Weather coverage and TV programming

[stoopified]

I have lived inOklahoma almost all my life(about 48 of 50 years) and I realize that weather coverage is important BUT at times the OVERKILL borders on ridiculous.To drone on and on for hours of coverage basically repeating 2 minutes of information is pointless at best and possibly dangerous.By that I mean after hours of repitition many people are no longer paying attention and could miss new emergent information.I think of it like the boy who cried wolf,or in this case storm,after a point it becomes seld defeating if the number of people it is actually helping goes down.

If you give weather bulletins during commercials and break-ins when necessary(complete with loud storm buzzer)people are more likely to listen then droning on for 5 hours with no real new information.

My second point is that I think there is a certain amount of hypocrisy involved in when programming will be interrupted and what programs .Listening to talk radio numerous people(including some media members who also are in TV) say that while the networks readily interrupted golf and NBA they would be unlikely to interrupt OU fotbal,or Thunder basketball because of its enormous local popularity.So on one hand nonstop coverage of a storm is about saving lives but if IMPORTANT programming is on than suddenly this LIFE-SAVING coverage is less needed?

FWIW the weather coverage did not interrupt me personally as I had no desire to watch golf or this particular NBA game.I was OU softball on FoxSports.I just think if you have EMERGENCY information give where and when NEEDED but don't beat it to death for 5 hours just for viewership.OK,rant over.

[1890MilesToNorman]

You're not alone, they go hog wild up here in New England over snow storms. It has gotten ridiculous the past 10 years. We know how to deal with it as you know how to deal with thunderstorms, the media drives me nuts. They are now closing schools when 4-6 inches of snow are predicted, that never happened when I moved up here in the late 80's.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Gary England likes is mug on the TV and is more dramatic than any Shakesphere play.

[badger]

Anyone that claims that the FCC requires them to break into programming is either mistaken or outright lying. The only reason for FCC requiring that programming be broken into is for a presidential alert or for national emergencies.

That's it. Not for weather, just the president and something national.

It's not like you all don't have cable and are forced into watching the weather updates. Just switch over to ESPN. You'll NEVER get interruption for weather there, unless it's SEC football-related :D

[Ike]

Anyone that claims that the FCC requires them to break into programming is either mistaken or outright lying. The only reason for FCC requiring that programming be broken into is for a presidential alert or for national emergencies.

That's it. Not for weather, just the president and something national.

It's not like you all don't have cable and are forced into watching the weather updates. Just switch over to ESPN. You'll NEVER get interruption for weather there, unless it's SEC football-related :D


In this day and age, I think there is a better way it can be done. The majors (ABC, NBC, CBS) all have at least primary station and a weather station broadcast over the air. I'm not sure why they don't put their weather stations on cable, but I think they should...for this very reason. I'm fine with them cutting into 'regular' programming when severe weather hits. I'm even OK with them doing so for a long time for the worst severe weather, because in a tornado storm like we had last week, things can change pretty fast. But what I think they should do in that case is push the regular programming they had going on over to their weather channels. That way, if you are not in the affected area, you can get on with your shows.

This doesn't solve the problem that would exist for DVR'ing shows, but usually they re-broadcast that. If they could just also throw up the 'NEW' flag on those shows too, that would be a great help.

[starclassic tama]

Anyone that claims that the FCC requires them to break into programming is either mistaken or outright lying. The only reason for FCC requiring that programming be broken into is for a presidential alert or for national emergencies.

That's it. Not for weather, just the president and something national.

It's not like you all don't have cable and are forced into watching the weather updates. Just switch over to ESPN. You'll NEVER get interruption for weather there, unless it's SEC football-related :D

ESPN and ABC don't play the same games at the same time though. like last night, the orlando boston game was nowhere to be found in the state of oklahoma, because of freaking HAIL. not any F5 tornadoes, HAIL. we talkin' bout HAIL.

[GottaHavePride]

It's not like you all don't have cable and are forced into watching the weather updates. Just switch over to ESPN. You'll NEVER get interruption for weather there, unless it's SEC football-related :D


Yeah, I was watching Top Gear on BBC while the hail stuff was going on, and you know what? My cable box was going off about every 5 minutes with the horrible buzzer and the voice shouting "THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE WEATHER ALERT FOR YOUR AREA! FOR MORE INFORMATION, TURN TO CHANNEL 3!"

The cable company does that on every channel.

[yermom]

the cool thing about that though is that you can rewind and it's not on the DVR

[NormanPride]

Yeah, I was watching Top Gear on BBC while the hail stuff was going on, and you know what? My cable box was going off about every 5 minutes with the horrible buzzer and the voice shouting "THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE WEATHER ALERT FOR YOUR AREA! FOR MORE INFORMATION, TURN TO CHANNEL 3!"

The cable company does that on every channel.

They were trying to warn you about that twister over your house, man. Don't be hatin'. :D

[GKeeper316]

you guys shoulda heard traber's rant last night about weather cut-ins over sports programming like playoff basketball... for some hail!

[ndpruitt03]

Why don't these channels use their secondary channels to broadcast their programming? I understand going full blown on days like last Monday, but days like that come once every few years really. On storms like yesterday which have no shot at giving tornadoes why not put regular coverage on other channels?

[badger]

ESPN and ABC don't play the same games at the same time though. like last night, the orlando boston game was nowhere to be found in the state of oklahoma, because of freaking HAIL. not any F5 tornadoes, HAIL. we talkin' bout HAIL.

Oh, so I can drop some golf balls and some baseballs made out of ice on your head and you wouldn't care? Even some marbles and peas made outta ice would sting a little. :D

If you really needed your NBA fix, there's always ESPN360 (scuze me - it's ESPN3 now)

:P

[BermudaSooner]

The best was Mike Morgan "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"