Afternoon Traffic Reports?

[CaptainNews 287]

Im curious as into why new stations don't air traffic reports all day like weather, it seems there is more of a need to get traffic information in the afternoon compared to morning. What stations do have traffic reports in the PM?

[skbl17 188]

In Atlanta, I know WAGA still does afternoon traffic reports. WSB, WXIA, and WGCL only bother in emergency situations (like January 28, 2014 - I don't want to see that nightmare ever again).

 

If I had to make an uneducated guess, from a feasibility standpoint it doesn't make much sense to have evening traffic reports when the people who would benefit from them aren't watching TV - they have in-car radio and smartphones instead. Also, no point in using your smartphone to watch the local news streams when you could just open Google (or Apple) Maps and quickly check the traffic yourself in less time than it would take to open the station app and find the live stream.

 

By the time you're in a position to watch the local news and their traffic reports, chances are you're already home and your commute is over.

[CaptainNews 287]

In Atlanta, I know WAGA still does afternoon traffic reports. WSB, WXIA, and WGCL only bother in emergency situations (like January 28, 2014 - I don't want to see that nightmare ever again).

 

If I had to make an uneducated guess, from a feasibility standpoint it doesn't make much sense to have evening traffic reports when the people who would benefit from them aren't watching TV - they have in-car radio and smartphones instead. Also, no point in using your smartphone to watch the local news streams when you could just open Google (or Apple) Maps and quickly check the traffic yourself in less time than it would take to open the station app and find the live stream.

 

By the time you're in a position to watch the local news and their traffic reports, chances are you're already home and your commute is over.

 

What about the people going to work in the afternoon?

[C Block 1566]

Plenty of them do in markets where it matters. You definitely see them in the afternoon newscasts in LA and SF. Denver too. They are mostly restricted to the 3pm and 4pm newscasts and bump shots in the 5/6/7pm hours. After 5pm, there's not enough time to muse about traffic. It's a better use of airtime to tell people what actually happened today, because that is what's new to people. The afternoon commute is nothing new. If there is a big backup or some sort of crash, then that becomes a story in itself that you can just slip into the newscast. No need really to have a dedicated traffic reporter by that point.

 

Weather and traffic every ten minutes is more of just a way to fill airtime in morning newscasts, plus there is some more utility in telling people how the roads are before they get on them in the morning, not after they've gotten off them and are presumably already home watching the news.

[CaptainNews 287]

Plenty of them do in markets where it matters. You definitely see them in the afternoon newscasts in LA and SF. Denver too. They are mostly restricted to the 3pm and 4pm newscasts and bump shots in the 5/6/7pm hours. After 5pm, there's not enough time to muse about traffic. It's a better use of airtime to tell people what actually happened today, because that is what's new to people. The afternoon commute is nothing new. If there is a big backup or some sort of crash, then that becomes a story in itself that you can just slip into the newscast. No need really to have a dedicated traffic reporter by that point.

 

Weather and traffic every ten minutes is more of just a way to fill airtime in morning newscasts, plus there is some more utility in telling people how the roads are before they get on them in the morning, not after they've gotten off them and are presumably already home watching the news.

I have never seen them in my market (LA) neither San Francisco.

[CaptainNews 287]

I do see now. But, I don't know I just feel the stations with, "Coverage you can count on", "First Alert" should keep up to their word.

[WestleyWolf 122]

That would be nice to see. KCRA should do this because every afternoon the 5 (near downtown sacramento) and business 80 (towards Arden Fair Mall) freeways are always packed with traffic.

[rkolsen 1686]

Someone here said that traffic reports in the afternoon / evening are not for the person in the car but rather those waiting for someone to come home.

[LoadStar 364]

IMO, traffic reports these days in general are utterly useless, having been reduced to rattling off a series of drive times that, devoid of any context or alternative routes, tells you nothing. "It's 38 minutes from A to B on I-23, 23 minutes from C to D on I-781, and a whopping 76 minutes from E to F on I-235. That's your traffic report, back to you." This applies equally to reports on TV and on the radio. They're a waste of time, and you're better off using Waze or a similar app that can tell you where an incident is that is snarling traffic, and exactly when you need to get off a freeway and what alternate route to take to avoid an incident.

[alex979 119]

WGN's Sarah Jindra usually reports on traffic/breaking news from Skycam9 during their 4-6pm evening news. So far they're the only station in Chicago with a dedicated evening traffic reporter.

