Stay Classy, KMSP...

[Jess 1115]

Minneapolis had a tornado warning on Saturday, and most of the stations went to cover it. KMSP chose to break into Fox's coverage of the Champions League final to run storm coverage, reducing the game to a double box with no sound. Soccer fans called to complain, leading to this rant by weekend anchor Tim Blotz:

 

 

I think KMSP was right to break in and cover the storm. The words "Tornado Warning" are a very big deal, even more so after the huge outbreak we've had this year, and it's clearly the public interest to cover the storm. Double-boxing the game, while obviously an inconvenience to soccer fans, was a good way to go about it.

 

That does not, however, excuse the actions of Tim Blotz, the anchor. The way he handled it - basically delivering a petulant "shut up and **** you" tirade on the air - is probably the least professional thing an anchor could do. You don't show that level of contempt for any part of your audience, EVEN if they're acting somewhat irrational. The weather anchor tried to make the save, but that doesn't excuse the anchor's on-air behavior in the least.

[bostonmediaguy 123]

The met couldn't tuck in his shirt?

[CSNewsGuy 1]

I've taken many a profanity laced phone call because of weather cut-in's over the years. In one corner you've got management forcing you to do it, in another corner you've got viewers who hate you for doing it, and in yet another corner you've got a weather guy who wants to blow his brains out because all of the viewers hate him, simply for following orders. There's plenty of contempt Hulkie, and given the way these people behave and the mean, hateful, hurtful language they use, it's justified.

[Weeters 1919]

I have to give him credit got putting the self-centered callers/viewers upset that they can't see their "shows" because other people's lives may be in danger in their place. Like someone said in the WBND thread, why don't you go down to Joplin and ask if Soccer or a Tornado warning is more important.

[ProButtonPusher 230]

That "rant" (really, it was just an anchor truthfully speaking what was on the minds of everyone in the studio) was not uncalled for or unprofessional -- that was absolutely 100% the way to tell all the people bitching that they were in the wrong.

 

 

I've had to deal with phone calls over the issue of weather cut-ins -- no matter what I say, it does no good. By the way, the only people that call TV stations about things like this are elderly or insane, so it's a fun conversation either way.

 

 

Also, E-mails -- especially rude ones -- get overlooked and/or laughed at. We're just doing our job!

[Jess 1115]

Interesting responses - I totally understand how self-centered/crazed people can be from past experience, and I absolutely agree that the idiots calling the station were 100% wrong. And I know there was a situation at WTXF where they ran snow coverage and said on air and on the website that they were pre-empting NASCAR... only to run it anyway after viewers flooded the station with calls. A Tornado Warning absolutely trumps European Soccer, and the station was 100% right to run coverage.

 

And I sympathize with the anchors' "God damn, we're on air and people are bitching at us about soccer" mindset. Especially given Joplin and Tuscaloosa - two places that underscore just how important this type of coverage is.

 

It's just... well, what struck me was the rough tone of the language. I know he was just saying what was on his mind at that moment but I kind of think there could have been a better way to phrase it, you know? I did like how the weather anchor approached it, though.

 

Moral of the story: viewers are can be self-centered ignorant a**holes.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

The deal is TV is alot like a customer service job. I have worked in retail and customer service jobs as many of you around here probably have. I've been screamed at, swore at, spit on, had demeaning things said to, etc; however, I control myself. It doesn't give me the right to go screaming/saying things back to that person or to punch/beat up that person. It's my job as for both work and as a decent human being. I take it and act professional about it. The customer may be wrong or does something bad to you, but you don't have the right to go off on them, yell at them, swear at them, tell them they are wrong, etc. You apologize for the inconvenience and move on. You gotta remember that the customer (or TV viewer) is your business and your job. I know MANY others in the business around that weren't exactly happy on how Tim handled it. All he did was made more people not like him (or the station) than the original "few" people that called/complained about it..

 

 

The number of people calling the station is NOTHING, really NOTHING compared to the amount of viewers actually watching. So a few hundred or even thousand people call, e-mail, facebook posts, etc. As a TV station, it's your job to put up and deal. You don't tell them to shut up or go off on them, you just deal. It's work, it's life. Not everyone is going to be a fan of what you or your station is doing. Who said you can make everyone happy in life?

