On the final day of the February ratings period, local viewership levels of Wednesday evening's late newscasts were expected to soar due to forecasts of more winter weather in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa.Here is what Omaha TV meteorologists were saying on the 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts:
Bill Randby, KETV (Cox Channel 9):
Omaha Metropolitan: 3-6 inches. "Here in the metro, I anticipate snow beginning around 3 a.m. and at 8 a.m., it'll be snowing pretty hard. Snow is going to be a quick shot moving through the Omaha metro area."
Ryan McPike, KMTV (Cox Channel 5):
Omaha Metropolitan: 4-8 inches. "This is going to blow up right along the Missouri River and points to the east. One thing's for sure. We're going to see some real nasty weather by tomorrow morning."
Tyson Pearsall, KPTM (Cox Channel 10):
Omaha Metropolitan: 5-8 inches. "Snow develops between 2 and 3 a.m. A fairly bad morning commute is what I'm expecting."
Jim Flowers, WOWT (Cox Channel 8):
Omaha Metropolitan: 4-6 inches. "Snow could begin as a period of thundersnow for a couple of hours, at least right at the onset. The way things are looking, the band of heavy snow will align itself up and down the Missouri River."
What Students and Parents Wanted To Hear: WOWT and KETV didn't waste any time delivering the news that several schools in Sarpy County would be closed, running their "tickers" right off the top of their newscasts. KMTV did not break the news until 10:05 p.m. and didn't start its ticker until the main weather segment, 13 minutes into the newscast.
'TV Talk' From The Consultants: "Storm Preps" (KETV) and "Team Coverage" (KMTV).
Taking A Big Chance: WOWT reporter Brian Mastre interviewed an Omaha Public School superintendent regarding the chances that the school district would be closed Thursday. Had OPS made a decision Wednesday night (as several districts in Sarpy County did at around 9:45 p.m.), Mastre's two-minute report would have been outdated and irrelevant.
Dreaded Cliche Award: "Calm Before the Storm" (KMTV)
45 comments:
Around town this morning...the worst drive into work in years! Good job weather guys...it lived up to the hype!
The WOWT morning news is positively pathetic! They have no ability whatsoever to react and adjust to a story like this morning's heavy snow. They were going about their normal lame business about First Birthdays and how the George Foreman Grill was #6 on the list of best career moves.
While the only story on KETV was coverage of the heavy snow.
I'd be very embarassed to be part of that WOWT morning staff.
They all forecasted snow and we got snow! Way to go!! And who would have thought that the morning commute would be this bad... wow! I'm just so impressed!!
Concur with the other guy. Worst morning commute in 20 years of living here.
2-4 inche eh?
It is horrible in Lincoln as well. Much worse than predicted!
Open Letter to Channel Six Management:
You did your viewers a great disservice this morning. When an news event the magnitude of this morning's snowstorm occurs, you DITCH your standard format and provide coverage viewers need.
I'm guessing your morning producer is the least experienced producer on your staff. It showed this morning. Get him/her some help. You wouldn't have that same producer work election night would you? Then why let them hang out to dry on a day people like me depended on up-to-date information - not "this morning's business report" and "first birthdays."
You woefully underperformed today. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
A Former Viewer
Amen to the 10:39 comment.
Then there's that yahoo Jim Siedlecki: "It was pretty good when I came in at 3:30. Ho, ho, ha, ha!"
Yeah, thanks pal.
What happened to our 4-8"
So did northwest Iowa end up getting 12-18" then?
Okay, so meteorology is a very in-exact science. At least they all said it would snow.
You've got to hand it to the mets at "No One's Watching" KMTV and "We Try Hard But No One's Watching" KPTM.
They were the only ones saying at least eight inches.
An Open Letter to 10:39 and 12:34 - a.k.a. "The Channel Six Haters":
Don't like what you see? Then change the channel!!
If you'd been watching KETV, you'd have gotten to see its "Birthdays on the Sevens" segment.
I guess that means you think that the KETV morning producer is the least experienced producer on KETV's staff and needs just as much help for equally woeful underperformance.
