The gathering storm: How to stop the insanity over local weather break-ins

Got a better idea? Leave it at the end of this story.

I have a solution to one of Kansas City's most vexing civic issues. It's a sore spot with a lot of taxpayers in our area, yet you're not going to hear either Mark Funkhouser or Alvin Brooks address it in their upcoming mayoral debates.

I'm referring, of course, to weather interruptions on TV.

Yesterday I told you about FireKatie.com, an amusingly vicious website that ripped KCTV-5 meteorologist Katie Horner for her marathon coverage of severe storms, her tendency to dramatize things, and her station's insistence on steamrolling network programs -- all to the unending exasperation of viewers.

But all news stations in Kansas City do this, as even the website's creator Derrick Smith conceded. Indeede, he and some friends launched FireKatie.com last week in part because they were peeved at KMBC for taking off “Lost” to air nonstop weather. I also heard from fans of NBC's “Medium” who were not happy to see Gary Lezak instead of Patricia Arquette Wednesday night, either. (Smith, whose identity I wasn't able to confirm when Tuesday's story went to press, got his phone service back late Monday. He said he's never done work for KCTV or any of its competitors.)

Beyond the annoyance factor, FireKatie.com raised the cry-wolf factor. If every single storm blowing through our area merits wall-to-wall coverage, viewers soon start tuning out all storm warnings?

The site linked to a blog posting by none other than Fox 4's Mike Thompson making this point rather emphatically, and complaining about an unnamed competitor. When I reached Thompson, he said he'd removed that posting and apologized to Horner. But he stood by his original point. “Once a viewer gets in his or her mind that you're just on there yakking, it takes a long time to convince them otherwise, once you've earned their mistrust,” said Thompson, whose station stepped lightly around “American Idol” Wednesday night. “That's why I think this yodeling on air is a big disservice. I really do.”

  When it comes to solutions, however, the guys at FireKatie.com are like a lot of viewers I've heard from over the years, long on grievance and short on remedy. FireKatie.com devotes a whole page to the Emergency Alert System, the radio-TV warning service that used to be known as the Emergency (“This is only a test”) Broadcast System.

  “People would die if all we used is EAS,” retorted Kirk Black, KCTV's general manager. “That's number one. Number two, we all have to provide a certain amount of coverage that goes beyond EAS -- to the point where a few years ago got in trouble because we didn't go far enough.” (He's referring to a station in another market that was fined for not giving closed-captioned alerts during its wall-to-wall storm coverage.)

  Now, you may say the GM doth protest too much. But other general managers in this market have -- quietly, less insistently -- made the same point. The reason local TV stations are subject to license reviews, indecency fines and other red tape that cable channels bypass is because, in the government's eyes, broadcasters serve the “public interest, convenience and necessity.”

  A more credible case could be made that we don't need to see Horner and her wavy-gravy weather screens all night long -- a simple text crawl and updates during the breaks will suffice. Except for one inconvenient truth: When local stations go wall-to-wall with storm coverage, people watch.

  At 9:30 p.m. last Wednesday, when four local stations were doing little more than showing I-35 and Southwest Boulevard under water, three out of four Kansas Citians had TVs on -- and 48 percent of them were tuned to local weather coverage (not counting the three additional options on cable).

  So if the people upset at Katie Horner and her fellow preempt-ologists are just a small if highly vocal minority, do we really have a problem here?

  The answer is yes. What other major community corporation would put up with this kind of well-organized protest from its key customer base? Sprint? Applebee's? Yellow Roadway? They'd have PR people working to smooth those ruffled feathers the next day. But all too often, I hear from viewers who turn to me because they're tired of getting the phone tree at the local affiliate, and they find the official defense of “safety first” smug and condescending.

Whether Kansas City broadcasters want to admit it or not, the virus of weather rage is now loose. But there is a cure. KMBC-9 brought out the vaccine last week.

