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Hurricane Florence


GoldenShine9

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I wonder with all of the talk going on now about potential backup facilities (certainly for WVEC) if this was kind of spurred on by what happened last year from Harvey as kind of a lesson learned type of deal (especially for Tegna).

 

They probably learned a lot of lessons there. They may have also learned from Katrina, even though they didn't own WWL at the time.

 

In the coastal Carolinas, most of them have nearby sister stations they can go to though. WVEC doesn't have that benefit, as Tegna is nowhere to be found in Richmond, and it's a fairly long drive to DC.

 

The transmitter sites for all three stations are located about 20-40 miles inland in Suffolk. Of the three, WVEC is the only one who has had a long-term contingency plan to operate from the transmitter site in the event of a forced evacuation from the main studios.

 

In fact, IIRC during the height of the Oreos before the storm turned south, I think they sent Evan Stewart out there as a backup...

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Chris Jansing has taken over.

 

I’m still trying to figure out why MSNBC/NBC News moved Cal Perry (whose an excellent reporter) to London as NBC News Editor of Global Content when he reports mainly from the US. The only thing I can think of is his wife who worked for Vice and Al Jazeera was relocated.

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Also I was thinking CBS needs to hire a network meteorologist whether it be Lonnie Quinn or someone else. They can do the weather reports during CBS This Morning - without the happy talk just a straight forecast. They see, to rely too much on affiliates for weather reports and during severe weather. Contrast that to NBC and ABC who have three meteorologists on hand at any time plus the affiliates to supplement them. CBS has zero and there’s increasing weather forecasts in their newscasts and often times the ones on CBS TM are recorded. Likely it’s a money saving measure but if they don’t elevate the meteorologists to a “personality” they probably could keep costs down compared to an Al Roker or Ginger Zee.

 

 

Also does The Weather Channel still have a content share (maybe not resource/personality share) agreement with NBC? Their animations have been appearing on NBC.

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Also I was thinking CBS needs to hire a network meteorologist whether it be Lonnie Quinn or someone else. They can do the weather reports during CBS This Morning - without the happy talk just a straight forecast. They see, to rely too much on affiliates for weather reports and during severe weather. Contrast that to NBC and ABC who have three meteorologists on hand at any time plus the affiliates to supplement them. CBS has zero and there’s increasing weather forecasts in their newscasts and often times the ones on CBS TM are recorded. Likely it’s a money saving measure but if they don’t elevate the meteorologists to a “personality” they probably could keep costs down compared to an Al Roker or Ginger Zee.

 

 

Also does The Weather Channel still have a content share (maybe not resource/personality share) agreement with NBC? Their animations have been appearing on NBC.

 

 

I wouldn’t be too opposed to CBS having a rotating meteorologist from their bigger affiliates / O&Os for CTM (i.e. WBNS, WGCL, WKMG, WTTV, etc. aren’t owned by CBS but they’re some of the network’s biggest affiliates)

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[quote name='rkolsen']Also does The Weather Channel still have a content share (maybe not resource/personality share) agreement with NBC? Their animations have been appearing on NBC.[/QUOTE] I'm hoping that Byron Allen will soon set up a content sharing agreement with @Eat News and the KBEX Weather Sharks. In all seriousness, though, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a content sharing agreement in place between TWC and NBC et al.
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Well here's some images of the flood at WCTI via their Twitter page.

[MEDIA=twitter]1040611080312156162[/MEDIA]

 

Doesn't seem like a lot of floodwater, although to be fair (from checking on Google Maps), WCTI is further away from water than KHOU was when their old studios flooded during Harvey....

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Doesn't seem like a lot of floodwater, although to be fair (from checking on Google Maps), WCTI is further away from water than KHOU was when their old studios flooded during Harvey....

 

That's likely repairable, although I'm sure they will make contingency plans for the future. Not the catastrophic damage KHOU sustained.

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This has got to be one of the most irresponsible things I have seen yet.

 

If your weather guy gets electrocuted because he waited until the last minute to evacuate.,your station is going to have a huge lawsuit to deal with.

 

"But it's his job to stay behind " they would say...

 

Bull Sh$#!

 

It's his/her job to report on the progress and danger associated with the storm....in a responsible and safe way. That's how you serve your viewers...By staying on the air!

 

From a safe location!

 

Why would you place all your tools and personal in a place where they can suffer harm or serious damage to the equipment that they must use to REPORT.

 

I would not trust the coverage from any station that didn't plan ahead for this stuff. That station that has a secondary emergency studio for this stuff is station I would trust.

