| Author | Post |
|---|
techpuppy
Member
|
Posted: Sun Jul 12th, 2009 04:21 pm |
|
While it is nice that some of the local TV stations have upgraded their weather coverage technology, they still have some problems.
Last night Ch 10/27 did a live report about a warning for Texas County. The report was at 8:37. By "clicking" on one of the graphics they were able to display the fact that the warning would go until 8:07 p.m. The time error was completely ignored.
During the big January outbreak of tornadoes a couple of years ago KY3's storm team had forgotten to have their system clock "fall back" so all of their storm "tracks" had a time over an hour in the future.
Apparently ch 10/27 forgot to "spring forward." So much for the new technology...it still requires someone to interact with it.
The moral: If you're going to show off your new stuff you should at least be capable of setting the clock.
|
DB
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 313 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 13th, 2009 06:09 am |
|
| Last night a prominent station known for storm coverage had a severe thunderstorm warning for Dade and Greene counties until 530 am. This at 100 am. Voice tracking can sure make a station's trust go out the window in a hurry. Last edited on Mon Jul 13th, 2009 06:11 am by DB
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 14th, 2009 02:47 pm |
|
At least you were watching local TV for your weather coverage!( With Meteorologists rather than DJ's attempting to interpret radar..)
Radio report early this morning from the big Springfield Country station KTT - something-or-another had a drivetime report from the field that said Springfield streets were "Covered by Water" (Duh!) and that people were driving too fast and that was why traffic was moving slowly. Huh?
That was some fine reporting in the middle of a thunderstorm.
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 14th, 2009 02:47 pm |
|
At least you were watching local TV for your weather coverage!( With Meteorologists rather than DJ's attempting to interpret radar..)
Radio report early this morning from the big Springfield Country station KTT - something-or-another had a drivetime report from the field that said Springfield streets were "Covered by Water" (Duh!) and that people were driving too fast and that was why traffic was moving slowly. Huh?
That was some fine reporting in the middle of a thunderstorm.
|
techpuppy
Member
|
Posted: Tue Jul 14th, 2009 08:06 pm |
|
Our station had live local coverage of the severe weather as it moved in and through our area. (And some other stations did too).
TV is okay, but sometimes they let the technology get in the way of providing valuable information and their coverage suffers greatly once the storms are past Springfield. At best it is inconsistent.
33 tells viewers that in order to avoid program interruption to go to their website...that's handy from a storm shelter.
Radio is still an important part of severe weather information. Sorry KSPR you have a great weather blog but it's not all that handy or safe during a storm while taking shelter. Likewise is there any small battery-operated portable digital TV (other than an analog pocket TV with a digital converter?) Can you even pick up digital TV from inside a storm shelter? Radio is more immediate and reaches people without power, in their cars, etc.
I've noticed some TV reports where their system says, for instance, that a suspected tornado has a 27% chance of being a tornado. Is that good information to pass along? Doesn't that make it less likely people will take the storm seriously and as a result not take shelter? As I mention above, Meteorologist or not, how much faith can you put into someone who can't figure out their clock is wrong?
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 14th, 2009 10:01 pm |
|
Yes, there ARE small Digital TV's that work from batteries and you can SEE radar vision of where storms are and interpreted by a meteorologist rather than untrained radio personnel. As stated in my original missive, a big regional radio station did a poor job of carrying any useful info this morning and jammed everything full of commercials to boot. Radio does work well in a car, but so does my smart phone that looks at radar and things like the Severe Storm Warning center in Norman, Oklahoma for professional weather reprts. All the springfield TV stations feature interactive radar accessible on any phone with a www browser.
TV stations alos have a live, breathing person at the helm usuallly during severe weather and radio has more and more automation that just triggers National Weather Radio reports that are basically pretty dry and unlistenable. (Oh! you can get those too from a SmartPhone or i Phone or pretty much all modern units.)
Somebody had a time signature wrong in a computer graphic. Big freakin' deal! At least they wre at the helm and working professionally instead of random interpretation via a wire by untrained weather readers at regional radio. I also love some raio reporter types refering to Color Weather Radar reports... Nice they are in color on the radio, what is that all about? I'll start writing every time there is a computer or tech glitch on radio, but there is not enough room on the internet. Gimme a break! Glad you were watching local TV for your weather coverage!
|
techpuppy
Member
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15th, 2009 01:47 pm |
|
Well needless to say I do have issues with your remarks.