In response to "Anonymous" who posted "Open Letter to Channel Six Management" :
How dare you attack the snow coverage by WOWT. They did an excellent job in covering the snowstorm! The analysis of the situation by Jim and Malorie during the cut-ins of the Today Show was phenomenal! They extended their cut-ins when KMTV and KETV did their usual couple of minute cut-ins.
The entire forecast was accurate! WOWT meteorologists had said that the Omaha Metro Area could expect Thudersnow in the morning, while the weather-guessers over at KETV (specifically Bill Randby) said the Thundersnow would only hit Iowa! Give me a break!
Get off your tirade of worthless opinions because you clearly don't have a good understanding of the situation. WOWT has the most experienced and most talented group of people on the air and off the air and how dare you attack their credibility and performance!
It's viewers like you who make metro area citizens seem dumb and uninformed. Your definition of good coverage is far from what many other people expect and you are just one 'lame' individual who's opinion clearly DOES NOT COUNT!
I'm sick and tired of people bashing WOWT. They are the most accurate and experienced in town when it comes to predicting the weather! Back off and get a life!
I REST MY CASE!
WOWT's coverage pre-today show was not as good as KETV or KMTV. They got better as the morning progressed. None of the radio stations were worth a hang (RU listening KFAB, KKAR?) in the morning.
As an earlier poster commented, you ditch your format (including the satellite feeds) and you cover the emergency. I can live without Rush Limbaugh, and the other satellite shows for a day.
You all operate in the public interest. On days like today, you don't have sports guys honking on and on about the latest tragedy afflicting the Bluejays, you make them talk about traffic and weather safety. On days like today, you get your engineer to dust off the actual radio gear and do something called broadcasting, rather than simply dumping the satellite feed into the transmitter.
The ham radio repeater in CB does better traffic than the news stations in the area.
The morning TV shows just need to be real news. Even if it were a listing of events planned for today (like city council agendas, etc.) The fluff really gets in the way.
Channel 6 is as good as any of the other stations (usually), and could be better if they would drop the pointless fluff and the recycled news from last night.
You've got to be kidding me. Jim and Malorie are easily the worst anchor team in Omaha. I usually suffer through them because I really like Scott Akin. But watching those two in the morning is becoming more and more difficult to stomach...Especially when their news coverage is so terrible like it was this morning.
"Don't like what you see? Then change the channel"
Not a bad idea.
Well, WOWT's morning anchor team is certainly much better and more polished than the talking robots over at weather-guessing operation KETV. You give me a break! KETV's morning show was nothing but a piece of "crap" before they brought in John Oakey and Ms. Hammond! KETV copies everything WOWT does, their talent is dry! For several years WOWT had a two anchor team of Tom Knight and Courtny Gerrish while KETV had Ms. DEYO at the helm greeting viewers in the morning. Ever since that "Open Letter to Channel Six Management" post, this section has become a WOWT bashing area and I won't have any of it!
I wonder what happened to Elictia Hammond and Andrea Bredow this morning on KETV. I thought it was odd that they were missing the day of the Big Blizzard, with Brandi Peterson subbing for Elictia and both John Campbell and Roger Schwartz subbing for Andrea.
I really missed my morning Andrea fix.
@ 4:29 PM
I think it might have been scheduled that way because Andrea came in on Sunday morning for storm coverage back then.
As for Elictia, I don't know her schedule, but she isn't on every day of the week, so it's also possible that this was her scheduled day off as well.
Just some thoughts.
You're right. There is no need to pick on WOWT. The only reason why we should criticize them is, say, if we got at least seven inches more snow than was forecast by their Chief Meteorologist, the proclaimed "most experienced" meteorologist in the Heartland.
Oh wait, that happened, didnt it?
