I’ve met most of the TV weather reporters in this market. I use that generic term, because not all of them are meteorologists. Every one of them is a nice human, and they’re good on the air. Since I haven’t charted their forecasts, I can’t make a fair assessment of their accuracy.
They all seem to have similar toys: radar, cameras placed around town for live looks outside and wiz-bang graphic packages to dress up their presentations. Since TV managers seem to think the weather report is the most important part of a newscast, I guess it just comes down to who you like best to watch.
The old sportscaster in me still gets confused sometimes about why the weather report gets so much attention and so much money thrown at it. It seems to me that you can say what needs to be said in thirty seconds or less: Today, it was hot. Tomorrow, it won’t be quite as hot, but the sun will be out most of the day. So, don’t expect rain. The weather people really earn their paychecks when the conditions are severe: extreme heat, extreme cold, thunderstorms, ice, that kind of thing. That’s why they’re there. I don’t begrudge them that, at all. Their presentations are absolutely essential to the success of local newscasts. I just wish there was more flexibility there. Give them the keys to the newscast when they’re necessary. When it’s a normal, routine day, let them get out of the way and let’s show some highlights or give two or three reporters another 45 second apiece to tell more of their stories.
I know that’s a fight I can’t win. So, I will endure superfluous information about some upper level trough or the jet stream and just live with it. That’s the way things are, and there are better fights out there.
There is one thing, though, I just have to vent about. Go ahead, tell me if it’s going to rain, then tell me why it’s going to rain, then repeat later that it’s going to rain, then come back at the end of the newscast to tell me yet again it’s going to rain. Once you’ve done that, though, be done with it. You’re a weatherman. You’re not my daddy. Give me the information and let me decide how to dress my kids or dress myself or whether or not to turn the air conditioner on. Jiminy Christmas, these guys saying, “You better grab the umbrella today,” Or, “be sure to dress the kids warm for the bus stop…” That’s just intrusive. It’s really insulting, like we the simple-minded viewers can’t think for ourselves and the weatherman has to instruct us.
Please, really…guys, just draw your isobars and talk to me about equal lines of pressure and how the ridge of high pressure is locking in over the area creating clear skies and cool temperatures and let me decide if I want to wear a sweater.
Good night and good luck.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Give Me the Forecast, Save the Advice
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1 comment:
Two Points:
1: I read some research that said it's the weather report that drives viewers to newscasts. More than any other element of the news. And the newscaster him/herself is the single element that determines the desirability of the weather report. So trying to snatch some time away from the weather guy is indeed kicking against the pricks.
2: On advice. That's another tough one. We love telling people what to do too much to give it up. News people included. Think about how many stories we do when the weather gets bad and we find 1,000 ways of saying, "if you're on the roads, slow down, and if you don't have to go out tonight, stay inside." I only worked at KTAL for 14 months, and I bed I said that on the air at least a dozen times.
My favorite was the story I had to do about an unexpected snowfall and overnight freeze. I interviewed all these people who basically said the same thing, "slow down." Of course, I was on a crazy deadline, so I had to drive insane speeds on the frozen Texarkana streets to turn the story.
Oh well.
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