[CSNewsGuy 1]

I personally don't have a problem with how the anchor handled this, but I would understand if management felt otherwise.

 

It really is a helpless feeling when you have to stay on live because that's the mandate from upstairs, but you're clearly enraging thousands of people by doing it.

 

In these circumstances, I think anchors, meteorologists, reporters, producers, etc. need to be given the flexibility to defend themselves... and when necessary, to meet hostility with hostility.

 

I don't agree that we have to put up with abuse. Calling to register a complaint is one thing, but if you start swearing or being hateful, I'm hanging up the phone. My job is to cover news, not to be your punching bag.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

I personally don't have a problem with how the anchor handled this, but I would understand if management felt otherwise.

 

It really is a helpless feeling when you have to stay on live because that's the mandate from upstairs, but you're clearly enraging thousands of people by doing it.

 

In these circumstances, I think anchors, meteorologists, reporters, producers, etc. need to be given the flexibility to defend themselves... and when necessary, to meet hostility with hostility.

 

I don't agree that we have to put up with abuse. Calling to register a complaint is one thing, but if you start swearing or being hateful, I'm hanging up the phone. My job is to cover news, not to be your punching bag.

 

 

Well, then you shouldn't be in your job. I come from management, and if that's how you're going to act under my watch, I personally would fire you. It's a high pressure job. You can't handle it, there's the door bud.. Really now, on air talent having to defend themselves from people on the other side of a phone line or computer?!?! The people complaining are soooooo few compared to the actual viewers out there NOT complaining. Tough up, say sorry for the inconvenience and that you're sticking to this coverage and that's that. Not go off on your viewers.

 

I agree that people shouldn't have to put up with abuse BUT it's the job. It's ANY job. You gotta do it. If you're going to have your head up your ass about it, then you don't belong in the anchor chair. All you're doing is sinking down to their level.

[Oprah 10]

It's nice to see someone telling the idiots who constantly complain about WX coverage (90% of the time, breaking in is for a legitimate reason) to go fuck themselves......good for him!

[TVNewsRI 4]

Hmm, my life, or a soccer ball being kicked around? Tough choice.

 

Weather and news coverage where people are in danger should always trump sports, hands down. If need be, throw the game off on a subchannel or sister station.

 

WBZ does this with WSBK - whenever there is major breaking news or weather, WSBK becomes the CBS affiliate. For example, when they were on air for 3 days straight after Ted Kennedy died, 38 cleared the whole CBS schedule.

[jerseyfla 207]

Here is where KMSP was in the wrong....Speaking from the sports fanatic point of view.

 

-For those not familiar with soccer or "Fussball" to my German ancestors. The UEFA Champions League Final is Soccer's Super Bowl.

 

-Of course Tim Blotz comes off as a schmuck for doing what he did and no they are not required by the FCC to break into programming and 1/4 box the game coverage for 45 minutes. A simple break in with the double box for 10 minutes would've sufficed.

 

-They had their sister station WFTC My 29 showing an infomercial, why couldn't they do what WBZ does to WSBK, KDFW does to KDFI, etc. and move the game to My 29.

 

-Other area stations like WCCO did a crawl for a lesser important golf match, this is why KMSP looks like fools.

 

-My common sense about severe weather warnings is tell me once and I'll take my precautions. The repetative weather info paints a picture that the viewers are retarded and you need to tell them like a broken record.

 

-It wasn't few hundred people pissed off, it was like 100,000+ people pissed off especially British pub owners around the Twin Cities because viewing was shot which could've resulted in a loss of money to those businesses.

 

Yes, lives are more important but it's mostly the dummies not watching broadcast tv and instead watching cable channels who might lose out on the weather info and get hurt. Think about it.

[newsguy22 59]

I've said worse on air, I'm sure. Guess I'm a schmuck. I'll live with that.

[Jess 1115]

Again, as I said in the original post, KMSP was absolutely, 100% right to break into programming and doublebox. And while the FCC doesn't require stations to break in, they are required to inform viewers of severe weather conditins. a tornado warning trumps any programming on air short of an extremely major news story. So yeah, KMSP was right to break in.

