Post by gartv on Mar 2, 2007 23:59:09 GMT -3
The March 1st storms that brought tornadoes to parts of Georgia.
TV Coverage in Macon proved the (sad) reality that low budgets can mean limited coverage in an emergency. I had great hopes for WMGT and was very happy to finally have a decent alternative to the big old Channel 13 WMAZ who had no incentive to improve their product with such little competition. Last night I was disappointed with WMGT
While long established stations like WMAZ and WALB in Albany went into full weather coverage mode, the "smaller" stations like WMGT and WGXA were mostly "business as usual".
WMAZ pre-empted programing for storm coverage, offered weather information on screen and also provided live streaming on their website. WMAZ also had their weather staff on the air with updates through the night. Missing from the broadcasts was Chief Meteorologist Ben Jones. No idea why, maybe he was on vacation. And if you know the history of my posts on this message board, then you won't be surprised if I say that he was not missed at all.
Meteorologists Autumn O'Neal and Grant Gilmore did an excellent job on the air in a weather emergency. And I hope the management of WMAZ and parent company Gannett recognizes that.
I have no idea what if any coverage WGXA Fox 24 had of the storms outside of their regular 10:00 news. Would they have interrupted American Idol? I don't know. But I do know that when I tuned in around 10:35 pm last night I was listening to come caller bitching about the Macon city government during the nightly local call-in show "the Fox Files".
In other words, Fox 24 seemed business as usual. For 10 minutes during the ONLY 10pm news program in the Macon market, it was the usual talk about political issues and nothing about the storms that were knocking trees and power lines down around them.
Maybe I missed something on WGXA. Yes, I think I did. It was called NEWS.
WMGT did not pre-empt NBC programing and went immediately into weather coverage at 11pm. It appeared that Jerry Matthewson did the best he could with limited resources. There were a few reports then on to other news and everyone went home when Jay Leno came on at 11:35.
In previous weather events, we used to get some live updates from Jerry Matthewson, even on weekends when the news department is off. Sadly, I think WMGT continues to show signs of a TV News station in need of life support. Remember they were slow to replace reporters and anchors. And they appear to have a revolving door as far as staffing is concerned. They even have a new live truck, but I rarely see them use it, especially with any real distance from the station. Meaning they don't seem to ever do live reports outside of Macon city limits. Can they not afford the gas?
ALBANY COVERAGE:
WALB had excellent NON-STOP news coverage that was also streamed live on their website. The main anchors stayed on through most of the night and Dawn Hobby reported on the scene in Americus for all of the next day's newscasts. I watched them online and listened to them in the car on B-100.3FM, the Country radio station serving Albany that can be heard as far as 100 miles from Tifton. B-100 airs the WALB News 6:00 newscast daily.
Since I cannot get the only other Albany TV news from Fox 31 where I live, I have no idea about their coverage. But in Columbus, both WTVM and FOX 54 pre-empted programing including American Idol for weather coverage as parts of Columbus also suffered damage. (WTVM provides news for WXTX) WTVM and WRBL News 3 also covered the Americus and Lumpkin Ga tornadoes as these cities are actually part of the Columbus market area.
I do offer my thoughts and prayers to the people who were hit hard by these tornadoes.
TV Coverage in Macon proved the (sad) reality that low budgets can mean limited coverage in an emergency. I had great hopes for WMGT and was very happy to finally have a decent alternative to the big old Channel 13 WMAZ who had no incentive to improve their product with such little competition. Last night I was disappointed with WMGT
While long established stations like WMAZ and WALB in Albany went into full weather coverage mode, the "smaller" stations like WMGT and WGXA were mostly "business as usual".
WMAZ pre-empted programing for storm coverage, offered weather information on screen and also provided live streaming on their website. WMAZ also had their weather staff on the air with updates through the night. Missing from the broadcasts was Chief Meteorologist Ben Jones. No idea why, maybe he was on vacation. And if you know the history of my posts on this message board, then you won't be surprised if I say that he was not missed at all.
Meteorologists Autumn O'Neal and Grant Gilmore did an excellent job on the air in a weather emergency. And I hope the management of WMAZ and parent company Gannett recognizes that.
I have no idea what if any coverage WGXA Fox 24 had of the storms outside of their regular 10:00 news. Would they have interrupted American Idol? I don't know. But I do know that when I tuned in around 10:35 pm last night I was listening to come caller bitching about the Macon city government during the nightly local call-in show "the Fox Files".
In other words, Fox 24 seemed business as usual. For 10 minutes during the ONLY 10pm news program in the Macon market, it was the usual talk about political issues and nothing about the storms that were knocking trees and power lines down around them.
Maybe I missed something on WGXA. Yes, I think I did. It was called NEWS.
WMGT did not pre-empt NBC programing and went immediately into weather coverage at 11pm. It appeared that Jerry Matthewson did the best he could with limited resources. There were a few reports then on to other news and everyone went home when Jay Leno came on at 11:35.
In previous weather events, we used to get some live updates from Jerry Matthewson, even on weekends when the news department is off. Sadly, I think WMGT continues to show signs of a TV News station in need of life support. Remember they were slow to replace reporters and anchors. And they appear to have a revolving door as far as staffing is concerned. They even have a new live truck, but I rarely see them use it, especially with any real distance from the station. Meaning they don't seem to ever do live reports outside of Macon city limits. Can they not afford the gas?
ALBANY COVERAGE:
WALB had excellent NON-STOP news coverage that was also streamed live on their website. The main anchors stayed on through most of the night and Dawn Hobby reported on the scene in Americus for all of the next day's newscasts. I watched them online and listened to them in the car on B-100.3FM, the Country radio station serving Albany that can be heard as far as 100 miles from Tifton. B-100 airs the WALB News 6:00 newscast daily.
Since I cannot get the only other Albany TV news from Fox 31 where I live, I have no idea about their coverage. But in Columbus, both WTVM and FOX 54 pre-empted programing including American Idol for weather coverage as parts of Columbus also suffered damage. (WTVM provides news for WXTX) WTVM and WRBL News 3 also covered the Americus and Lumpkin Ga tornadoes as these cities are actually part of the Columbus market area.
I do offer my thoughts and prayers to the people who were hit hard by these tornadoes.
