This time, weather cut-ins warranted

For all those folks who complain when local stations interrupt regular programming because of severe weather elsewhere in the viewing area, tonight's storms were for you. Anyone in the City of Pittsburgh or nearby suburbs definitely felt the storm's fury and could not question the need for stations to go live with weather reports.

At 7 p.m., WPXI was the only station live on the air with Julie Bologna covering the tornado warning, using the zoom feature on radar to show exactly where the storm was heading.

Bologna was soon joined by KDKA's Jon Burnett and WTAE's Erin Kienzle.

And that was about as much as I saw of TV coverage because my power went out. I bought a rechargeable digital TV for just such eventualities but I had to return it last weekend when its database refused to remember any channels, forcing me to do a two-minute auto-scan every time I turned the TV on. Maybe I'll have a replacement on hand by the next big storm.

7:25 p.m.: Power back on. WPXI reporting the National Weather Service says a tornado touched down in SE Allegheny County.

KD's Burnett warns viewers to go to the basement.

WTAE interviews someone by phone about flooding and the dangers of driving through flooded intersections. Oh, turns out its Jon Greiner. Didn't recognize his voice. Intern Adam helps Kienzle with flood warning details.

7:40 p.m.: WTAE catches up with tornado report. Someone new has shown up at WTAE and seems to be trying to commandeer coverage. Can't tell whose voice it is but he's a buttinski. I think it's Mike Clark, but they're not showing any of the anchors. He backed off after his first rush upon getting on the air.

7:50 p.m.: KD's Burnett searches his radar for Bessemer Junction, where the tornado was sighted. Calls it a "confirmed report" for a tornado on the ground.

7:55 p.m.: KDKA shows a viewer photo of a funnel cloud. WTAE reports flash flood warning in Westmoreland County as weather alarms go off in the background.

These storms better get out of here by 9 p.m. or the kid from CalU who's on ABC's "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" (9 p.m.) isn't going to get to see himself on TV. (Just like I'm missing a graduation party. Sorry, Ellen!)

8:05 p.m.: Best on-screen tip from WTAE: "Do not use your car to try to outrun a tornado." Reminds me of Airtoons but we know from experience that people are stupid enough to do something like that. And not just in bad movies.

8:25 p.m.: WPXI is showing some amazing pictures of submerged vehicles. Glad I turned around and came home after attempting to drive to a friend's house tonight.

9 p.m.: Sorry Justin Brown, your dream of reality show stardom locally will have to wait until next week. Channel 4 is sticking with weather, pre-empting "Japanese Game Show."

9:08 p.m.: As much as I have a love-hate relationship with Twitter (mostly I love to hate it, even though I use it), it has been useful tonight in a breaking news situation to see folks like Jim Lokay and Dave Trygar posting update tweets. (Mostly the tweets came from folks who were not on the air; the on the air folks were a little busy). If you're interested in seeing their updates, I'm linked to them via RobOwenTV on Twitter. I'm interested to find other local newsies who tweet for future events like this, so send them my way.

9:30 p.m.: OK, now viewers are going to feel like TV is going overboard, especially since it's no longer raining in Pittsburgh proper. There are still severe weather issues south of the city and another storm coming from the west. Still, it might make sense to cool it for a while until that storm gets here. Not a lot to be said right now -- but that won't stop the local anchors from saying it anyway. I'm done.

UPDATE: Turns out there was no tornado (H/T D.I.) Normally I'd be critical of local TV for blowing a report like that but not in this case. Yes, it's good to nail down the facts before reporting something but when it's a potentially dangerous situation, better to be safe (and wrong) than sorry (or overly cautious in issuing a dire warning).

Posted Jun 17 2009, 07:06 PM by Rob Owen
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Comments

pittsburgh weather | Latest Information wrote pittsburgh weather | Latest Information
on Wed, Jun 17 2009 9:43 PM

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wpxi weather | Latest Information wrote wpxi weather | Latest Information
on Wed, Jun 17 2009 9:54 PM

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cbr4 wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 9:19 AM

Let's see if I have this right: "public interest, convenience and necessity."

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show" or local storm warnings?  Hmmm.  Could I pick graduation party instead?

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 9:26 AM

cbr4, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. I didn't say WTAE should have aired the reality show with the local guy on it, I simply pointed out they did not.

I didn't feel like the stations were starting to really drone on pointlessly until about 9:30, which I also noted. This morning I've heard from a few viewers who definitely were fed up long before then.