First of all your claim that radio personnel are untrained is simply not true. It varies by station, but the training is quite extensive for some. It certainly is not random interpretation anymore than those on TV. I agree with you about radio automation and the harm it's done to the quality of radio. But it's not fair to lump all radio into the same category while proclaiming TV to be so perfect. It isn't. Want an example of bad automation? KY3 attempted to do live ice storm updates on their digital channel last winter. It was a great move. I was impressed. Unfortunately the automation system kept cutting off Ron Hearst's microphone and cutting away to canned satellite views and playing dippy music. You would have thought they would have been better prepared the second night...nope.
You are using your smartphone while driving to look at radar? How about paying attention to your driving?? It's nice that the TV stations have interactive radar. Unfortunately that technology (smartphones) is rather limited in coverage outside of the immediate metro area. Not to mention the monthly service charge which I just did. Radio is free to hear, cheap to receive, and the most portable, reliable information source available. If a particular radio station doesn't provide your desired level of coverage, try another.
By the way there are not meteorologists on local TV at many times during the night. If it's after midnight and before 5 or 6 in the morning a lot of warnings are nothing more than a crawl...maybe a shot of radar if you're lucky. Again it all depends on where the warning is. Less coverage is given if it's past Springfield.
If you are offended by anyone in radio saying "color" weather radar. How about the hype of "Live" doppler radar? Is everyone else's radar "dead"? Remember the hype from local TV over the location of their radar site (The only one in Springfield) or "The only station with it's own doppler radar...that I assume is a case of lease vs. purchase...yawn.
Yes EAS units can automatically send out the audio from the National Weather Service over the air...just like the automated crawl on the TV stations only faster.
And getting back to my original comment. This was not an isolated incident of one graphic. I recorded Ky3's coverage of the tornado outbreak to which I referred. The time error went on for over 12 hours. You would think a highly trained meterologist would have caught on that a tornado warning usually isn't issued over an hour in advance of the storm. Three of them failed to do so.
The reason I had the TV on at all the other night was to research how long it takes local tv stations to respond to warnings in our area. The "dry" information from the weather service is what most go with at first with a delay in live reporting ranging from a few minutes to never. That is significant. That all depends on where and when. Consistency is not a strong point of TV coverage.
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15th, 2009 10:08 pm |
|
So, your original post said that the time signature problem is with 10/27 and your last post was listing KYTV as the culprit. Which was it? Accuracy is important.
http://www.amazon.com/Tivax-HiRez7-Portable-Digital-Widescreen/dp/B002BDU89M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247689837&sr=8-1
Here's a common battery operated DTV that is pretty reasonable if someone wants to actually see radar and reports from certified meteorologists rather than your claim of the great training that radio folks get about interpreting weather data. They DO rip-and-read (only it's on a computer screen now.) I personally trust Meteorologists with interpretation of extreme weather hazards rather than any radio reader. Having worked at several radio stations, I KNOW that the training and resources available to those on-the-air is minimal compared with the support system at any TV station worth their salt. They are in all ways less qualified to interpret a radar signal for instance, than a Meteorologist. Many, many radio stations run a recorded VO from Accuweather or The Weather Channel and that is the way they do their weather, plain and simple. Nobody truly at the helm and less than reliable in an emergency. Calling-it-in from Atlanta or somewhere is NOT going to cut it! Is radio an important source of emergency weather notification? Sure! If you are in the car and happen to know what county you are in (how often does one check/know that when traveling across country?) The reality is that people recieve auto-texting quite often now on their smart phones that put out a warning as fast as radio possibly can, and take an iphone for example, you can zoom all around to check radar from inside of your shelter. Is texting cool while driving? Of course not, but it IS being done as Missouri found it neccesary lately to address a legal age that restricts young drivers from doing exactly that. Is this more dangerous than blasting tunes and being distracted in a car? Probably not, and it is a pipe dream that people listen that much to terrestial radio anymore as satellite services grow as well as plug-in mp3/ipod players and CD's.