I would also like to respond to the Open Letter to Channel 6 Management:
First of all, I work at Channel 6, but I must admit that we did not do the best job in covering the March Blizzard of 2007, as we have named it. Our cut-ins during Today were better, but 7 beat us on quality of coverage overall. Their early morning "First News" is so much better than our "Live at Daybreak" and we're lucky to even keep up with them in sweeps. Today's coverage on 6News wasn't "bad"...it just wasn't "good." Thank God that The Today Show is so popular because Daybreak is always our weakest link...even worse than our weekend evening newscasts (which don't seem that bad when compared to 3 or 7 and their lame weekend broadcasts). I'll give kudos to 7 on their weekend morning product. What we used to be the best at (until Trey and Megan departed) is now a joke. 7 has a good thing going with Brandi P and Todd A. We're gonna get our butts handed to us if we don't watch out.
The anonymous poster (3:39pm) is also employed by Gray/WOWT and is very loyal to the station, which is an admirable trait. However, this person has chosen to not be objective in comparing us to the competition. This inability to be objective and proactive will ultimately be our station's undoing...not that KMTV will ever overtake us. However, until management (and Gray) finally invests more into their Omaha property, there will be continued decline in quality and morale.
Having said all this, let me close by saying that I believe 6News is capable of being THE station of choice in Omaha. But we're not even close, and we won't be until we make some internal changes. I fear that it won't happen until KETV shows up in a book as clearly the top station in all major categories. Thank goodness the Omaha audience isn't very adept to what's going on in local news these days.
And that's the way it really is here at 6News.
4:41pm: You say "Oh wait, that happened, didnt it?"
Actually, Flowers' forecast verifies quite well for Eppley. Right now KETV is scrolling across the top of the screen that Eppley received 5.5".
Let's not forget that during last night's 10pm newscast he said that areas of the metro that got "more" thundershow probably would see more snow than the 4-6 inches shown on his graphic.
Flowers could argue that the amount of thundershow accounts for the greater depths in the western part of the metro.
6newser: Yeah, objectivity seems to be a problem.
Right now KETV is scrolling at the top of the screen that Eppley got 5.5" of snow, but Randby's graphic showed Eppley as getting 6".
If WOWT made the same gaffe, there would already be ten posts slamming them.
It's always fun to read the various spin coming from employees of all the station on these things.
I thought Action3's coverage was the best because they yelled at the loudest volume for the longest period of time.
Yeah, 3 seems to yell a lot--especially Dave Roberts. He must be hard of hearing.
Looks like Flowers and Randby were the least accurate with their initial forecasting of this storm's snowfall totals. I'm sure they were more conservative in their estimates after overshooting last weekend's forecast. Still, I think that ALL of the local stations did a good job in preparing its viewers for this storm. They all said it would start early in the morning and be heavy throughout the early afternoon.
Good job, y'all.
5:02 pm,
The 4-6 inch graphic, slightly to the left of the ever helpful duck snow-angel, seems to cover the entire Omaha area and then some.
I don't see a little smidge pointing that Eppley Airfield will be having 4-6 inches.
I'll agree that KETV also underguessed the amount of snowfall. However, Bill Randby doesn't let his station hail him as the Heartland's Most Experienced Meteorologist.
7:01pm: Maybe you had your TV on mute. During Wednesday night's 10pm newscast Flowers said that areas of the metro getting "more" (and he did not define "more") thundersnow would see more snow than the 4-6 inches shown on his graphic.
Since he said it, I can see how you might have missed it. Don't forget that there's more to the forecast than just the graphic.
I think it would be reasonable to expect that anywhere in the 4-6 inch area on his graphic was fair game for the "more" thundersnow above and beyond 6". (Which the western part of the metro received.)
I'm sure you agree that if the weather folk tried to put every detail in their graphics, the graphics would end up so cluttered to the point of being useless.
Restated and summarized: You have to listen to their narrative along with looking at the graphics to get the entire forecast. The graphic and the narrative added together, Flowers "couched" it enough that his forecast verifies for the metro area.
6newser:
Enjoyed reading your post. It's good to know there are people like you at the station that know things need to be done to "keep up with the Joneses", or even one-up the Joneses.
I fear you're right that WOWT management/Gray won't make changes until the ratings drop off. I also fear that Gray's idea of change may be milk the channel 6 cash cow as long as it can, then sell off the station. Let's hope my fear is unfounded. But then again, look how things at Channel 3 went downhill over the last 10 or so years.
