Last night was not a good night for weather coverage from Springfield TV stations.
The absolute worst was WeatherPlus on 3-3. The crawl failed to mention the first Texas county tornado warning at all. Then for the rest of the evening all of the national feeds were obscured by the dippy music usually played during local radar and conditions. Does anyone at KY3 ever monitor this channel? It seems to me that a continuous display of the radar would serve more purpose.
Of course since the storms were past Springfield the coverage was not all that comprehensive. I love it when storms "will move over predominantly rural areas." In other words if you live there getting information about tornadoes approaching really isn't all that important.
Channel 33 did the best overall and added the twist of online streaming of coverage. The only problem with that is that in our area most people don't even have access to quality dial-up, let alone high speed internet.
I've mentioned this before, perhaps someone in the know can inform me. Is it feasible for stations to add a digital channel when severe weather develops for coverage of the storms while still allowing those not affected to watch regular programming? I know channel 21 adds a fourth channel occasionally for special programming. Is it complicated?
It shouldn't be. One of the advantages of digital broadcasting is the ability for stations to multiplex. But as you indicated at KY3, unless you monitor your sub-channels (especially for emergency weather info) this ability is lost in the ether. Yes, it does cost extra for the additional equipment to multiplex, but the community service (I'm guessing) would outweigh that costs. Stations are allowed to sell advertising on the sub-channels.
