Monday, March 5, 2007

Decisions by TV stations

"American Idol" was about to announce its latest cuts when the power shut off Thursday night. But I was mad before the lights went out.

I was on Fox but there was Channel 9's Kurt Schmitz, sounding like a professor rather than a weatherman. If I had been in class, I wouldn't have been able to take notes. He was as far over my head as the storms that were looming. And Kurt, I DON'T CARE ABOUT TRIPLE DOPPLER WEATHER. All I want is the weather. And that deep voice doesn't have to brag about their storm coverage either!!!

Then there are those onscreen logos that stations use now. If you are watching a basketball game, those little bolts of lightning or tiny clouds cover up the scoreboard and the timeclock. One more message to the weather guys at both stations: Wear your jackets. Rolling up your sleeves doesn't make you appear any more urgent.

And while I'm on the subject of TV, why in the name of Phil Scoggins did Channel 3 take off the last 3-4 minutes of the Florida-Kentucky basketball game Sunday? We were watching the defending national champion Gators close out their home season when all of a sudden we were taken to Starkeville, Mississippi (that's a horrible thought isn't it?) for pre-game chatter about the Alabama-Mississippi State game. That was an important game in the SEC standings but we could have stayed with the other game long enough for the final buzzer to sound.

There, I feel better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard, as a Columbus lifer now in Auburn I am amazed at how far behind our local televisions networks are to other cities like Montgomery. Granted, Montgomery is the state capital of Alabama, but the city is fairly comparable in size with Columbus/Phenix City. For example, during the storms on March 1st, WSFA out of Montgomery ran non-stop coverage of the storm whether or not it was in the viewing area to educate people on the severity and danger. Now all I saw on the Columbus channels (even while in Columbus that morning) was just a mere warning, and much of that was interspersed between regular programming. WRBL, WTVM, and WXTX really need to take a hint and step up the quality of their local broadcasts, it's downright embarrassing sometimes the quality compared to others.

RICHARD HYATT said...

As a lifer, you have probably seen the demise of local television news in Columbus. They spend more time bragging about their coverage of bad weather than they do giving us serious warnings. But in defense of the stations here, I assume Montgomery is a bigger market, mainly because it is a state capitol.