Gameshows and weather interuptions

[Shredder]

Anyone here ever work in the TV News buis?

Who makes the call to interupt a show, wether it be new or old, for a breif weather forcast?

Here in NY, I was re-taping the episode of FF that we attended because the original broadcast had bad reception.  Not only did they interupt it with a 'special' news report about the snow, but they also ran a long crawl on the top for about a minute or two covering the top of the screen.

And all this for...gasp....Two inches of snow.  Barley.  Just now, they interupted Price for a breif weather update letting us know that we where getting rain next.  That couldn't have waited 30 minutes for the news?

Sometimes I wish I was in charge of the TV industry to fix these minor annoyances

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Shredder\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 09:33 AM\']Anyone here ever work in the TV News buis?

Who makes the call to interupt a show, wether it be new or old, for a breif weather forcast?
[/quote]
If it's during the day, it would probably be a joint call between the program director and the news director. If it's at night after the PD has already gone home, usually the news director is trusted to make that call.

And, usually, said call is made by weighing how important the ND feels the information is vs. the number of viewers they might piss off by interrupting what they might be watching. Chances are they wouldn't cut into Seinfeld or Friends unless it were a major storm and the National Weather Service was telling people to stay inside or some such.

Obviously, they didn't feel enough people were watching Feud for it to be a big deal. They were probably right.

And I have zero sympathy for your whining about the crawl. The television station does not exist to provide you pristine copies for your little tape collection.

[SplitSecond]

In some markets in Tornado Alley, it's not uncommon for the weatherperson on call to be given the latitude to make the call himself or herself.

And during these times of severe, life-threatening weather, it's also not uncommon for the rest of the newsroom to be setting up a pool for how many angry viewers will call and rant about the station having the audacity to interrupt "Days of Our Lives" or "Cold Case" or their favorite stick blender infomercial or whatever.

[DrBear]

House rule: Most of the TV folks I know will overemphasize the possible problems a storm may cause rather than underemphasize it. If they overemphasize, a few folks grumble cuz they didn't see Bob telling us to spay and neuter everything in sight. If they underemph., somebody gets killed and the TV station is under fire for taking it too lightly, and there could even be lawsuits.

[tvrandywest]

Believe it or not, factors such as the time of day and whether it's a sweeps ratings period often enter the decision. If it's around the time of a local newscast and the "weatherguy" is dressed, visually it makes for a more compelling bulletin than a simple voice-over and slide. If it's shortly before a local cast, a break into programming is more likely as it creates a great promotional opportunity for the news broadcast.

And as viewers in some markets know, even a teaspoon of rain can motivate an elaborate "StormWatch" report if it's a sweeps week. Sometimes the actual severity of the weather is among the criteria! (joke). When weather poses a serious threat, in some areas of the country the new incarnation of the Emergency Broadcast System is activated by local authorities.

For the better or worse, broadcasting has become far more about business, viewership, ratings, stockholders' value and spot rates than "serving the public interest, necessity and convenience". Such quaint language in that Communications Act of 1934!


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[SRIV94]

I was snowed out this morning, so I had an unexpected day off.  So I watched TPiR.  WBBM in Chicago managed to do a snow advisory bulletin that didn't interrupt any programming--a split screen of TPiR and the radar (whatever trademark name they're using) with a crawl underneath.  So it can be done (and rather effectively).

Of course, this wasn't a weather bulletin, but we've seen examples of bad interrupting, too--especially if you were watching CSI: NEW YORK the night of November 10, 2004 (the night the head of the PLO left).

Doug

[Ian Wallis]

And I have zero sympathy for your whining about the crawl. The television station does not exist to provide you pristine copies for your little tape collection.

We had a weather crawl here the night "A Charlie Brown Christmas" aired on ABC, concerning Lake Effect Snow.  I was thinking about recording it this year but decided against it at the last moment.  (Good thing!)  Besides, it's available on home video anyway!

