Cut me a break will ya?
Musings From Eric: (Twice in one week for this column...who woulda thunk?)
I'm acutally writting this in response to Rob Owen's article today about local snow coverage...or the overabundance thereof.
You know, as a child (which wasn't THAT long ago) I seem to remember that if we had a "snow day" it was announced on the local radio station. (I'm thinking of one in particular, naturally.) It was pretty much a given that if we were expecting a somewhat significant snow "event" the night before, it seemed that one would just get up a little earlier and tune in to find out the situation, right? Right!
Sure, as time went on though, the TV stations began airing the closings and most radio stations sent their listeners there. There goes that public service element that seems to be going by the wayside more and more.
This year I think we've all noticed the significant increase in weather coverage on TV. A normal 2-hour morning news broadcast becomes 4.5-hour broadcast when there's just a little hint of winter weather. Why is this necessary? It's not. Ok, I can see beginning the newscast a little earlier to start getting that information around, but to pre-empt the national morning shows? Come on!
Let's think of some alternatives, shall we?
1. Split screen. Put the national morning show on one side, put coverage of the roads (through the PennDOT cameras and TV cams) on the other. Let the viewer decide for him/herself whether or not it makes sense to attempt going anywhere. Run the delays/cancellations on the bottom. (Looks no-less busy than CNN's screen!)
2. Use the :24 & :54 breaks to let the viewer know what is going on. Focus on the traffic and weather forecasts. Just leave out the basic news report - "It's snowing." Duh!
3. Pre-empt as a last resort. Use this option if there is no hope of anyone getting anywhere or if there is a significant change in the weather pattern.
Perhaps if these three suggestions don't work, why not just do a 4.5-hour newscast every day. In July you could have complete coverage of the sun rising.
Look, all I am saying is that when I was in school, the normal coverage worked just fine for me. I'm an adult now and I think I can tell whether or not its safe.
Hats off to Myron
I've often mentioned that Don Cannon and Paul Long were guests at our dinner table each night. (They never wanted to eat though...) However, when it came to one particular segment the Whistle Switch (a device which muted the sound by squeezing a flat, spheroid whistler; modern day people call it "the mute button" and have it built in) was immediately activated. The deafening silence was more obnoxious to me than what I was witnessing on the screen but I knew within a minute or two I'd hear, "This is My-ron COPE ooooooooon Spoooorts!"
Honestly, my parents (my father in particular - who owned the Whistle Switch mainly for commercials and Myron) weren't into Myron's style. However, after seeing some of the clips over the last few days, I can honestly say, "too bad." (In case you must know, I was also deprived of "The Gong Show" which was a shock to Mr. Togyer.)
Myron Cope was a huge part of our city's landscape. Undoubtedly a genuine man who quietly did good deeds for others. Unfortunately a rare thing in this business. I can't do this justice, so take a look at Jason's blog for what I believe to be one of the coolest stories ever. We should all be so lucky.
Yoi! Double Yoi! Triple Yoi! Myron, you were a good man. We'll miss you.
Readers’ Forum
Eric,
I agree with you 100%. I think a lot of people will say the same thing, but don’t mean it. Why else would the stations persist? Someone must be watching! Of course, if there’s nothing else on, what is the choice?
I believe the stations are very happy when it snows or there are tornado watches out. They have these over-extended 1 and 2 hour news slots to fill. How much inconsequential stuff can they come up with each night? Weather (or Steelers) is the answer.
I’d love to see some station have the guts (I know it won’t happen.) to go back to a 15 minute newscast like the old days. ONE person just reading the pertinent news. Don’t need any film or live reports, just a picture when necessary. 2 or 3 minutes of sports, the same with weather. Am I crazy, or what?
Mike Smalley
West Mifflin
Mike Smalley - February 29, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I know what you mean. I remember in the late 1970’s, when WOR-TV signed on in the morning out of New York (WOR was on our cable), you saw a slide filled with the flags of all the nations in the world and someone would read the news over the audio.
I remember the winters of 76/77 and 77/78 were horrible and we havem any school closings. 76/77 was really bad, IIRC, we had problems getting natural gas to flow north from the terminal in New Orleans to the frozen Northeast. We had temperatures close to 20 below and schools and business were closed due to the natural gas shortage.
I remember many a snow day hanging with friends, having hot chocolate, raiding her brothers’ collections of “Cheech and Chong” records and playing Steve Martin’s “Wild and Crazy Guy” 8-Track over and over again. That is after we listened to KDKA-AM or WDVE say our school was close and we cheered. We did our fair share of sledding but we also watched our share of cartoons and played some Atari. IIRC, we didn’t have a lot of TV news like we do now, usually we watched cartoons, “The Price is Right,” and “Love Boat” when it was on. The school closings, if you want to know, you listened to KDKA-AM or WDVE although there were other stations too.
Now that I’m 41, snow days are mainly in the past, I live 2 miles from work, I have an SUV 4×4 and work has to go on, for me to have a snow day, we need a ton of snow or heck of a lot of ice. However, I do think back to the days of listening to the radio in the wee hours hoping school will be closed and when I hear the lists today, I think back to those times.
One thing that bugs me though, I don’t like how KDKA-AM does it now, it was better when they divided the lists up by county.
Chuck Mandus - March 01, 2008 at 10:06 pm