The morning after KMBC preempted “Lost,” its schedulers were on the phone with ABC in New York. The network gave permission to reair “Lost,” and Channel 9 put it on at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. That gave the station, the newspaper and the electronic listings guides enough time to get the word out. On a weekend night, viewers without recorders could justify staying up a little later.

  Above all, it quieted the mob, which had earlier bombarded the station with hundreds of messages and, oddly enough, created an anti-KCTV website. By contrast, KSHB and KCTV simply reaired the programs as quickly as they could, which means almost no one saw them.

  Instead of adding insult to injury, all stations could follow Channel 9's lead and devise a sensible preemption plan that respects the viewers who aren't affected by severe weather.

You can't do anything about the weather, but this is a storm front broadcasters can do something about.

***

What would you do?

Got a better idea than mine for Kansas City TV stations during severe storms? Post 'em here. Note: General complaints about weather coverage should go here.

 

Comments

[Aaron]

A reader writes....

All of the local TV stations do an excellent job of covering severe weather when it hits the area. But, as the media in general is prone to do, they overkill it and irritate many viewers, including me. Here are a couple of ideas that would help to resolve this problem.

Why not have "pool reporting"? One channel would cover a storm and then the coverage would shift to another channel for the next one. Regular broadcasting would not be interrupted on the channels not covering the storm except to tell views they could turn to the other channel for coverage. Assuming we have at least four severe weather situations each season all would get their shot. I'm sure that this will never happen because it would preclude three of the four channels from telling us after each storm what a good job they and why they were so much better than the others.

A workable solution might be, and I believe this is technologically possible, is to have storm coverage on each stations standard definition channel and not on their high definition band. This way, HD viewers anyway, have a choice.

Since the stated objective of all of the stations is to inform the public and not bolster their own ratings either of the above seems like a workable solution. ( I'm also sure that neither will ever happen.)

David Daniels
Overland Park

[Aaron]

An editor on our copy desk writes ...

I e-mailed KCTV asking them to re-air Criminal Minds and CSI as soon as possible and told them that KSHB already had on its website when Deal or No Deal and Medium would reair, with a note that since Friday Night Lights was not interrupted enough, it was available on the Web.

KCTV responded to my e-mail, telling me that Criminal Minds would run at 11:37 p.m. March 1 and CSI:NY at 1:37 a.m. March 2.

I was pleasantly surprised that KCTV, one, answered my e-mail and, two, actually provided a viewer service.

[Aaron]

Another reader (who wished not to be ID'd) writes:

Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, why can't the networks use the modern technology of split screen. They could do the weather report and regular programming at the same time. Until they come up with a newer technology, it would save the jobs of Horner, Busby, and Lezak -- and make a handful of viewers happy.

Imagine the decision to pre-empt for wether during the Super Bowl, the Final Four, or the State of the Union (Heidi re-visited). Why are we making a mountain out of a mole hill?

[Tsueg]

Only in the US would people more concerned with being entertained than saving lives.

(AB: A false dichotomy that also happens to be false. What economy!)

[Nate]

Don't a couple of these channels have sister stations affiliated with the CW and MyNetwork TV they could put their network's programs on while they go with non-stop weather coverage, and that was one of the reasons they bought them in the first place? Why aren't they using them for this purpose? I know the MyNet station would probably be thankful for at least one night of great ratings thanks to the weather pre-emptions on the mothership. I could understand for the CW that night (No way anyone even contemplates pre-empting Top Model), but after 9pm, guide the viewers on KMBC who want "Lost" towards CW 29's way and go on with your coverage. What's one night of "Frasier" reruns pre-empted compared to a new "Lost" episode from ABC, and happiness and joy that you have that option available?

Also, the stations should be using their digital weather channels to cover it, and the cable companies should be putting them on the basic tier if at all possible, with appropriate compensation. They were created for the purpose of showing weather conditions and emergencies, use them that way. I don't want to see the same forecast/radar loop during severe weather.

