Spring Rubber 618 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 On an evening with multiple tornado warnings in the Chicagoland area, I have to say that WBBM did the finest job of all of the local stations. In second place was probably WFLD or WMAQ, although I didn't watch WMAQ enough to know for sure. I felt WLS and WGN really dropped the ball. WLS didn't bother to interrupt World News for continuous live coverage like WBBM and WMAQ did when the first tornado warning was issued around 5:45 PM or so. Even when WLS began their news at 6, they led off with a weather update and then continued on with the normal news. WBBM and WMAQ, on the other hand, did the right thing by throwing out the script and doing nothing but radar views and live reports. When the tornado warning was issued at 5:45, it took almost another ten minutes for WGN to stop talking about the iPhone and other fluff pieces before finally giving way to live weather coverage. When weather like this strikes and you've got wind thrashing against your house, you need the local stations to let you know up-to-the-minute information. The National Weather Service only updates their warnings every now and then, so you can't exactly rely on them for anything other than whatever info is included in their sparse warnings. Everything else is up to the local news to tell you about, and I think WLS and WGN left much to be desired. The other three networks were much better this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weeters 1812 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 I was watching the Chicago stations earlier (I'm in an area that gets Chicago locals via cable in addition to Milwaukee locals). I flipped between all the channels and the only complaint I have is at one point, WGN's weather coverage revolved around the anchors poking at iPads to show videos and pictures. Really? Really? This is a severe weather cut-in, not the 5:30 news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonburgess! 1 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 That's a little disappointing to hear about WLS-TV, I don't live in the Chicago market. However I've always held ABC 7 to be the station that set the standards for the market. Its good to hear that CBS 2, is making good decisions in their news department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
13WHAMfan 5 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 I don't live in Chicago but I was watching the Weather channel, and they got some information from WMAQ and also got their live cameras from there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jero23 105 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Unfortunately, some stations like WLS and WGN seem to let major weather events like possible tornadoes occur then report on the aftermath rather than warning their viewers of it happening. I've noticed that most the leading stations of the top 10 markets with the exception of Atlanta seem to do this. It took the tornado plowing through downtown Atlanta killing a person and nearly collapsing the roof of the Georgia Dome during the NCAA Southeast basketball tourney for all the local stations to fall into line and warn their viewers of the major possibility of a catastrophe there. WLS and WGN ought to be embarrassed that the 3 lower rated news stations upstaged them on such a serious and life-threatening situation. During rush hour of all times on top of that...SMH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
news2chicago 0 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 - Prior to last evening, I would have said Fox has had the best sever wx coverage this summer, but they dropped the ball with this one, going back to regular programming too early. - I think 7 stayed with what it knows and what it does better than anybody else, a formulaic newscast, World News and Wheel. They broke in when it really warranted it. Perfectly adequate coverage for what this market has become accustomed to. - I think by acting like a smaller market station, Channel 2 actually had the best coverage. Going wall-to-wall and just letting Steve talk about the weather with Rob occasionally chiming in with damage reports worked well and provided a nice alternative to the anchor-heavy coverage we're used to. - What I saw from Channel 5 was OK, but when the weather is the story, there's no need for so many anchor desk shots. People know what Rob and Allison look like. They want to see radar and live shots. - The mighty No. 9 was just bizarre. I didn't like the newsroom shaky-cam techno-heavy format. It became annoying after a while. They should have had Skilling in the Weather Center, an anchor at the CLTV newsroom desk and then an anchor in the newsroom. I think it would have helped the flow and made me a less anxious viewer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Rubber 618 Posted June 25, 2010 Author Share Posted June 25, 2010 I really don't think ABC 7's coverage was "perfectly adequate." They practically ignored the situation when it was at its worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weeters 1812 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 I really don't think ABC 7's coverage was "perfectly adequate." They practically ignored the situation when it was at its worst. Keep in mind WLS has automated production control. It could have been a staffing issue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Rubber 618 Posted June 25, 2010 Author Share Posted June 25, 2010 Aren't most if not all of the stations in Chicago automated at this point? Besides, I don't see why that limits their ability to cut in and cover the severe weather. It shouldn't be that hard to do, even with automation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazynetjunkie 34 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Aren't most if not all of the stations in Chicago automated at this point? Besides' date=' I don't see why that limits their ability to cut in and cover the severe weather. It shouldn't be that hard to do, even with automation.[/quote'] It's not a matter of being hard.. It's just a matter of someone at the stations knowing how to properly use the system or overriding it. Unfortunately, not everyone that should be fully trained on the automation are trained and there isn't always someone at the stations that knows how to use it. Many times, it's a matter of someone just not knowing the password(s) to override. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've seen people sitting in the control room during a break-in news/weather situation while on the phone with someone who knows how the system works but isn't in the building for some reason or another. Also, alot of people that were involved with the systems being installed and that were fully/properly trained on automation have been laid off from the stations. How convenient, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weeters 1812 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 It's not a matter of being hard.. It's just a matter of someone at the stations knowing how to properly use the system or overriding it. Unfortunately, not everyone that should be fully trained on the automation are trained and there isn't always someone at the stations that knows how to use it. Many times, it's a matter of someone just not knowing the password(s) to override. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've seen people sitting in the control room during a break-in news/weather situation while on the phone with someone who knows how the system works but isn't in the building for some reason or another. Also, alot of people that were involved with the systems being installed and that were fully/properly trained on automation have been laid off from the stations. How convenient, right? Couldn't they manually override it by punching stuff up via the switcher (assuming it still exists)? Or does automation lock that out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaskanews 108 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Couldn't they manually override it by punching stuff up via the switcher (assuming it still exists)? Or does automation lock that out? It depends if they got a physical switcher or not. I guess it's an option when you go automated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGN9fan 0 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I was born in the Chicago area (South Side) and I think WFLD does a better job in severe weather coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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