On another note, this morning on WTSS radio, they were talking about what school kids do during a snow day.  The DJ had stated that during the '70s and '80s there were wall-to-wall game shows, but it's not the case anymore.  He and the traffic guy were mentioning all the shows they used to watch back then - "PYL", "Match Game", "Card Sharks", etc, while the "Pyramid" theme from the GSN CD played in the background.  Then the DJ started talking about all the celebrity shows and the stars who appeared on them.  He mentioned a show with Nipsey Russell "where he read all those poems", but couldn't recall the name of it.  People called in and guessed "TTTT", "Match Game", "Pyramid" and even "Squares", but he stated those weren't it.  He mentioned all the celebrities sat in a row and there were as many as eight of them.  I'm thinking it was "Rhyme and Reason" he was talking about, but didn't have time to call in as I was on my way to work at that time.

I found the whole thing quite interesting!

[Shredder]

And I have zero sympathy for your whining about the crawl. The television station does not exist to provide you pristine copies for your little tape collection.
>>>>

That was a bit uncalled for.  Who said I was whining?  I can live with a weather crawl on my tape.  I was just annoyed at the fact that this was a bigger weather crawl than usual, covering the top of the screen, and about 3/4 of the contestants heads with a big red background that had the fox logo.  Usually it's just a small text scrawl at the bottom.

>>>And as viewers in some markets know, even a teaspoon of rain can motivate an elaborate "StormWatch" report if it's a sweeps week>>

I don't mind if it's weather interuptions for a big storm.  9 inches of snow, 1 foot of snow.  That's understandable and helpfull.  But for barley 2 inches, when most of that is now slush?  That seems a bit unneccesary.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'Shredder\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 02:37 PM\']That was a bit uncalled for.  Who said I was whining?  I can live with a weather crawl on my tape.  I was just annoyed at the fact that this was a bigger weather crawl than usual, covering the top of the screen, and about 3/4 of the contestants heads with a big red background that had the fox logo.  Usually it's just a small text scrawl at the bottom.
[/quote]
Whining, annoyed. Same thing.  Does it really interrupt your viewing pleasure that much?  Of course; we've been around this block time and time again...and people can't seem to get it into their heads that there's MORE TO LIFE THAN GAME SHOWS.

Sometimes I wish I was in charge of the TV industry to fix these minor annoyances

Grand. How exactly would you do things better?

[Jimmy Owen]

Going back to Ian's post, I think in every radio disc jockey (air personality, if you will), there is a game-show host fighting to get out.   Regarding the tape problem, if it were me, I'd contact the TV station to see if they would run you a dub, and failing that, contact Fremantle.

[Shredder]

Grand. How exactly would you do things better? >>>

Dunno if it's better, but this is how I would run things .

 Let people pic kand choose the channels they want on their cable lineup rather than have the cable companies do so.  Make every channel a pay channel, say 5$'s per channel, wich would in my dreams, replace some of the money the commercials bring in.  Hopefully this would make the commercials less important to the channels.


Next, Schedule interuptions better.  If it's a short news break, like a breif weather report, do it during the commercials, as the stations money now wouldn't be coming directly from them.  If it's a big special news report, like say, the Martha Stewart Trial, run a scroll at the bottom of the report every ten minutes letting people who don't care about the trial know when their favorite show is going to be rerun.  IF th e news and weather can break in to shows, the shows should be able to do the same with the news..

 And if a news report is going to be that long, I'd make sure that it's somehow scheduled so it dosn't run in to other shows once it's over.  For instance, instead of running from 4-5:45, let it run f rom 4-6.  
Any interupted s hows would run during a late night slot, or put on the next day..

Dunno if that would destroy the cable industry if things where setup  that way, but that's how I would run things...

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Shredder\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 02:37 PM\']
That was a bit uncalled for.  Who said I was whining?  I can live with a weather crawl on my tape.  I was just annoyed at the fact that this was a bigger weather crawl than usual, covering the top of the screen, and about 3/4 of the contestants heads with a big red background that had the fox logo.  Usually it's just a small text scrawl at the bottom.