As I've stated time and again on the issue of weather pre-emptions, local stations will never be able to satisfy everyone when their area of coverage is as large (and as prone to different weather in different places) as the Pittsburgh DMA.

serk78 wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 9:48 AM

The droning came eariler than 9:30. One reporter (to remain nameless) said "Wow... look at those puddles". It was obvoius that after the 1st storm was through, there was nothing else NEW to talk about, but that didn't stop our tv stations. They sounded, at some points, that they were hoping for the next round to come just so they would have something to talk about. We would have been fine with "break in" coverage if something bad was going to happen... but from 7pm until 11:30pm was plain overkill. I left my house at 10, took a stroll to the local pub, then came back to the same news on the tv. Overkill... plain and simple.

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:05 AM

TV stations always start breaking news coverage with the best of intentions and last night was no exception. They were on top of things out of the gate.

(Although I was never quite sure what the benefit was of having Julie Bologna rattle off a list of communities where the storm was headed. We can see the maps, we know where our town is, you're telling us the direction of the storm, why name every town in its path, except maybe to fill time?)

The problem comes later in coverage when stations refuse to relinquish their death grip on the airwaves. They live in fear of being the first one to bail. It took KDKA years to live down when it bailed on coverage of the Wilkinsburg shootings. Of course, there's also the argument that as long as any single person in the viewing area could be in danger from severe weather, stations should stay on the air. But that's an argument that clearly doesn't fly with viewers when they only see puddles outside their front door.

SandyS wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:09 AM

All three networks had ad nauseam coverage of the weather yesterday. It was totally unnecessary to blanket the airwaves with the same information hour after hour. A banner along the bottom of of the screen has been sufficient for decades. Why is it now necessary to inundate us with "live coverage" (whoopie!) for eight hours? They did nearly the same thing every time it snowed a couple of inches this past winter. Enough!

I think KDKA wanted to show off their brand "on air" new weather center. I was so not impressed.

Thank goodness for cable/satellite! After 5-10 minutes of hearing the same thing over and over again, most everyone I know just turns to alternative programing. "So You Think You Can Dance" probably got a lot of new viewers last night!

If you call and complain (ie I called to complain because 11 was continually removing Judge Judy so they could get in an additional hour of weather/news coverage last winter), they say, "The other channels are doing it, too...wah." Jeez..talk about herd mentality.

This weather "blab"casting (my term for "crying wolf" nearly every time it rains/snows) further desensitizes us so that we turn the channel before even hearing that earth shattering "breaking news".  

The "droning on pointlessly" started around 4:30.

I'm fed up with most newsreaders and bogus weather blabcasting. True veteran news journalists are scarce in Pittsburgh. Most of the newsreaders mispronounce words on a daily basis. The misuse of past and present tense (that started about 10 years ago) is idiotic....even the newsreaders seem to have a problem with it. At least, Julie B finally got rid of that lisp. Why is it that people with obvious speech impediments seem to major in "communications" and gravitate to TV and radio? Mystifies me no end.

Okay, I'm done.

Piltdownman wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:15 AM

Every time something like this happens, I have the same reaction;  where is the actual news coverage out there in our communities during the actual event?  That is the one thing local news should provide, yet they do a horrible job of it.  Last night we sat and watched radar images endlessly (which we could have done on our computers at home) and listened to anchors and weather folks blather on and on, usually with little actual information to back up their assumptions.  If these stations want to remain relevant, they are going to have to find a way to actually do "live, late breaking news," not just talk about it....

Clearly the stations have cut back their staffs in the past couple of years, but considering that almost every human being now has a digital camera or a video camera, you'd think they could find some way of tapping into that....but they rarely do.

kmh wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:34 AM

The only weather cut-ins that were warranted were the National Weather Service emergency break-ins when the tornado warnings were issued.  I was watching TNT, received the NWS warning, switched to the Weather Channel (yes that is a station completely devoted to weather), listened to Dr. Greg Forbes tell us where the severe weather was in Pittsburgh, then switched back to TNT when I saw it wasn't my area.  All that took about 3 minutes.  If the severe weather was in my area I would have gone to the basement and switched the TV off.  So no, it was not necessary for the local stations to continuously show the current radar.  We would have been perfectly fine if they would have just scrolled the warning at the bottom of the screen.  As always if I need more information, I can always look it up on my computer which usually has more information than any "live" coverage.  

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:48 AM

Piltdownman, TV stations can't go live from the field during a thunderstorm because of lightning. I don't think you want to ask them to risk the lives of their personnel. This has nothing to do with cutbacks and everything to do with safety. And stations are getting video on the air faster today than in the past because they now solicit it more regularly from viewers.

