01-06-2010 IS KANSAS CITY MEDIA'S SNOWGASM A BIT OVERDONE? By John Landsberg, Bottom Line Communications First, let us note that it is January in Kansas City. As a general rule, this is the time of the year that is often referred to as "winter" in the Midwest when the temperatures drop dramatically and snowflakes sometimes fall from the sky. In the summer the area becomes very hot and a veritable mini-hell. Fall and spring are somewhere in-between in the Midwest. In the past, providing over-the-top weather reports were often considered the sole responsibility of KCTV5's weather wonk Katie Horner. In fact, the term "snowgasm" was created by Bottom Line Communications a few years ago to summarize how she often responds to severe weather. Yes, she did run into the studio during severe weather and begin broadcasting in blue jeans. Now, however, the news media has collectively had its own major "snowgasm" over the 2-4 inches of snow that fell today in the area. Here are some random thoughts about the weather coverage: * The snow is the ONLY news being covered today. KSHB's DeAnn Smith even "Tweeted" PR folks bascially not to even bother to pitch anything other than weather stories. * Radio stations such as KMBZ provided useful snow information faster and better than any other media outlets, particularly if you were driving. As long as the storm occurs during a weekday they have it covered. Unfortunately, on weekends you are on your own since equipment doesn't seem to cover a storm well without humans. * Gary Lezak at KSHB goes into full marketing mode when a storm is near. He not only blogs minute-by-minute updates, but will go on any radio show anywhere to give his predictions. He went on a sports talk show and pretty much predicted the snow would come sometime today and could be anything between 2-32 inches. He even gave percentages that thoroughly covered his butt under any conditions. * TV folks (except KSHB) started their morning broadcasts at 4 a.m. (instead of the obscene regular time of 5 a.m.) This was really quite amazing since absolutely no one predicted any snow to start until at least 1 p.m. in the afternoon. It was riveting news that a storm might hit in nine hours... * KSHB, the station that advertises itself as the weather station, was the only one not to start its newscast at 4 p.m. once the snow was actually falling. * Grade schools, high schools and colleges throughout the area closed in anticipation of the horrendous weather. However, the Kansas and Missouri basketball games will go on as scheduled. At least our priorities are in the right place. * It might not need to be said, but severe weather drives ratings. Stay tuned for ongoing coverage.
01-07-2010
WDAF NOT ON AT 4 A.M. "WDAF-FOX4 was NOT on early on Wed the 6th. We came on at the usual 5am. We DID go on early thurs morning at 4 am, because it actually warranted it, we felt. "There was NO reason to go on at 4 am on Wed morning when absolutely nothing was happening." --Mark Alford, FOX4
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