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[/quote]

I say you're whining. If anyone here has that right, it's me.

Your friendly neighborhood weatherman.

Here's the deal. If your area is under any sort of advisory that I judge may be hazardous to your health, I get the right to interrupt your entertainment program. Because a local TV station, while lovely to be a major form of entertainment, has a higher priority to "PROVIDE A PUBLIC SERVICE". And that means to provide it in terms of keeping the public safe.

Not everyone watches a television station non stop. That is why we run a crawl stating wx information throughout the period that the National Weather Service decides may be threatening. If you're stating fact that today it was over 2 inches of snow, then you were likely under a "Winter Weather Advisory". If however, ANY part of that stations viewing area is under a "Winter Storm Warning" or even a "Winter Storm Watch", it means the conditions are favorable for a winter storm.... yada yada yada, it means that a viewer life is potentially at risk. Likely? No. Potentially? Yes.

And as a degreed meteorologist with two seals of approval, ten years of experience, and years of coursework behind me, if I tell the powers that be at my station that the viewers are at risk by a Winter Storm, Tornado, Thunderstorm, or even Heat, I get to interrupt the Feud, either by crawl, or by builletin.

(And a side note to CLemon. You're not correct in stating that the station determines what is worth breaking into. If I say the weather is dangerous,  I don't care what i'm interrupting. I'll interrupt the Super Bowl. Granted, that storm better be dangerous, or I'll face the music. But it still won't be as bad as pissing off the old ladies when we break into "All My Children").

Bottom line. Sorry the crawl upset your Karn-time. I like to file these conversations under "IT'S ONLY A GAME SHOW".

[chris319]

And as viewers in some markets know, even a teaspoon of rain can motivate an elaborate "StormWatch" report

You mean like "Drizzle making roads slick all over the Southland at this hour ... with some drivers actually using their windshield wipers*!"?

A lot has to do with whether a station is in prime time network programming. God FORBID viewers should miss a moment of Who's Your Daddy?, but go ahead and blow off an entire episode of Judge Bubba at 2 pm. A station would have to be five feet deep in tsunami water before you could break into a certain Fremantle-produced amateur talent program.

But seriously, there are generally several scheduled news teases during prime time which would be replaced with live weather updates if warranted, all without losing a dime of ad revenue.

*New California law: when you use your windshield wipers you must also turn on your headlights, night OR day.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 01:26 PM\']I was snowed out this morning, so I had an unexpected day off.  So I watched TPiR.  WBBM in Chicago managed to do a snow advisory bulletin that didn't interrupt any programming--a split screen of TPiR and the radar (whatever trademark name they're using) with a crawl underneath.  So it can be done (and rather effectively).

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[/quote]

With the old (or current, on radio) CBS top-of-the-hour timetone as a signal that a bulletin was coming up.  WBBM puts that sound at the top of many news promo/IDs and has been doing so for the last year or so, since Joe Ahern became general manager (among many other changes at the station).

[mystery7]

[quote name=\'Shredder\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 11:33 AM\']And all this for...gasp....Two inches of snow.  Barley.

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[/quote]
If it starts snowing barley, that's DEFINITELY worth interrupting for.

I'm glad you don't watch my station. When the EAS issues a weather warning, not only is there a crawl, there's also a squeeze with a map that shows the affected area. After the crawl runs two or three times, the picture zooms back to full size and the map with the warning area stays on the bottom left coner of the screen until the warning period defined by NWS ends, or whenever the GM says to kill it. In extreme cases, either the ND or GM will dictate live cut-ins every half hour or as warranted. After that, we join in progress.

Our feeling is that people watch us for news. We have an obligation to inform of dangerous situations. If people want to complain that we're cutting into their precious Family Feud, fine. Just don't say we didn't warn you about those gusts that just wiped out your aunt's house.

PS to Chris319: "Wipers On, Lights On" has been a law in NJ for over 10 years now.

And just how DO you "schedule" an interruption?"