As to not having meteorologists on-duty on TV when emergency weather strikes overnight - you KNOW that if the chance of extreme weather is there, then so is the Met. 10/27 usually has two - one reporting and one at the computer gathering info. You have seen it on all channels in the middle of the night as have all that look to TV for their primary weather info. As far as problems with East of Springfield coverage, that is biased and untrue and is not based on any study, but is what I expect, a "feeling" that you have, rather than any hard evidence of that fact. Did you see the reports about heavy weather in West Plains early this morning when there was none in Springfield? I suspect not. What about the coverage of the Arkansas and South East Missouri ice storms that 10/27 was reporting live as well as KYTV last winter. That did not affect folks in Springfield. I do not recall what KSPR did, but I do know that KAIT TV8 in Jonesboro went wall to wall and oh, yeah... most of the radio stations were dead at the transmitter sites.
Springfield radio never mentioned rough weather in West Plains this morning, only TV.
Broadcasting is messy sometimes, as is internet postings such as you and I are regurging. But if you live in a glass house, do not throw stones without some careful thought!
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15th, 2009 10:12 pm |
|
Oh, yeah!
Live" radar means that is real time, not the time gap that exists when you use some services that have a many-minute delay.
I dare you to drive through the Bootheel and find a live voice at 2am on a Wednesday that has a rip of knowledge about weather interpretation.
Heck, I dare you to find a live, local voice!
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15th, 2009 10:40 pm |
|
Gee! KSPR at 4:30 today (Wednesday 7/15) did a live weather report in the first 30 seconds of their cast about the possiblities of severe thunderstorms over West Plains and such places as Dade County and Texas County. you could really see fine details as well as real-time interpretation from a meteorologist. Also, all Springfield stations have been running the warnings for quite a while as well as radar sweeps in the corner of the screen.
And none of the heavy weather was in Springfield, all east by southeast.
Local TV has quite arguably better coverage on Weather than radio. When radio stations spend the kinda cash and people that TV brings to the table for Weather, then you will indeed have better service for your limited listening area as well as more accurate and timely weather.
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15th, 2009 10:43 pm |
|
| Yes. I am touchy.
|
techpuppy
Member
|
Posted: Thu Jul 16th, 2009 01:53 pm |
|
Ch 10/27 was merely the latest in the clock problem. Channel 3 went through it before. (As my post indicated.)
Text messages are not as fast as radio as I have been documenting that in our area. the CLOSEST text message was two minutes after radio in our case. The tornado warning text message last Saturday night for Howell county was almost 5 minutes after our station (and other stations as well!) Quite simply for warnings issued from our station no one is faster. (And I've been checking). There are other stations that are as quick, but none of them are TV.
Since accuracy is important I did not say every radio station has trained staff for weather coverage.
At 1:30 this morning when severe weather hit northern Arkansas there wasn't a live TV report to be found.
Explain, since DTV coverage isn't as easy to receive in our area, how a portable DTV receiver will be able to pick up in a storm shelter?
You appear to have other issues with radio rather than the true facts.
Satellite radio isn't all that prevalent. Certainly not to the extent of satellite TV for what it's worth. It does come down to an issue of content. I am not a fan of most radio automation. In so many cases it is just satellite radio with commercials. There is little or no local content. On the other hand, the same can be said for TV. Other than a few newscasts or weather report no one is live there either.
Again you are trying to put all radio stations in the same category as far as weather coverage goes. That's just not reality. Many stations have training programs for weather. Perhaps you'd like to come to our next class.
The weather coverage does drop off after weather passes Springfield. This has been a pet project of mine. Not only can I give you figures and examples, I have the recordings to prove it. In our public surveys as we prepared to launch this station the number one complaint from the public was that the severe weather coverage was lacking, especially TV. Sure there are times that the TV stations spend time covering our area...generally only if there is more significant weather approaching or near Springfield. Many tornado warnings for this area have received nothing more than a crawl.
Oh, don't bring up the ice storm coverage. That was laughable. Here with a live report is our TV reporter standing in our parking lot or at the curb of the street in front of the station. Yeah, that was real quality. Ch 3 did try to do some reporting on their digital wx channel, but that failed miserably (technical reasons as mentioned before.) Fifteen people died during the ice storm of Jan. 2007. I wonder how many might have survived if useful information had been broadcast rather than pictures of the ice. To be fair radio didn't do so well with the coverage then either. But at least radio provided more updates and local information than TV.