 

We have seen the "stunts" and they are no longer sexy, and I'm amazed that the "risk management" folks from corporate would allow some 22 year old Muffy to lash herself to a fence post...slip her mic into a ziploc bag...and don her little ball cap and play in the wind and rain, sewage, live wires, gators, snakes, hazmat and flying objects.

 

Can you defend your station group if you get hauled into court on the wrongful death suit?

Reporters and field crews DO NOT sign waivers or discharge the employer from liability in the event of death or injury while covering most news stories.

 

But in the end...

 

Most station groups are too cheap to care.

And if somebody dies then too bad...it's the cost of doing business.

 

The station's insurance will cover it anyway.

 

Mira,

You can use remote unmanned locked down cams, viewer cams, live webcams and all other sorts of safe video sources. keep you precious weather anchors dry and happy with operating equipment in a pre planned safe location.

 

Show your viewers that your station gives a shit about your safety and it's employees safety and it's obligation to report the news safely and accurately in times of disaster.

 

 

Thank You,

A Public Service Message from your Friends at KBEX-TV.

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To be fair, WCTI has been there since the 60s and has never flooded before. This is a historic game changing flood event for New Bern.

 

I agree that the meteorologists should have left with everyone else, but they didn’t have a plan because they didn’t expect to need one. This isn’t a KHOU situation where it’s happened several times before.

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To be fair, WCTI has been there since the 60s and has never flooded before. This is a historic game changing flood event for New Bern.

 

I agree that the meteorologists should have left with everyone else, but they didn’t have a plan because they didn’t expect to need one. This isn’t a KHOU situation where it’s happened several times before.

 

I wouldn't use that argument with a jury...

 

They had plenty of warning.

And they are under no obligation to report from an unsafe area.

 

They are in a known hurricane area and hurricanes bring flooding.

 

It's universally accepted that there was danger to all...not just reporters.

Not having a plan is not a defense. They were told it was dangerous...and they told viewers it was dangerous.

 

"Not planning" or "it never happened in the past" will get you laughed out of court .

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This has got to be one of the most irresponsible things I have seen yet.

 

If your weather guy gets electrocuted because he waited until the last minute to evacuate.,your station is going to have a huge lawsuit to deal with.

 

"But it's his job to stay behind " they would say...

 

Bull Sh$#!

 

It's his/her job to report on the progress and danger associated with the storm....in a responsible and safe way. That's how you serve your viewers...By staying on the air!

 

From a safe location!

 

Why would you place all your tools and personal in a place where they can suffer harm or serious damage to the equipment that they must use to REPORT.

 

I would not trust the coverage from any station that didn't plan ahead for this stuff. That station that has a secondary emergency studio for this stuff is station I would trust.

 

We have seen the "stunts" and they are no longer sexy, and I'm amazed that the "risk management" folks from corporate would allow some 22 year old Muffy to lash herself to a fence post...slip her mic into a ziploc bag...and don her little ball cap and play in the wind and rain, sewage, live wires, gators, snakes, hazmat and flying objects. T

 

Can you defend your station group if you get hauled into court on the wrongful death suit?

Reporters and field crews DO NOT sign waivers or discharge the employer from liability in the event of death or injury while covering most news stories.

 

But in the end...

 

Most station groups are too cheap to care.

And if somebody dies then too bad...it's the cost of doing business.

 

The station's insurance will cover it anyway.

 

Mira,

You can use remote unmanned locked down cams, viewer cams, live webcams and all other sorts of safe video sources. keep you precious weather anchors dry and happy with operating equipment in a pre planned safe location.

 

Show your viewers that your station gives a shit about your safety and it's employees safety and it's obligation to report the news safely and accurately in times of disaster.

 

 

Thank You,

A Public Service Message from your Friends at KBEX-TV.

 

Despite a lot of jokes you make this is a good point. Everyone should have been evacuated to the remote studio and hopefully they can remotely control transmission equipment to switch live feeds and send them down the line to the emergency center. I saw during CBS in one of their live and drive trucks the meteorologist in the back seat was connected to the WSI computer back at CBS (or wherever) via VPN.

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That gets filed under “shit happens” then. WNCT still has their old 500’ transmitter stick behind the studio. Do they need to evacuate? The hurricane could blow it down onto the building. It hasn’t happened before, but it COULD happen.

 

That depends. Those towers are built to withstand storms. I’m sure they have engineers routinely checking on it and making sure it’s still secure with all the guy wires in place and seeing if anything moving abnormally.

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