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WSB and wreck coverage

A

Art Sutton

Guest
Since I used this public forum to criticize WSB's coverage of the tornado that hit Atlanta a few weeks back, I want to praise them for the good job they did on Monday night's wreck on I-85 North which killed 4 and injured several others.

I was just a few car lengths away when that wreck happened and was stuck on the interstate for 2 1/2 hours til we finally were able to exit driving in the opposite direction and exiting up an exit ramp.

The wreck happened at 8:30. No later than 9 p/m WSB reported the interstate was closed due to serious traffic accident. I guess they farm out their traffic reports in "off hours". If that's the case, someone needs to work with the talent on their ab libbing but overall, we got the information. By 9:30, WSB news anchor, who was very smooth, was adding to the information provided by the traffic center and was reporting fatalities and giving a description of the car which caused the accident.

At 10 p.m., that car showed up at a nearby motel and the clerk was listening to WSBonline and was able to call police immediately to report the car was there. It wasn't long after that, WSB reported the car had been found, had audio from Gwinett County police... for well over an hour,they were asking listeners to contact police if they spotted the car. The traffic center announcer was more confident in his delivery and the lady at WSB News was very professional in her presentation. By 11 p.m. police were turning cars around and asking them to exit. WSB reported that fact shortly after it began and still warned motorists to stay away from the area.

What I heard Monday night made me proud of local radio and it was up to the high standard we in broadcasting have always expected from WSB. Elmo Ellis would be proud.
 
One of the things I cannot stand in Atlanta is the traffic delays during a wreck. Yes I know it's sad when anyone dies in a traffic fatality, I just wish GDOT had a plan of some sort to keep traffic moving in any direction. There was no reason you had to stand still for 2.5 hours. In addition, if we had more than one AM station that didn't shut down after dark, others could have avoided this mess.
 
Neil makes a great point concerning the lack of quality AM radio after dark in this area. I know the FCC has a lot to do with it with their regulations, but it is pathetic that we live in the 8th largest radio market with about 4.5 million people in the metro area, yet can only receive one clear AM signal metrowide. Hopefully that will change in the near future.
 
That leads to a two-part question.

1)---Since WSB is (apparently) the only live AM station in the metro after dark, are they the station to turn to for traffic reports around the clock?

2)---How frequently do they give traffic reports?

Thanks!!!!
 
After dark it's top and bottom of the hour, unless conditions warrant more.

The rule generally is this; if an interstate or Ga 400 is closed, then they break in and report it. They will continue to give updates about 4 times an hour, as long as the roadway in closed.
 
NOTE: WSB is not the ONLY station that has live traffic at night....WGST also has live traffic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.....evenings and weekend the reports are at the top and bottom of the hour.
 
Could someone offer a rundown of which Atlanta AM stations are restricted in covering the entire city after nightfall a la WSB?

I don't know if that is common in many major East coast cities; it's not that big of a deal out here in LA.
 
WSB handles its traffic in-house from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mon-Fri ... the rest of the 24-7 coverage is subbed-out (trade deal) to Metro Networks (Westwood One), and the talent drop-off is dramatic! Metro also technically employs the "SkyPlane" pilot & talent.
 
So are all of the 5am-8pm announcers (on 750) employed by WSB or Metro? Which company would you say benefits more from the deal? Just curious...
 
Marv-L.A. said:
Could someone offer a rundown of which Atlanta AM stations are restricted in covering the entire city after nightfall a la WSB?

I don't know if that is common in many major East coast cities; it's not that big of a deal out here in LA.
Click to expand...

The only stations I know of with good night coverage in Atlanta are as follows:

WSB (50kW clear channel)
WCNN (10kW directional, hard null to the NE
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=N )
WDWD (4500W directional, NW to SE snow angel with poor NE coverage due to the tower being west of the city, and being on a regional channel there's a lot of interference in fringe areas from equally-powerful out of town stations
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WDWD&service=AM&status=L&hours=N )

Note that WQXI, WGST, and WGKA are not on this list.

Everyone not on this list will have a dicey signal outside of the perimeter after dark.
 
Ok.. WSB RADIO has the BEST Traffic and News Team in the USA!
Metro-Networks (westwood One)...SUCKS!.. The info they send out is OLD and Not Reliable AT ALL!
WSB's Traffic Department Is Much Better Than Metro-Networks. Truth Be Told: METRO and the GDOT gets its information from the WSB Traffic Team. Plus The WSB On-Air Talent Is Much Better! My vote is for WSB!
 
Of course Metro Traffic benefits the most. WSB actually trains people to anchor traffic! Many of the WSB anchors have been shared with Metro-- Doug Turnbull was Captain Herb's protegé, Nancy Plum had at least two names on at least three stations, Andrew Kinsey went from the Skyplane to anchor WSB afternoons.
 
I work afternoons/evenings, so I check traffic every day during the midday hours. There is a guy often on WSB this time of day, I cannot remember his name right now, but he seriously needs to work on his speech. He tends to run his words together and I have a hard time understanding him. When he's on, I usually just go to 920 WGKA. Angie Powell is the other traffic person I usually hear during the middays on WSB and she's very good. Easy to understand, pleasant voice. I wish they'd use her more. WGKA always has someone on with a nice voice that I can understand. WSB's reports seem to be better, more up to date. But if I can't understand what they're saying, it's of little use.
 
GDOT does not get its information from WSB. They SUPPLY traffic information to Metro, Total Traffic, and WSB. WSB sometimes calls the media relations folks at the Traffic Management Center to give them a heads-up about an accident they heard about on a scanner, but half of those turn out to be nothing. GDOT provides all the camera shots to the TV stations as well and incident information to all the traffic radio folks as well as ajc.com. Check out www.georgia-navigator.com if you think all the traffic info comes from WSB.
 
trafficqueen said:
GDOT does not get its information from WSB. They SUPPLY traffic information to Metro, Total Traffic, and WSB. WSB sometimes calls the media relations folks at the Traffic Management Center to give them a heads-up about an accident they heard about on a scanner, but half of those turn out to be nothing. GDOT provides all the camera shots to the TV stations as well and incident information to all the traffic radio folks as well as ajc.com. Check out www.georgia-navigator.com if you think all the traffic info comes from WSB.
Click to expand...

But didn't GDOT subcontract the building and operation of the cameras, traffic speed sensors, etc. to someone else (traffic.com perhaps?) who offered to build a system for GDOT for free in exchange for the right-of-way (and the ability to sell the data to other customers)?
 
al_atl said:
I work afternoons/evenings, so I check traffic every day during the midday hours. There is a guy often on WSB this time of day, I cannot remember his name right now, but he seriously needs to work on his speech. He tends to run his words together and I have a hard time understanding him. When he's on, I usually just go to 920 WGKA. Angie Powell is the other traffic person I usually hear during the middays on WSB and she's very good. Easy to understand, pleasant voice. I wish they'd use her more. WGKA always has someone on with a nice voice that I can understand. WSB's reports seem to be better, more up to date. But if I can't understand what they're saying, it's of little use.
Click to expand...

I think you're referring to Chris Lucas. I have a hard time understanding him too. He runs his words together and takes too long getting to the point.
 
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