 

My problem was the tone of the anchor, and lazynetjunkie hits the perspective I was taking - that of a retail worker or a customer service rep. Does it suck being yelled at? Absolutely! Would I have acknowledged and defended the decision on the air? Probably! But I would have said it something like this: "We apologize for breaking in, we'll get back to the soccer when/if we can, but we're staying on to cover this severe weather event. Please stop calling.". That's addressing the problem, but politely and in a measured tone.

 

What Tim Blotz said on air is akin to someone going to a grocery store and complaining about the prices, and the clerk giving a curt "we don't control the prices, so if you don't like it, leave" response. People don't like being talked to like that. The way to address these complaints is to take a measured yet firm stance. The customer may not always be right - in fact they might very well be objectively wrong - but that doesn't meam you address them curtly in the way Blotz did. You don't take your frustrations out on your customers - which, effectively, your TV audience is.

 

So in closing, I think KMSP was right to break in. The soccer fans were wrong to complain about the coverage in that instance, and in the way they probably did (expletive laden tirades). But the anchor was wrong to take that position and tone. I don't care how frustrated you might get, you should never let that frustration show when dealing with your audience/customers. In any instance.

 

...yeah, this became an interesting topic.

[Weeters 1919]

Were there any other channels providing longform coverage of this event? We keep hearing about the other stations not providing longform coverage...

[Jess 1115]

Were there any other channels providing longform coverage of this event? We keep hearing about the other stations not providing longform coverage...

From what I gathered on the blog post I originally saw this on, the other stations were doing crawls and apparently some cut-ins, but not the sustained coverage that KMSP was doing.

[Guest]

I think this was completely unprofessional... but what can you expect from a schmuck who appears on air half-dressed?

 

The worst thing you can do is acknowledge the idiots out there.. the vocal minority. It gets you nowhere.

[lazynetjunkie 34]

From what I gathered on the blog post I originally saw this on, the other stations were doing crawls and apparently some cut-ins, but not the sustained coverage that KMSP was doing.

 

 

I think it's almost standard FOX O&O procedure to break in and have sustained coverage for almost any event.. We get tornado warnings often in the Chicago market but most stations will do some cut-ins and crawls but WFLD will do full all-out over the top break-in "the whole world is going to end" coverage even for an additional 30 minutes after the warning is cancelled/expired. I guess to each station, their own. It gives people the choice of what kind of breaking weather coverage they want. But sometimes, I get "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" feeling with WFLD's all out break-ins and some viewers may feel that and just not take it as seriously when something is truly coming their way..

 

Much of the time, it doesn't even seem like it matters because the cable company/state/county/city message will come on the screen and just cutting off whatever is on (even local stations') and blasting every channel with an alarm and a message from the NWS in a Steven Hawking robot voice issuing a warning for whatever areas and what the conditions are and where.

[WWUpdate 1292]

Well, would KMSP preempt the Super Bowl for continous coverage of a tornado warning? I doubt it. (And if it did, would it be surprised to receive phone calls from upset fans?) I'm all in favor of interrupting breaking news, but I also understand the complaining soccer fans, for whom the Champions Leage final is what the Super Bowl is to football fans: the most important (team) game of the year and an international spectacle -- something they look forward to weeks in advance. I can't help but wonder if frequent but brief updates -- rather than continuous coverage -- would have sufficed in this case.

 

Anyway, the anchor was unprofessional. In whatever business you are in, you don't talk to your customers that way, even when you disagree with them*.

 

* Except the airline business, unfortunately.

[AdamTheJ 90]

I'm not from Minnesota, nor am I a Soccer fan, but I must say how bad I really feel for those wanting to see the 2nd half. KMSP really must suck. KMSP could've moved the game to sister WFTC, which had infomercials on, but they didn't. KMSP could've also aired a re-broadcast of this game, but they didn't. the MSP marker was in the dark, and to add insult to injury, Tim Blotz had the nerve to treat its viewers like dirt. Very uncalled for.

 

KMSP is just as Anti-Fox as WSVN in Miami.

 

Why couldn't KMSP re-broadcast the game? Why did the MSP market have to suffer?