Here in Milwaukee, we don't have that choice; all of the stations with news are owned by four different companies (CW and MNTV are Sinclair), which means we get every station with a news department suffocating us with coverage of snow, rain, whatever happens. Last week during the almost blizzard, there were cut-ins telling us 'yes, it's still snowing out there', and after 5am, non-stop coverage on every station until 1pm. The cut-ins were fine, coverage of snow within a newscast is fine. But start pre-empting sports and other programming unless the entire north side of Milwaukee and its suburbs had its power knocked out, it's just snow and an everyday inconvenience. It was a Sunday anyways, and no one except the crazy and those who HAD to be out were headed out, so there was no need to go to extremes with the coverage.

(AB: In fact, two of the four stations in town did that. Only KMBC-9 didn't simulcast on its second signal. The results were mixed: KCTV reported much higher than usual ratings, by a factor of 2 or 3 to 1, for its MyTV affil KSMO, while KMCI ratings looked no different for running KSHB's coverage. KSHB also simulcast on its NBC Weather Plus digital channel ... but digital is a luxury, as evidenced by the fact that KMBC-9 did not preempt "Lost" last Wednesday on its HD channel, and nobody, NOBODY, noticed.)

[ML]

I agree with the use of a "simple text crawl" to provide local weather coverage - as we see in Seattle stations' reporting of serious flooding events in the region. Also Detriot stations often display small weather-warning and weather event graphics in the corner of their screens. But, breaking up with the practice of breaking into regular programming is hard to do, I assume.

ML

(AB: Let us be clear on this. Until flipping between digital channels is something everybody can do, simple text crawls are not a practical solution. For text crawls to work, there must be another station everybody can switch to and see the local forecaster. Asking stations to keep their forecasters off the air is like asking federal officials not to deficit spend.)

[Joe Hass]

While I'm not from Kansas City, I mocked up what I'd do for something like this at http://snipurl.com/wthrsmpl. I picked up the FOX affiliate's logo and weather map for the purpose of layout.

To explain it a bit further: the area in the top left would have the latest warnings only (nothing else should appear here, so viewers are aware to look here first for anything dangerous). Bottom left would be the latest radar. Bottom right would scroll information, with the bar above it headlining what the scroll is about for anyone who misses the original warning (red background for warnings; yellow background for watches or advisories; any other color for other information/news). The green box in the background marks a 10% border: the fear being that you risk cutting off part of your message on an older TV.

And, yes, I'm aware that the items in and of themselves don't make sense on this individual posting. What do you want for free?

[Tsueg]

I understand the danger inherent with the "cry wolf" syndrome, but most of the people upset about this are whinging on about missing out on BEING ENTERTAINED for a few hours.

[Martha]

I have a simple solution. Why don't the networks simply run the foul weather news on the bottom of the screen in a rolling tape? Those of us who want to know about the weather will READ what is rolling by. Those of us who don't want to, can ignore it and watch our programs. It's a simple easy solution.

[Bill]

The problem in these severe weather situations is the locality. I fully understand that the people in Platte or Clay county were frustrated with the weather coverage, but those of us in the threatened counties (Linn,Miami,Bates and Cass) were relying on this information. People, we were dealing with strong ,long track tornadoes, not a little hail or windstorm. The Linn County tornado has been classified an EF4 tornado. This is stronger than the storm that took so many lives in Enterprise AL. Fortunately this storm stayed over mostly rural areas and no one was harmed. Tornadoes are unpredictable, their track can change in an instant and I for one appreciate the continuous coverage until the storm leaves our area. My family's safety is much more important than an episode of Lost, American Idol, or whatever TV show happens to be at the time.

[Ben]

Just a note of appreciation for the work Katie and her crew do in these storm situations. Yes, we have a weather radio; but it doesn't have the pin point up to date "picture" of the storm. We are in rural Johnson County, Missouri and had the tornado track just seven miles south of us (1st storm) and the second not far north of us. We're more than happy to by pass some entertainment for the secure feeling we get from this storm coverage. Thanks a bunch Katie.