Agree with your comment about Trey and Megan. When Merlin Klaus left, I was kinda hoping Trey might come back as a sports guy. But then Merlin came back- which is okay, too.
Cronemeyer seems like a competent guy, but he talks without much emotion and like a Southerner- s...l...o...w. Crazy enough, if he were working in the Houston market, he'd probably be dissed for talking too fast.
Probably the easiest thing for WOWT to do to improve its product would be to pay more attention to the graphics- misspellings are rampant, and too often the words at the bottom of the screen don't match the report being shown.
Hang in there! You're right, 6News is capable of being "THE" station of choice. But WOWT management and Gray have to want it bad enough to do what it takes. And that will be some work.
I think a lot of you are giving 6 way too much credit. They are suppposedly the Heartland's number one station, they have the history, and they supposedly have the experienced staff. At 11:30, they actually went to their canned story of the week about scams.
When it comes to these kinds of weather events, KETV has the best coverage overall. Action 3 acts like their coverage is the best, but the quality of the actual information is rather lackluster. Just because your reports were louder and on longer doesn't mean they were necessarily better.
These guys obviously are going to miss some, but it kind of irks you when they portray themselves as all knowing. "Heartlands Most Experience Meteorologist" missed again. What is even more frustrating is that "Winter Forecast" crap he promos during the sweeps month, like everybody is on the edge of their seats waiting for that. Go back and check it out. Do some quick searching and you will see that he has completely blown this. What a crock that is.
8:23...
Why would you put a graphic on your website that said 4-6 inches when you're actually telling people on the newscast that there just could be more?
I get it. If you give two different forecasts, you double your chances of being accurate.
The Heartland's Craftiest Meteorlogist!
10:02, you are absolutely right. Jim Flowers said in his vaunted Winter Forecast that December would be above average in the snowfall department.
And yet we didn't get any measurable snow until December 31st.
Where's Elictia and Andrea? Ratings ended Wednesday, so folks took vacation. Both left Wednesday before the storm got here.
I love how the children come out after any storm and critique it as if their careers at Metro or QT give them any credibility on the subject.
If you didn't know that the AM drive was going to be brutal, you were a moron - as it was specifically mentioned, over & over. Did it thundersnow? Yep. Was it windy? Yep. Blowing & drifting causing travel problems? Yep.
After 6" the roads are crap anyway, what the hell difference is there if you put another 2" on top of it????
Why don't some of you Mensas offer to switch jobs for a week with the local weatherfolks? I'll bet they could learn "would you like fries with that" a lot quicker than you'd be able to find Omaha on a map, let alone make a forecast of any sort.
8:39
I guess working at a local TV station and spending most of your time on the internet rather than doing your job - making coffee - makes you smarter than everybody else.
Why don't we start calling people idiots? Classy people over at WOWT.
Working at "Metro or QT" doesn't give them credibility on the subject, that is why they watch the so-called "experts" who have years of education on the subject and thousands of dollars worth of technology and still can't take any criticism when they are labeled as "inaccurate".
I bet if your cup of coffee wasn't hot next time you went to QT, there would be h*** to pay.
Sounds like 8:39 may have struck a nerve.......
(bye the bye, not him/her- just like the thought process)
Don't you experts have class to go to? Oh, right - snow day!
Yes. If all else fails in your argument, you just accuse people of being school children and pumping gas.
In response to 3:22 PM,
I did stop watching Channel 6 because of Jim and Malorie, and in the process I found out that Channel 7 also has better news coverage.
Hey 3:29pm! Calm down for chrissake! Your getting all worked up over an anoymous posting on a blog! GET OVER YOURSELF!!
Also to 3:29 WOWT "employee". While loyalty is admirable, I have to ask. Is this the kind of commentary one can expect from the supposed "Most Experienced" "Heartlands News" station? Talking crap about other stations and telling people to get a life? Acting uber-sensitive about the comments made about your so-called wonderful station? I've got news for you, Your comments make you no better than anyone else. To 6newser, thank you for your objective input.
