Monday, December 07, 2009
Snow Day!
I don't agree with Ben-the-Producer but I understand his frustration. Winter weather hype is not just a problem in Chicago.
However, vigilance is an expectation with today's television audience.
I grew up in South Dakota and learned early that snow can disrupt life. If it blows around at 30-plus MPH when it's zero degrees, it can kill. I respect snow.
I also spent one delightful winter in Syracuse. Imagine living in a snow globe and God shakes it about every other day or so. 125-inches of snow per year. My friends at WSTM would snort at the storm that's got us all so crazy right now.
What's the old song? It's not the meat, it's the motion. With snow, it's not how much falls, it's what happens after it does. Will it melt? Re-freeze, causing treacherous roads? Blow around? Do nothing? We don't know so we have to plan for the worst case scenario. The trick is not tranferring that plan to the newscast in a "sky is falling" presentation. It's a delicate dance.
So as I watch the Ravens and Packers try to set a record for pass-interference calls, there's a little voice in my head telling me to go to bed because at 4:30am, the alarm will blare so I can get to work at 6am.
The challenge is to tell a weather story that hasn't been told a thousand times already.
We can do this.
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1 comment:
First off, glad you're back blogging again. The TV industry needs to get off its high horse and stop being afraid of the web/social media. The fact that you were blogging back in the early 2000s is a testament to your foresight and honesty.
Now I was going to write a post siding with Ben. But watching the talent take the opposing view reminded me of something that a very, very wise EP at WREG told me waaay back in 1989: "Talent always sides with talent." Of course, they don't agree. TV is great, cause we're on it. How could it be bad?
But seriously, if it's a blizzard and Chicago is shut down, then hype it. If the plows can't run and people are stranded, hype it. If you got an inch and you hype it, don't cry crocodile tears when everybody thinks you overdid it. The overhyping of TV news is one of the many, many reasons why viewers are abandoning local TV news. Another reason is the trite, pedanic writing that Ben pointed out in his commentary.
Yes, snow can be deadly. Do I have to sit through 30 minutes of overblown TV news coverage to figure that out in 2009? No, I do not. I don't need to hear the weatherman's voice to be reassured.
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