[contstant watcher]

Those of you who are 'relying on this information".... ???? You live in Kansas, since when do we trust the weather people????

[kenton]

It's depressing to see people DEFENDING the constant programming interruptions by the weatherwatch team - more than warning people about disaster, this is about getting face time for the local news crew to help build "the brand" and prove the old cliche that fear sells, even when there's nothing to be scared about.

The issue we're talking about here is the same one that faced the boy who cried wolf -- look, if you were telling the truth the first time, we'd believe you, but you weren't, so take a friggin' hike!

Constant weather interruptions using scare tactics have the opposite effect of keeping people safe - they cause people to not care anymore, because "you told us to be scared last time, and nothing happened."

The solution is radio. Radio is the "everywhere" medium; it can be narrowcast over a small geographic area, it reaches people who are mobile - and actually in harm's way - and immediately warn them about the weather, highway conditions, or a even big gatecrasher sale at Target.

The second solution is for viewers to be vocal about needless programming interruptions. In my market, an unwelcome interruption during Ed Bradley's interview with Bob Dylan on 60 Minutes (oooh, some dark clouds in the sky in Hicksville County) led to so many outraged calls, they literally cut off the weatherman and put the show back on. Yay, score one for the little people.

One more beef (hey, this feels good!), re: the Emergency Broadcasting Syste. In my market, the Emergency Broadcast System only gets tested during Letterman - I swear, the station waits for the most interesting part of the show and... beep... beep... beep... blah... blah.... blah. The Emergency Broadcast System wasn't even used on 9/11; I guess they were waiting for something REALLY important to warn us about...

[Charles Burch]

Weather - I read above David Daniels comment, I agree with him, use the other channels to give the updates, make this known when major storms in the KC area happen - regular channels
would use the band at bottom of screens and tell you to turn to channel 20, etc....
I think its over done myself....

[Matt Galvin]

At least MYFOXKC kept it's regular program on and only did break ins even when American Idol programs got fixed Mike Thompson going back to American Idol. MYFOXKC even doesn't have another channel.
If KSHB Weather Plus was on Analog meaning Basic Cable then KSHB could have stayed with the regular programming on and KSHB Weather Plus could have done the coverage non stop.
Metro Weather needs to be available on Comcast and Everest too and Weatherscan needs to be on Everest and TWCKC and needs to be on Analog meaning Basic Cable on all Cable Systems here so they can do the coverage non stop.
The Cable systems in like Platte and Clay need to add St.Joesph local channels and counties to the south need to add Jolpin or Witchia local stations like at the Lake of the Ozarks Columbia/Jefferson City and Springfield local Stations,Sedalia Kansas City and Columbia/Jefferson City local stations or the Kansas City locations need to 2 feeds one for national feed of their channel and one for the local feed. The local feed is only used for areas that are undera Tornado Watch box and theirs Tornado's out their to follow and national feed is for area's in the viewering area that are not under any Tornado Warnings or Watch box.

[Dave]

Mr. Barnhart,
A question related to your story.
A few months back - and sadly I can't remember the title of the movie or the date - On a Sunday evening there was a CBS Hallmark Hall Of Fame movie in which KCTV didn't show the last 30 minutes to show weather maps of a RAINSTORM (not tornadoes, not high winds, simply "IT'S RAINING!". (all other stations in town to my knowledge showed a weather icon)
They - KCTV5 - got MANY complaints - and showed the last 30 minutes of the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie after David Letterman on Monday night.
Why couldn't they do this with "JERICHO"? I don't watch Jericho and don't actually have a "dog in this hunt" but... if I read your story correctly CBS would not ALLOW KCTV5 to show Jericho since they had show 10 minutes of it - why didn't this apply to the Hallmark Movie when they showed 90 minutes of it?

BTW - I'll take 4 hours of Katie Horner ANY time given the choice of watching Gary Lezak chat with his pals on a cell phone while he foams at the mouth...

