The following conversation recently took place over a cup of coffee:
Jim: “Downing, why do you guys keep cutting into my favorite TV shows for those weather bulletins. I hate it when you guys do that. Usually, you’re talking about a storm that’s dozens of miles away and no threat to Abilene. You always do it in my favorite show. They just stay on the air incessantly, like there’s some kind of contest to see who can stay on longer. When they do go back to the program, it usually is just about the time the commercial plays or the show ends.”
Downing: Yes, I know how you feel. We get lots of calls when that happens and they are not friendly callers. They are mad.
Jim: And, they always seem to drone on and on, repeating the same old information. Give me a break!
Downing: I hear you! You know, we’ve been trying for years to come up with a better way to warn you when bad weather is coming. We’ve put crawls across the bottom of the screen – viewers complain. We’ve tried to put a miniature radar screen in the corner and viewers complain. We just can’t seem to do anything right. Do you have any ideas?
Jim: Well, the least you could do is wait until the commercials to interrupt. – unless it was a real emergency.
Downing: Wait a minute? Are you inferring that we break in when there isn’t an emergency? Oh, I’ll admit it looks like that sometimes, but severe weather is very unpredictable. Commercial breaks in TV shows happen about every eight minutes. Are you saying that we should wait eight minutes before informing the public about an approaching tornado?
Jim: No, if there is a tornado coming, you should break-in immediately. I just think you guys overkill the situation because you tell us a tornado is forming, but it never materializes. I just resent you guys acting like every storm is the “storm of the century”.
Downing: So, you only want to be told about tornadoes, right? What about thunderstorms?
Jim: We have thunderstorms all the time and they almost always just bring rain and cause street flooding.
Downing: But that flooding is the leading cause of weather-related fatalities. And those thunderstorms can pack a real punch; lightning, hail, high winds…
Jim: You got a comeback for everything, don’t you?
Downing: Not really, I just want you to understand that we have tried lots of things to keep our viewers safe. You know, we’ve got about 16 counties to cover and just because it isn’t threatening you doesn’t mean it isn’t affecting someone else. You know, we now have something we never had in weather forecasting: advance warning. We have the technology to let you know about ten minutes before a tornado is going to hit you. But that doesn’t do any good if we sit on the information. It would be like seeing a truck barreling down on you and saying nothing to warn you. It puts the forecaster in the position of playing God. “Do I break into programming and warn them or take a gamble that nothing will happen?” If anything is coming, I want to know about it as soon as possible.
Jim: So what you’re saying is I can expect you guys to do it the same old way, right? Fine, I’ll just change channels. There are plenty of other choices out there, you know?
Downing: You’re right, there are. Which of them are going to break-in and tell you about the grapefruit-size hail about to demolish your car?
Jim: I just want you guys to be more responsible in your broadcasting. Don’t break-in unless you absolutely have to and when you do, get on and get off so my favorite show won’t be interrupted. If you don’t, people are going to stop watching you.
Downing: Until the skies cloud up and raindrops start falling. Remember, Noah tried to warn his neighbors… You know, if the cut-ins are THAT disruptive, maybe we should have a city-wide referendum about whether to break into programs. Let the people decide?
Jim: I could live with that!
Downing: Are you sure? Are you REALLY sure?
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Break in if there is a tornado warning. Break in if there is a meso-cyclone or however you say it forming. Break in VERY SHORTLY if there is grapefruit sized hail 5 minutes or less from Brownwood. There is no need to go check out the storm near Sweetwater with lots of rain and lightning (and potential for something) on the same break in.
ReplyDeleteDo NOT break in for any watches. Do not break in for sever thunderstorm warnings very often. Do not break in to talk to the reporter who is on the telephone in the van over on Treadaway street and wants to tell us the rain is really coming down. Do NOT break in to talk to a reporter on the phone who is west of Albany who says it was raining really hard and looked really dark about 10 minutes ago. Do NOT break in when there is alot of thunder over Abilene and people might be scared. Run a crawl.
You people need to realize that KRBC is required to cover weather for other counties than Taylor and other towns than Abilene. Get over it. Severe weather is a part of life here in West Texas.
ReplyDeleteThe people who complain about you guys cutting into the programs are the ones who will end up with whining when the big hail dents their car or the wind blows a shingle of the roof. Keep doing what your doing, you are doing your job and we appreciate it!
ReplyDeletejust live with it
ReplyDeletewhat's more important you seeing your favorite t.v show or saving someones life you decide
ReplyDeletehey i like comment five thats a good point
ReplyDeleteand who ever complains will never be happy if a tornado was heading right for their house and didn't get notification because they prevented them from breaking in
its a part of life in west texas just live with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
when a storm cmes knoking on yuor door that has hail woudn't you want to know about it before hand just because you live in knox county or somewhere away from the storm it doesn't mean that it couldn't be moving your way say like you live in coleman and there is a severe t-storm warning issued for kent county its not like they can just breakin to coverage in that area
ReplyDelete