking to law enforcement officials in counties many miles away from Atlanta but right in the path of where the storms are moving, you interview NOAA people and put their analysis on the air...you have people who can actually look at a radar screen and tell the radio audience where a storm is located....which areas it's gonna hit and track...with specifics.....5 miles west of Dallas, moving to the east at 50 mph...etc.

This is elementary radio news.

 

[taylorengineer]

I was out of town all last week and missed all the fun......the weather was boring in the Land of the Mouse.
In any weather emergency there are only two voices to trust: Kirk Mellish and Ken Cook.
Had I been here....I would have been locked to WSB-AM for Kirk Mellish.
I hear what you're saying about the lack of professionalism Art......BUT....The Storm Prediction Center only had a "slight" risk for severe weather for North Georgia.....conditions evolved rapidly, as the usually do in these situations, and no one correctly predicted the outcome.
My question to all: How did Mellish and Cook do?

 

[Art Sutton]

I was out of town all last week and missed all the fun......the weather was boring in the Land of the Mouse.
In any weather emergency there are only two voices to trust: Kirk Mellish and Ken Cook.
Had I been here....I would have been locked to WSB-AM for Kirk Mellish.
I hear what you're saying about the lack of professionalism Art......BUT....The Storm Prediction Center only had a "slight" risk for severe weather for North Georgia.....conditions evolved rapidly, as the usually do in these situations, and no one correctly predicted the outcome.
My question to all: How did Mellish and Cook do?

Tom, I don't know which forecasts you read but the ones I saw were updated throughout the day and it became more and more obvious that the threat for severe storms was setting up.

I listened to WSB Radio from about 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. and either I feel asleep when he was on or Mellish wasn't on the air. I didn't watch Ken Cook...however I felt WSB TV did a good job with their weather coverage as the storms moved through. Don't even get me started on their reporters after it hit. One of their reporters showed an awning blown off the front of a building and described that scene as "absolute devastation." This was early when viewers needing factual information to judge their own safety.

Then another reporter showed a person walking up to their crushed car and asked the person "tell us what you see." You can tell a lot about the quality of a reporter by how well they ablib. Then Monica had to tell the graphics people to remove all the banners off the screen so viewers could see the radar reports showing tornados at street level. One time she said "take them off now!"

I had to check my TV setting to make sure I wasn't watching the number 2 TV station in Albany, GA. Meanwhile the reporters who have been there a long time and may have a hard time fooling HDTV of their age...were describing the scene and adding commentary which flowed well with the pictures I was seeing. it was authoritative....they asked intelligent questions and had people come on camera to give information.

I noticed they got more air time the next day...and the kid who described the absolute devastation was shipped off to Northwest GA to report on something where he could read a script, etc.

 

[hwidsten]

Atlanta Radio had a great opportunity to show the community and the FCC that big radio companies have not abandoned their markets. It is Radio's ability to quickly cover emergency situations that can distinguish it from other media. I wasn't in Atlanta on Saturday night, but if you are a broadcaster there, how would you rate the response from all stations, not just the ones who you would EXPECT to do a good job? The people running any station that just rode the satellite and did nothing should be ashamed of themselves. After all, this is the 9th largest market in the country and no one operating there is poor.

 

[deadman]

There really wasn't much warning at all. I live in the path of the tornado. The air raid siren never went off. I think WSB at least covered it better on both AM and TV. Fox 5 had 5 mins of coverage and then the tornado destroyed buildings during the last 30 mins of house. If anyone should complain about coverage... Fox 5 was the worst.

 

[OutOfTheBiz]

There really wasn't much warning at all. I live in the path of the tornado. The air raid siren never went off. I think WSB at least covered it better on both AM and TV. Fox 5 had 5 mins of coverage and then the tornado destroyed buildings during the last 30 mins of house. If anyone should complain about coverage... Fox 5 was the worst.

There are no sirens anywhere near where the tornado hit.

 

[RTibbs]

There really wasn't much warning at all. I live in the path of the tornado. The air raid siren never went off. I think WSB at least covered it better on both AM and TV. Fox 5 had 5 mins of coverage and then the tornado destroyed buildings during the last 30 mins of house. If anyone should complain about coverage... Fox 5 was the worst.

I am confused. I changed channels right at 10:00 and WSB had John Stossel introducing the second hour of 20/20. A minute later I turned on Fox 5 and they had one of their reporters on the air live at the Westin. IU believe he just happened to be there and called in when it happened? To me I though Fox had the better coverage at 10:00. I also give kudos to WGCL. They had some of the best videos from the scene. They were the first one I saw to show the area in front of the CNN center where it looked like a bomb went off.

 

[OgOgglby]

Tom, there's a discussion on the Atlanta TV portion of this website about the weather coverage. 2 was late getting started Friday night, but on Saturday their new weather graphics software was so much better than everyone else that it wasn't even close. Next time there's a bad storm, take a look.

