Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Worst Weather Brings Out The Best In Radio...

We just had our seventh snow storm of the season in the New York Metropolitan area. Snowfall estimates range from a foot to sixteen inches, giving us the snowiest January since they've been keeping records. The worst weather brings out the best in radio. Both WCBS and WINS are one long school closing, interrupted by weather, traffic and transportation reports. This is when radio really serves the public. Everything else takes a backseat to weather when it's like this. Ask the people in Southern California who recently suffered through torrential rain and mud slides. They were listening for weather updates and little else. Yesterday the Washington Post did a feature story on how well the media has covered the weather...

In their report, the Post commends radio: "The radio stations - most prominently WTOP, with its reports every 10 minutes - offer frequent updates for the region." Every 10 minutes is good but in bad weather, the weather coverage should be one long broadcast, interrupted only by commercials. School closings come first and don't advise your listeners to go to your website if they didn't hear their school. Make sure they hear their school. Website information is useless when people are in their cars and if they're getting ready to take their kids to school or getting ready for work, they don't have time to go to your website. Take the time to put all your information on air...

Radio needs to be full-service when times call for it. Information comes first, your regular format is secondary. I got a quick education in radio 101 when I worked for a small radio station where the most popular shows were the lost dog report and the swap shop. Now that's the real definition of social media...

10 Timeline Memories:
1.1926] Radio with pictures: John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, demonstrates a pictorial transmission machine called television…
2.1927] Networking: United Independent Broadcasters, Inc. starts a radio network of 16 stations. The company will later be renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)…
3.1948] Wired: The Wire Recording Corporation of America announces the first magnetic tape recorder. The “Wireway” with a built-in oscillator sells for $149.50. Here’s a Webster wire recorder in action…
4.1951] Dropping A bomb: Atomic testing begins in the Nevada desert when an Air Force plane drops a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats…
5.1967] Death on the pad: A flash fire aboard Apollo I during a test kills astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee…
6.1981] Welcome back: Ronald Reagan welcomes the 52 former Iranian hostages to the White House...
7.1991] A super performance: Whitney Houston sings the definitive version of our national anthem at Super Bowl XXV and Scott “wide right” Norwood becomes famous for missing a field goal that would have won it for Buffalo. Instead, the Giants win 20-19…
8.1998] A right-wing conspiracy: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton blames a “vast right-wing conspiracy” on her husband’s (Monica) personal (Lewinsky) problems on “The Today Show”…
9.2009] Literary deaths: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Updike dies at 76 from lung cancer...2010] Reclusive award-winning author J.D. Salinger, passes away from natural causes at 91...
10.2010] A padded unveiling: Steve Jobs unveils the Apple iPad...

Music Memories:

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Rebecca Jayne Vettor (4), Bridget Fonda (44), Alan Cumming (46), Chris Collinsworth (49), Keith Olbermann (49), Mimi Rogers (52), Mikhail Baryshnikov (60), Nedra (Ronettes) Talley & Bobby "Blue" Bland (78)...

Timeline Countdown: 10 days until Super Bowl XLV, 17 days until pitchers & catchers report, 18 days until Valentines Day & 25 days until Presidents' Day...

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