WSB AM 750 CLEAR WINNER WITH STORM COVERAGE

[Art Sutton]

Folks, I don't check the storm prediction center website but I do listen to NOAA weather radio every day. Here in Toccoa, we have a NOAA weather station which is operated by the NWS at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. As early as Thursday in their hazardous weather summary, they were already predicting conditions which could potentially set up for severe thunderstorms and strong tornadoes accross North Georgia and Upstate SC. Perhaps I assumed incorrectly that North Georgia meant all of north Georgia but typically when it applies only to our corner of NE Georgia, they will state extrerme Northeast Georgia.

We can argue back and forth on if there was ample warning or not. That wasn't my point. My point was WSB Radio should have in its employ people who can get on the air and sound half professional, at any hour of the day, rather than stumbling through comments and missing cues, etc. I am talking anchors, not the two reporters they had out in the field. Airing two hours of a TV station is a crying damn shame for the only radio station is Atlanta left that anyone can half rely on for emergency weather information. I've listened to WSB Radio since 1970 when I was 8 years old and what I heard FOLLOWING the tornado didn't come close to the standards expected from that station. It also shouldn't take them 2 hours to get all the pros in there to take over. If all else, watch TV, listen to NOAA weather radio and repeat the information but let the radio station be the one airing that info.

Finally, was Mellish on the air or not? I never heard him and so far, no one else has stated if he was or not.

Last comment....if you want serious weather information, you get it from the National Weather Service. I am not going to be critical of the WSB-TV weather radar. They pointed out " it appears, etc." but I would rather be safe than sorry. Tell me what could be happening and I will have enough sense to figure out what to do. As far as roads being correct on the map, etc. if I don't have enough sense to figure out where the storm is located on the radar map, that's my problem. I'm dumb as crap and probably too stupid for a tornado to harm me any way.

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!

 

[Inside your head]

i dont know who had better coverage. i was so facinated by channel 2s shiny swirly 3d psychedelic graphics i forgot to take cover.

 

[taylorengineer]

If CH 2's fancy gizmo were worth a tinker's damn it would show every trailer park and Walmart in the sweep range....those are the real "high risk" areas.
No storm coverage is complete without fat women, livin' in trailers, dressed in Spandex, tellin' 'bout that how it sounded like a freight train comin'.......

 

[BIGSTICK]

That is hilarious. It did seem to have a bit of overkill. No pun intended.

 

[vpgrar]

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.......
[/quote]
THANK YOU. Finally, somebody finally sees what I've been talking about for years. I agree 100%. Glen Burns does sometimes tend to over hype the situation, and the look cool, but do not good if you don't know what to looking at, and are deceptive if you don't know any better.

 

[BIGSTICK]

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.......

THANK YOU. Finally, somebody finally sees what I've been talking about for years. I agree 100%. Glen Burns does sometimes tend to over hype the situation, and the look cool, but do not good if you don't know what to looking at, and are deceptive if you don't know any better.
[/quote]

What did you say? ???

 

[Radio1360]

bclark71, I also wish we had a 24-hour news station. I remember back in the early 80's after moving here and listening to WGST "News Radio 92". It was their heyday in radio and their continuous news was well-done professionally and a city of this size could use a news station again. I wish we had a station similiar to WTOP 103.5 in Washington D.C.-they have been a consistent top 3 station since they moved to 103.5 FM
over from their old 1500 AM frequency.

I myself have been harping about this before and after 9-11 and before and after
Katrina that all-news radio more importaint than news-talk. NBC Radio has tired it, CNN, AP, and I also found out there was a service called Washington Post Radio tried it.
Same stupid reasons: Lack of interest, short attention spans, low ratings, and the most
the popular reason-"they keep saying the same stories over and over again"! HELLO! Ever heard of something called "UPDATING"?!? That what these proffessional electronic journalists do!! Just in case someone (like me) didn't hear the stories the first time! I feel bad that stations here in Atlanta Like WGST and WCNN dropped all-news radio. It comes from station managers and program directors making bad choices like a what certain
radio station back in old ex-home of Savannah, Georgia did in March of 1984. Today, it no longer exsist.

 

[ChannelChanger]

Glenn Burns

I'm not here to debate WSB Radio's coverage. On the whole, I think they do a nice job. But I agree that Glenn Burns is way overrated, to the point of being irresponsible. Not everything that looks like a tornado on the super duper Doppler is a tornado. Some have the potential to be or show hook echos, but it ain't a tornado until it hits the ground.

I much prefer other stations which offer more realistic interpetations, than Glenn's panic-inducing lack of ability to interpret the data right in front of him. If you like flash over substance, watch Glenn. If you want substance, watch someone else or what for David Chandley to take over.

 

[OgOgglby]

The NWS confirmed at least 13 tornadoes in N. Ga. Friday and Saturday. Seems all those graphics were not exaggerating.

 

[taylorengineer]

I guess it depends on who you believe! Kirk Mellish(WSB-AM)says 1 confirmed tornado Friday night....1 confirmed Saturday. It is in writing....check his blog.
Fo all interested in this topic I must recommend wsbradio.com for Mellish's blog. If you scoll down he writes more about the absurd things TV guys do....mostly for ratings....but sometimes out of well intentioned ignorance. There is a piece specifically about Doppler radar and it's inherent inaccurracies. Trying to imply you can "see" weather neighborhood by neighborhood is simply either ignorant or not honest.
I agree with Art Sutton when he says, "better safe than sorry." I do not have the equipment or expertise to "know" when to leave the cozy trailer and head for the ditch. But I do want the best, most accurate information possible. TV, with the exception of Ken Cook, is not the place to get your information when your life, or your family, depends on it.

 

[trusty]

Just catchin' up here and have 2 points to make:

1. Newsradio - Check the KRLD stream. Very good, professional and tight - no cheap yellow joiurnalism. It CAN BE DONE in Atlanta - and make money, too.

2. WGST Expectations - If you expect WGST to even TRY to be like they used to, don't hold your breath. They don't have the word "news" in their nickname like they used to. Their webpage says "WGST - Atlanta. Talk. Radio.". They've given up, and it's sad.

There is SO MUCH potential in this market.

 

[JR1967]

Great post Trusty. I will have to look at KRLD's site-sounds interesting. As far as news stations here, two great AM frequencies here would be either 680 AM or 1010 AM. Of course with 680 The Fan getting higher ratings lately (and even beating out GST) Dickey would be unlikely to change formats. However, since there really isn't much going on with WGUN 1010 except brokered programming which no one seems to tune into,
this would be a superb AM frequency here in Atlanta for someone like CBS/Infinity to purchase and put an all-news station on. Right now, WGUN's signal reaches parts of four states in the daytime, though their nighttime signal only reaches parts of the Metro Area. A new owner could come in and strengthen their nighttime signal, which would very likely be directional in order not to interfere with WINS 1010 out of NYC.

 

[Bear]

The NWS confirmed at least 13 tornadoes in N. Ga. Friday and Saturday. Seems all those graphics were not exaggerating.

Wrong-o, but dont take my word for it Glenn. See the NWS homepage for the 2 tornadoes in the Atlanta Metro region, one a zero more like a big gust of wind. The report is on the website www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/