Anonymous 11:35 and 11:53--
Okay, you wanna an objective opinion? This blog isn't a newspaper, so objectivity isn't required. Sure, 6News does over do it with proclaiming themselves as the Heartland's News Station or the Most Experienced, but isn't it the truth? At least Channel 6 is truthful in there promotions, reporting and writing. It's hard to believe KETV "Omaha's News Leader" would try to even live up to the reputation of Channel 6. KETV says they're Omaha's News Leader, but that's simply not the case.
KETV's news coverage may be good, but their accuracy and truthfulness falls behind the competition. If you watch both Channel 6 and Channel 7 closely, you will find that 6News is more accurate in their forecasts, more conservative in their writing, and truthful when it comes to naming suspects, victims, etc., Glossy promos, blonde, sexy-looking women may attract viewers, but deep down you would think accuracy and truthfulness rises above all.
KETV puts out a great product, they have a very talented group of people, their news coverage is excellent and they go above and beyond to produce the best product they can but it doesn't mean that Channel 6 doesn't do it as well.
Both sides have a great group of talented individuals who know the area, who are familiar with the issues and problems this city faces: crime, poverty, education and whatnot.
I am amazed at how many people attack Channel 6. Look at the competition and look at the bigger picture. A blizzard is a blizzard. We've had them before. Conditions did not warrant every station to be on the air 24/7 providing phone interviews from talent and city/state officials, just to hear them all say: "Stay off the roads!" Take a look outside your window and it becomes clearly apparent why travel would not be advised.
You all think you are knowledgeable and qualified to comment on news coverage of a Blizzard, you're not satisfied with the news coverage-- why don't you do the job yourself? Trust me, most of you would probably back away, but that's the thing, you guys are cowardly enough to hide behind your comments and bashing but when it comes time to step up to the plate and lend meaning and defense to your views and opinions, your worthless.
6Newser: While your opinions lend truth to the situation, how bold of you to attack your place of employment in a blog when you know a lot of people read it. How bold of you to attack your co-workers, it makes all of the hard work and effort they have done go down in vain. It also sounds like you should be working over at Channel 7 since you think the talent is much better.
Your objectivity is jaded in the sense that you are clearly unhappy with the way things are-- if you are that disappointed with the conditions, head over to Hearst, I'm sure they would welcome you with open arms, not saying whether you are qualified enough to perform the tasks or duties.
And yes, while loyalty is admirable, I don't think you can call these posts a kind of commentary. To the above poster, you really expect objectivity on a blog which is operated by the same guy who slammed every news operation in town when "HE" ran the infamous "Ted Brockman" Omaha News blog? Come on, that's asking a little to much from us narrow-minded and uber-sensitive people. Objectivity isn't needed. What is needed is the TRUTH, something a lot of you lack when you all bash and pick on WOWT.
Look at the bigger picture and realize that the world of television doesn't all rely on blonde, sexy-women with big boobs. The industry doesn't and shouldn't rely on glossy, fake promos which attempt to draw in the viewer. The industry doesn't and shouldn't evolve around 'good' news coverage that is tainted with bad writing, poor methods of obtaining information. . . cough. . .reporting directly from scanner traffic. . . . cough . . . KETV. . . . cough! --
What this market needs is viewers who understand the situation and who are able to appreciate the quality of work because if you head down south, television stations there make Action 3 News seem like a small chunk from the fast-paced and high-urgency environment.
This world has so many narrow-minded and uninformed individuals, it's hard know what to actually expect from viewers who seem to be disappointed and unsatisfied with anything and everything quality work has to offer.
Don't get all emotional on us now Ms. Persaud!
Amazing how when anyone posts something NOT bashing WOWT, they're automatically an employee.....Didn't know you had to have a club badge to participate in Ted's/Sean's life after TV.
Again, for the record, I was not a party to the "Omanews" blog, nor did I ever find out the identity of "Ted Brockman."
People who know me will vouch that I do not have the time - nor the interest - to write such a blog when I already have several outlets in place (namely this site and The Reader's print edition) to share media-related news.
1:30 AM:
At least Owen Lei had the courage to sign his name to his posts.
Allen Grant
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