Piltdownman wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 11:19 AM

Rob -

Agreed that using traditional trucks with antenna masks may not work, but what about audio from the field?  I'd much rather hear an eyewitness report from Forest Hills or Shadyside by a reporter than listen to anchors pontificate.  And there have to be other "solutions" available these days, such as IP, which can allow them to better serve us as viewers...

And you don't think cutbacks aren't effecting what you see?  Please....

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 11:30 AM

Of course cutbacks are affecting what we see in local news but not necessarily in this particular instance and not when you're complaining about lack of video in a thunderstorm.

Stations did not use eyewitness accounts by phone as much in the early going last night but they did use them. TAE had Jon Greiner on the phone, as I mentioned in the blog, and I know I heard other voices call in, too.

sside67 wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 12:32 PM

I think that prior to 9pm there was considerable droning on pointlessly - but it was fun to mock them, as I flipped channels.  It was interesting to watch for just the predictability of the coverage on each station.

As a viewer with High Def - I can say KDKA was left out in the cold with a lousy non-hd broadcast - which is unfortunate because they had the better coverage, I think, although since the picture was so inferior to the other two in HD, I didn't watch much.

WPXI - How many times would Julie Bologna just go to the map and start reading town names.  Then when she got done with town names, zoom in further and read street names.  It went on and on - and it wasn't just naming trouble spots, just wherever they centered the map.  There's Irwin, Murraysville, etc. etc. Sewickley, Ambridge, (we get it, we can read too.)

WTAE - Their coverage was a little better than WPXI in that they didn't constantly read town names off the map.  However, when they had the map up, it was almost nauseating the way they would zoom in, zoom out, recenter the map somewhere else, zoom in, zoom out, recenter the map somewhere else, zoom in.. etc.  Often the audio had nothing to do with the map, but visually it became very monotonous, and not at all helpful in understanding the storm, etc.

One of my favorite things early in some of the broadcast, was one of the news guys (WTAE?) at his lap top, and then the cameraman would zoom in on the picture he pulled up from his email. I didn't realize that watching a person check their email was supposed to be good TV.  (it wasn't)

Eventually they got the pictures to us direct.

An interesting hour or so, though..

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 12:38 PM

WPXI did the weird zoom in to  laptop thing. I scratched my head at that one too.

i<3terzaghi wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 1:36 PM

So what's the likelihood of Channel 11 developing a special edition photo montage complete with blindly patriotic country music overtures this time next year?

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 1:40 PM

LOL, I think it's entirely likely that any of the stations could cook up such a thing.

You know editors are hard at work right now making boastful promos about how "we were there when it counted most with Severe-Accu-Storm Team Weather Coverage you turned to in your hour of need" blah blah blah.

shawnpwilson wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 1:45 PM

I think extened news coverage of hazardous weather conditions is very important and I hope they keep it up.

wmpgh wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 9:33 PM

The only thing worse than having all 3 local channels consider this mindless self-indulgence "news" is having a media "critic" who congratulates them for it.

William McCloskey

Regent Square

ScottWV wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Thu, Jun 18 2009 10:33 PM

Well, I didn't see any of this because the Pittsburgh stations pay little attention to tornado warnings here in Morgantown, even though we're in your DMA. Luckily, a station in nearby Clarksburg has good weather coverage and understands that running feeds supplemented by occasional live break-ins when conditions change is more than adequate for most situations.

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Fri, Jun 19 2009 10:39 AM

ScottWV, although folks like WMPGH would have you fend for yourself and prefer stations not cover what happens outside their own personal universe, Pittsburgh stations did in fact cover the tornado warning in Morgantown.

egk24 wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Fri, Jun 19 2009 10:57 AM

After nine pm it became rather boring.  I stopped watching wendy bell after she said  WOW LOOK AT THAT for the tenth time, and finally is there any weather person or news anchor who know how to pronounce the word  COUNTY. It has a  Y at the end not two Es

wmpgh wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Fri, Jun 19 2009 4:27 PM

Rob ... Nobody disputes that local stations provide a service by reporting dangerous weather conditions. They could do this by breaking in for brief, frequent reports and updates of useful information. What is ridiculous is the 3-hour orgies of self-congratulatory, end-of-the-world reporting. Hey, it was a bad storm. They happen here -- several times a year.

William McCloskey

Regent Square

Rob Owen wrote re: This time, weather cut-ins warranted
on Fri, Jun 19 2009 6:04 PM

I agree that self-congratulatory news cut-ins are worthless and have complained about them in the past. That's not what I saw while watching until 9-ish on Wed. There was still a tornado warning in parts of the viewing area and therefore a need to show the potential path of that storm on the radar, something you can't do in a crawl. Once the tornado threat was done, I agree, it was time to go back to regular programming and rely on crawls.