At the Dome, everyone was much safer in their seats. Many of the hallways are lined with glass, so it would have been insane to send them there. Trying to get that many people out of the stands quickly would have started a stampede that would have killed someone for sure.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

2 was late getting started Friday night, but on Saturday their new weather graphics software was so much better than everyone else that it wasn't even close. Next time there's a bad storm, take a look.

Yes, the new graphics are spectacular....HOWEVER: Saturday afternoon when the track was bringing the storms through Forsyth County and Gainesville one right after another, I got the feeling that Glen Burns and Brad Nitz became so engrossed at turning the main storm inside out to show off the new toys that they lost track of letting us see where the next storm on the track was.

The night before Monica was yelling "Take the Banner Down". Saturday I was yelling at the TV: "Sit down Nitz! You are standing in front of the storm that will be near my house in three minutes and I can see it for you."

I have been impressed with their ability to localize storms right down to the neighborhood and street name. But the storms are usually on the far other side of Atlanta where I don't know street names. When the Saturday afternoon storms reached Gainesvill and they started naming streets I realized there is a lack of integrity in their map system. State Hiway 20 DO NOT run north of Lake Lanier and into Gainesville. State Hiway 141 DOES NOT cross McEver Road somewhere near Oakwood. And then they had the storm crossing the airport just west of downtown Gainesville so you folks in town get ready, it's coming your way. (The airport is south and east of Gainesville.)

Sounded great, and useful, and very professional....... unless you knew the geography and knew it was wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

[deadman]

There really wasn't much warning at all. I live in the path of the tornado. The air raid siren never went off. I think WSB at least covered it better on both AM and TV. Fox 5 had 5 mins of coverage and then the tornado destroyed buildings during the last 30 mins of house. If anyone should complain about coverage... Fox 5 was the worst.

I am confused. I changed channels right at 10:00 and WSB had John Stossel introducing the second hour of 20/20. A minute later I turned on Fox 5 and they had one of their reporters on the air live at the Westin. IU believe he just happened to be there and called in when it happened? To me I though Fox had the better coverage at 10:00. I also give kudos to WGCL. They had some of the best videos from the scene. They were the first one I saw to show the area in front of the CNN center where it looked like a bomb went off.

10pm was 15 mins too late

 

[taylorengineer]

Og-

Read what Mellish has to say about Ch 2's "new super 3D graphics." He laughs about Burns being on the air Saturday talking about dozens of tornadoes on the ground when, in fact, there were only two "possible" tornadoes - one confirmed.
Sorry.....Glenn Burns is a nice guy and has a terrific on air delivery.....but he is all hype and no knowledge in a severe weather situation. This type of reporting is very dangerous....Ch 2 should be avoided in ANY major news situation. With the exception of John Pruitt they are, as Art says, not even as good as Albany, Ga.!!
This weather graphics crap is showbiz and does not belong on TV.
Radio is the place to go in severe weather situations. Mellish on Wizbee.....Ken Cook on WGST.

 

[bdcsi]

Tom.. I'll have to disagree with you on the WSB TV weather software, that was by far the best information I have ever seen with regard to storm intensity and location. Glenn Burns does tend to get a little carried away sometimes, but his heart is in the right place. and that is the safety of the people on the ground. That storm setup was very unique in that it was training super cells along a line instead of what we usually see, a long squall line of storms moving perpendicular to the line.
I don't doubt Mellish's credentials, or Ken Cooks for that matter, but the info I got from Ch.2 was as good as it gets IMO.

BD

 

[OgOgglby]

Where is Mellish's comment posted? Is he using a fake name?

 

[RTibbs]

There really wasn't much warning at all. I live in the path of the tornado. The air raid siren never went off. I think WSB at least covered it better on both AM and TV. Fox 5 had 5 mins of coverage and then the tornado destroyed buildings during the last 30 mins of house. If anyone should complain about coverage... Fox 5 was the worst.

I am confused. I changed channels right at 10:00 and WSB had John Stossel introducing the second hour of 20/20. A minute later I turned on Fox 5 and they had one of their reporters on the air live at the Westin. IU believe he just happened to be there and called in when it happened? To me I though Fox had the better coverage at 10:00. I also give kudos to WGCL. They had some of the best videos from the scene. They were the first one I saw to show the area in front of the CNN center where it looked like a bomb went off.

10pm was 15 mins too late

But not worthy enough to stay on the air with it?

 

[taylorengineer]

Kirk's blog is on wsbradio.com.

http://wsbradio.com/weather/WeatherCommentary.html

Kirk doesn't refer to Glenn by name but does talk about the 3D HD Color Spinning Super Doppler Radar being deceptive.
Kirk advises people to listen to the National Weather Service professionals - not media weather "personalities" - when life and property are in danger. I will say again.....I like Glenn Burns - he's a nice guy - and is very good at *presenting* the weather. But he is not a forecaster - he is not qualified to interpret doppler radar imagery - and he has not mastered the science of severe weather dynamics. And he misleads the public in dangerous weather situations.......
I hope the blog stays up for a while - there are some interesting comments about tornado mythology. Kirk's blog is on my regular reading list. You get some real insight into the science of weather forecasting and an appreciation of the difficulties in preparing forecasts. I wish Ken Cook would do the same (Ken was a severe weather specialist for the NWS before he got into television.)

