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YOU CAN'T SEE THE RADAR ON THE RADIO

S

smedge2006

Interesting quote from this article in the St Pete Times...http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/13/Hillsborough/Expect_a_drenching.shtml"But the nonstop rain prompted some people, such as Anne Bartlett of Davis Islands, to prepare for the worst... Over the last couple of days, she said, she has been gathering hurricane supplies, which include batteries, flashlights and a television that runs off of a car battery, in case she loses power in the storm."I've learned you can't see the radar on the radio," she said.----Interesting. One of the few remaining moats of the radio business is its position as the sole source of information for most people during a hurricane or mass power outage. But most radio stations nowadays are content to hand over that niche (and save money) by simulcasting TV hurricane coverage, or worse, staying in voice-track mode. Sure, you get the info out, but by broadcasting meteorologists saying "Look at the eye of the storm", and "the purple areas show hurricane force winds", you're also conditioning people to miss the picture because the weather folks aren't describing the information the way radio people would. In effect, you're telling them "Next time get a battery or car TV or you won't get all the info you need." As TVs come to consume less and less juice, look for this unfortunate trend to continue.
 
Very true. One of my pet peeves from last season. However, there is Bay News 9 if the cable is down. In one of the storms last year, CH 10 lost power for a lenghty period of time. Your Brighthouse/internet/Vonage phone isn't going work if the power goes out. That little battery radio and Jack Harris still is my choice.
 
Its one of the reasons I detest it when these radio stations shirk their responsibility during a storm by just playing the audio of a local TV station. You cant see what they are talking about either. This is what happens when you have no news department, or your news is done by your largest competitor on a barter basis....
 
During last year's round of weather, Bay News 9 did attempt to tell their radio-simulcast listeners what was going on video-wise, which was appreciated (but admittedly not the same as hearing a dedicated radio-cast). Thankfully, though my power was out for a week, my Bright House cable continued to work just fine. Just fabbed up an antenna cable and used a battery operated B&W tv. (No DVR though.....) The BH phone/modem will work (for a little while) if the power goes out (has a 4 hour backup battery). As for Ch 10, they actually had to evacuate their (very low-lying) building at one point. At least those at home could use the resulting color bars to calibrate their TVs.
 
Byron said:
I know this is a radio-oriented thread, but... What happens when TV goes all digital and those 5.5" B&W sets can't receive anything? I do hope there's going to be some sort of analog standby requirement during state or regional emergency situations. 2004 showed us that we can't depend on the corporate radio arse-hats to come up with a decently produced scope of local storm coverage if all they do is wait till the last minute to prepare and then just flick a switch on the board to bring in TV audio.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, once the analog TV channels are shut off that's it. Those frequencys are being sold off by the FCC. In Orlando analog channel 55 is already off. A communications company bought out the frequencys associated with channel 55 and once all the channel 55's throught the USA are off they can start using it.
 
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