[TheRolyPoly 2591]

WGN's Sarah Jindra usually reports on traffic/breaking news from Skycam9 during their 4-6pm evening news. So far they're the only station in Chicago with a dedicated evening traffic reporter.

 

She'll soon probably cover the 6:00pm hour as well.

 

In South Florida... WTVJ, WSVN and WPLG air PM traffic reports with WTVJ (Stephanie Bertini; also serves as a reporter) and WPLG (Jenise Fernandez) having their own dedicated traffic reporters. WSVN also does (Reno Grant) but is only heard on voiceover only. Which means, of course, WFOR doesn't have one. WTVJ and WPLG air them from 4:00-6:00pm and WSVN from 4:00-5:00pm.

[SFTV 532]

I have never seen them in my market (LA) neither San Francisco.

 

KGO doesn't use their WSI/Inrix maps on their 4pm newscast but they would show various cameras and mention where it's slowing right after the last tease of a story on every other commercial break.

[fan of la tv 47]

In Los Angeles, I know KNBC and KABC did afternoon reports of traffic. Not sure if they are doing them today. Up until recently, KTLA did traffic reports on every newscast. Afternoon and evening reports were done by the weathercasters. I know KTLA runs crawlers with traffic reports/incidents on all newscasts and I think KCBS, KCAL, and KTTV do as well.

[ProduceGuy 31]

KTRK in Houston has a dedicated traffic reporter for the 4pm, 5pm, 6 and 6:30pm newscasts.

[NEOMatrix 1307]

IIRC, WOIO does traffic in the 4pm and 5pm hours of its newscasts. It's either the traffic reporter doing it (rarely) or one of the anchors giving out the report (most likely).

[Eat News 4745]

At KBEX we have one rule about traffic reports....

They must be sponsored.

If you can pay for the Ad buy...we will find some traffic.

[Georgie56 3326]

WLS usually runs travel times coming back from commercial during their 4 and 5pm.

[TheRob 938]

When we had a helicopter, we did afternoon traffic. But I don't know how many ways one can tell a person the same stretch of highway is clogged every day. I will put traffic in my newscast if it is unusual, like a crash that closes all lanes of a highway.

 

Even the competition, with helicopters, skip the afternoon traffic reports.

[CaptainNews 287]

None of the LA stations mention traffic unless a pursuit ends and starts traffic. It's like a curse here if you do or something to them.

[NewsMaster 226]

Most Boston stations have PM traffic reports. I know WCVB and NBC Boston do, and even WMUR has one traffic segment during their 5:00 newscast, although it's based out of radio station WZID. I bet WBZ and WHDH have them as well, though I don't usually watch them.

 

It really simply depends on if the market has traffic problems. I don't think most of the Cleveland stations have PM traffic reports, mainly due to the fact that Cleveland traffic isn't usually that bad, whereas smaller markets, like Harrisburg and Norfolk, sometimes have them because the traffic there can be hideous.

[TheRolyPoly 2591]

Most Boston stations have PM traffic reports. I know WCVB and NBC Boston do, and even WMUR has one traffic segment during their 5:00 newscast, although it's based out of radio station WZID. I bet WBZ and WHDH have them as well, though I don't usually watch them.

 

It really simply depends on if the market has traffic problems. I don't think most of the Cleveland stations have PM traffic reports, mainly due to the fact that Cleveland traffic isn't usually that bad, whereas smaller markets, like Harrisburg and Norfolk, sometimes have them because the traffic there can be hideous.

 

I think WHDH has them during the 4pm hour, the same way WSVN also does so at 4pm.

[EHTVnews 21]

I think WTVJ has been doing it since they launched the 4pm show and the "new" graphics (Look N)

[PitCleTV 9]

It's been awhile since i watched, but KDKA used to do traffic in the 4 p.m. hour. Pittsburgh traffic is always a nightmare, so i'm sure they still do. PennDot has like 500 cameras in the city, so why not take advantage lol.

[TheRolyPoly 2591]

I think WTVJ has been doing it since they launched the 4pm show and the "new" graphics (Look N)

 

Yes, your correct.

[ToriElectra 292]

WABC's been doing traffic reports for the 4pm show since it launched- but after Joe Nolan left, they've been reduced to alomst mini-reports, delivered by one of the anchors. And I do support having traffic reports in the afternoons- that way if you know someone that might get caught in a snarl, you can call them and warn them about it (unless they've already been caught, changed their routes already, or took a different route anyway). And Family Guy mocked the concept once: "Good evening, I'm Tom Tucker. Coming up, important traffic news that can't help you because you're some place where a TV is."