 

[taylorengineer]

[/quote]

Tom, I don't know which forecasts you read but the ones I saw were updated throughout the day and it became more and more obvious that the threat for severe storms was setting up.

I listened to WSB Radio from about 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. and either I feel asleep when he was on or Mellish wasn't on the air. I didn't watch Ken Cook...however I felt WSB TV did a good job with their weather coverage as the storms moved through. Don't even get me started on their reporters after it hit. One of their reporters showed an awning blown off the front of a building and described that scene as "absolute devastation." This was early when viewers needing factual information to judge their own safety.

Then another reporter showed a person walking up to their crushed car and asked the person "tell us what you see." You can tell a lot about the quality of a reporter by how well they ablib. Then Monica had to tell the graphics people to remove all the banners off the screen so viewers could see the radar reports showing tornados at street level. One time she said "take them off now!"

I had to check my TV setting to make sure I wasn't watching the number 2 TV station in Albany, GA. Meanwhile the reporters who have been there a long time and may have a hard time fooling HDTV of their age...were describing the scene and adding commentary which flowed well with the pictures I was seeing. it was authoritative....they asked intelligent questions and had people come on camera to give information.

I noticed they got more air time the next day...and the kid who described the absolute devastation was shipped off to Northwest GA to report on something where he could read a script, etc.
[/quote]

Art -
The Storm Prediction Center has a website which I always check for severe weather potential. They graphically show areas with severe potential and label potential as "slight/moderate/high."
The North Georgia area was labeled "slight" and the commentary descibed atmospheric conditions as "marginal" for severe weather - tornadic activity was predicted to be "isolated," a 2-5% chance, and any activity that did develope was forecast to be "weak" in nature.
Further proof is the fact that there was no tornado watch in effect when this happened.
News hype has reached new and even more absurd levels which draws in even intelligent, well educated individuals. We are a society which watches reality TV instead of reading books....we are ripe for manipulation by slick media types hungry for ratings. Until we, as the viewing/listening public, demand more honest, professional news presentation, we will get more of the same.

 

[kyscott]

News hype has reached new and even more absurd levels which draws in even intelligent, well educated individuals. We are a society which watches reality TV instead of reading books....we are ripe for manipulation by slick media types hungry for ratings. Until we, as the viewing/listening public, demand more honest, professional news presentation, we will get more of the same.

In the words of the immortal Lewis M Grizzard Jr (a great American), "Tell it all brother, tell it all". Today's broadcast news shows are very little about telling you the news. It's more about being an entertainment show. I used to work for the number 1 TV station in Albany just 18 years ago. It was a NEWScast, not a news show. We had very little graphics and Gil's weather computer (singular) fit in one equipment rack. Now it is about glitzy flashing graphics and "human interest" stories. I know up here in Louisville, our TV weather people get to playing with their new HD Super-dyna-whoppin' doppler and it gets in the way of relaying the information instead of warning people in the way of danger.

I'm smart enough to know what the colors on a weather radar mean. I know what green, yellow, red and purple are. I don't need to see inside the storm, I don't care how high the storm reaches in the atmosphere (unless I'm flying around it) and I don't want to know the "probability of hail" inside the storm.

 

[jonblaze]

Art -
The Storm Prediction Center has a website which I always check for severe weather potential. They graphically show areas with severe potential and label potential as "slight/moderate/high."
The North Georgia area was labeled "slight" and the commentary descibed atmospheric conditions as "marginal" for severe weather - tornadic activity was predicted to be "isolated," a 2-5% chance, and any activity that did develope was forecast to be "weak" in nature.
Further proof is the fact that there was no tornado watch in effect when this happened.
News hype has reached new and even more absurd levels which draws in even intelligent, well educated individuals. We are a society which watches reality TV instead of reading books....we are ripe for manipulation by slick media types hungry for ratings. Until we, as the viewing/listening public, demand more honest, professional news presentation, we will get more of the same.

Tom,
I also read the same information. I think I also read on Channel 11's website that it took the weather service until Saturday afternoon to put Georgia in the high risk/PDS (particularly dangerous situation) category. Heck, the Storm Prediction Center extended the initial watch on Saturday to 1am, and then issued another one on top of the existing one until 8am!

Most broadcasters get their weather info from The Weather Channel, and TWC cannot predict weather even if their life depends on it. Why go through the middle man, when you can get all the info directly from the weather service and the storm prediction center.

But, for Friday, the storm that dropped the tornado downtown, was an isolated one. In fact, it was first issued as a "Severe Thunderstorm Warning". It seems that everyone expects the news stations to have a full staff for a slight chance of thunder. Trust me, WSB and other stations would of had a stand-by staff if the conditions were the same on Friday night as they were on Saturday.

Bottom line... WSB-AM and all the tv stations did a great job in their coverage. This storm caught everyone off guard. But everyone was ready on Saturday and stepped up to the plate.

Even Neal Boortz gave Channel 2 kudos on his show yesterday.

This is going to be an interesting weather season for Georgia!