[Mack Tilton]

Aaron, a tip of the hat for engaging the TV weather debate. I’ve been frustrated by the TV weather for a long time, but not because of wall to wall interruptions. Please let me vent a few peeves. 1. They spend way too much time every day on local news showing off their newest technology. We need more local news on our local news programs. 2. Being on the news, they should act like reporters and stop giving opinions like “it’s not TOO bad today.” 3. Stop comparing the temperature to “normal”. We know an average is a number, but normal implies a statistical range. If the average temperature is 42 and today it’s 43, is that abnormal? 4. Compare rainfall to some kind of moving average, like within the last 30 days, to give a consistent comparison, not “so far this month” which means nothing until the end of the month.

Maybe Katie could report on something really important, like what was the weather like at Anna Nicole’s funeral.

[Aaron]

Hah.

Dave, to answer your question, I thought it was capricious of CBS to turn this down especially since it is a CBS product (here's the proof:)
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=chart_tv_prod&network=CBS

I hadn't thought about the Hallmark pre-emption until now. I'll email Kirk Black and see if I can get an answer.

But certainly part of the solution I've pitched in the paper today would require less of a Keystone Kops approach to rescheduling preempted programs. What struck me about Channel 9's rescheduling of Lost, and I don't know if it was by accident or intent, was how sanely it was carried out.

[Cliff]

You know, in the 50 years that I've been watching television, I don't recall a single instance where a station broke into a commercial for a breaking weather or news situation, or even ran a text crawl during those commercials. Surely, something that urgent would justify doing just that. But no, commercials run without interruption and then the station breaks into programming with their coverage. Yet the opposite is definitely the case: Programming is overlaid constantly with promo popups and other visual flotsam.
(Am I wrong in my recollection? Can anyone refute this?)
Perhaps if broadcasters respected their viewers, and let their shows run uninterrupted (at least between commercial breaks), then their viewers would have more respect for the need to interrupt occasionally for emergencies.

So why pick on Katie. At least she tries to give a professional weather report and doesn't act like it is a secret, a mystery, or a surprise. She does NOT subject us to endless pictures of children, pets, sunsets, and the Plaza.
She does not try to be a TV personality and does what her news director tells her to do no matter how late she has to stay up or on her feet. She and Brian Busby are CLEARLY the two most professional broadcasters we have in this city. I appreciate them both. Where can we get FireGary.com started?

[altheasus]

Something to think about with radio is that most homes don't have a radio anymore, especially not a battery operated one. Even radio isn't terribly reliable anymore because of the megacorporations that run most radio channels. Corporate headquarters in Seattle doesn't care if its storming in Kansas City, they stick to the playlist.

Be happy that you don't have Sunflower cable (Douglas and parts of Leavenworth counties). They interupt ALL programming for severe weather alerts and Amber alerts, including alerts that don't affect their viewing area.

[teddy]

You are so right! One thing is to post the "breaking weather" news using crawls and only interupt regular broadcasting for immediate danger events. Once someone is warned, they are warned. Another thing would be to use "doppler broadcasting"! The stations could use the same "doppler system" to broadcast only to those areas being immediately effected, thus sparring the rest of the area, 50 - 100 miles away the constant barrage.

[Aaron]

I find it odd that somebody in one breath complains about an unfeeling, uncaring, out of town media megacorporation that would rather "stick to the playlist" than interrupt a broadcast ....

... and in the very next breath gripe about Sunflower Cablevision, a LOCALLY owned, LOCALLY operated, COMMUNITY minded operator that interrupts programming for severe weather.

[Aaron]

To answer the Hallmark-Jericho question, KCTV g.m. Kirk Black informs me it was almost certainly a studio issue -- even though the studio in question is wholly owned by CBS. "Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no!" said Black.

[ML]

Re: "Something to think about with radio is that most homes don't have a radio anymore, especially not a battery operated one."

Is this really the case? Surely you're not serious.