If you would like to work to improve radio, we are a non-profit, non-commercial community radio station and volunteers are welcome!
|
jandeck1
Member
| Joined: | Sat Sep 15th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 15 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 16th, 2009 05:40 pm |
|
It is indeed arguable that text messages are slower or faster than anything that is manned such as radio and TV. I am subscribed to a www site that immediately sends warnings and watches to my phone via automation. I have read these many a time before radio can cut through their commercials (Clear Channel group and Journal group for instance) and get something on-the-air.
I surely do NOT need training in Cabool, Missouri as I have been a certified weather spotter and HAM operator for many years serving the Ozarks. DTV stations cover a heck of a lot more counties than the community station in Cabool or anywhere does. Regional coverage is best! When viewing a LIVE radar and satellite signal ("Live" term explained in a previous)one can see the weather that is moving towards their community and quickly ascertain the path. Radio is still dependant at times on a less-than-meteorologist interpreter of what is going on and many, many times is just a verbal repeat of whatever comes out on the wire. DTV does work. Try it in a shelter before dismissing it out of hand. Ask somebody if they would rather see a report from a pro rather than listen to a local radio for info when things get rough. How many live radio reports were going at 1:30am about the Arkansas situation last night. Was it indeed occuring inside the viewing area (DMA) ofSpringfield area stations? You continually fail to address the point that TV puts people, training, software, effort, and money into good weather coverage that radio stations will not and probably cannot. There will always be a difference between training given locally to a community radio station workers/volunteers and such and a trained meteorologist. Nobody in radio spends 8 hours per day examining and preparing a weather forecast. Except for the men and women that supply radio with weather that are based in other parts of the country. You failed also to address that growing ( and distressing) reality.
Radio does have its place in relaying weather information. TV is better. Radio is dependent on those at the helm 24/7 having strong specialty knowledge about weather, and TV certainly has the edge in quality information on a regional level, as well as a breathing person at the mic during bad weather rather than automation and relayed reports from out of market. It is simply the case in our times. There are exceptions, but generally it is true. There are 0 meteorologists at the radio stations. That is as clear as I can make it. Radio does its best to be reliable and accurate in their presentation of weather and that is indeed a great public service, no doubt.
I believe regional TV stations do a better job of serving the public with clear interpretation and good graphic presentation that leads to understanding, including closed-captioning that helps folks that are hard of hearing or are deaf in which radio is of no use.
I DO appreciate the opportunity to have a reasonable discussion of merits of various media and situations rather than a slap-fest that happens continually on boards across the internet. To this I tip my hat to you as a gentleman. I think that I am through deliberating this subject as the evidence/argument is becoming circular.
So, if you care to respond, you may indeed have the last word. Thanks for watching local TV, and always attempting to improve information to the public.
|
techpuppy
Member
|
Posted: Thu Jul 16th, 2009 06:56 pm |
|
Since we don't cover the same area as a full power tv station we can concentrate on what's going on in our area. More power does not a better station make or something like that.
Our training might just surprise you. Some of the people who do the training would surprise you.
The problem with most of the web based text alert systems is that they operate in a polling mode which checks for alerts every few minutes. Granted it is fast, but not as fast as an automatic text message system we use in our local area which does not work using polling. Ours is set up only for counties in our coverage area, but that's who we serve anyway.
I think you'll hear more about the DTV coverage issue in the next few months. I know of several people in this area who lost ch.10 DTV when they moved back to Ch. 10 and yes, they did rescan, and rescan, etc.
Thanks for the discussion! You're welcome to come by for a tour and see what an investment we have made in our communities. If you call first we can have a TV on in the background. :-)
|
DB
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 313 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 16th, 2009 07:08 pm |
|
I miss the Days of Fred Miller and Tom Dye. We all have a trained weather guy that the Government provides at the weather service. TV is much improved because they spend more time, One of the TV guys likes to throw 10 million dollar words out. If its ground clutter call it that or false echo not some 4 syllable word it is "DMS" to me or 90 percent. What is important is to have someone know the difference between Watch and Warning and be able to read the weather service bulliton. I love how TV stays with it but I do not have TV in the car or Basement. And when the power goes most still have radio. But I hate being 60 miles east of Springfield because you are forgot about on radio out there. Not all but most
Whether it was "Poly Chrome' or "Monet weather Radar" Fred Tom and now Don are like Walter Cronkite. That
s the way it is. period.
|
Current time is 05:04 pm | Page: 1 2   |
|
