SVR WX Outbreak + EAS-only = Chaos!

[Guest]

http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/576/misc/supertalkms.ram

This is a streaming radio station from Jackson MS, which is under the gun with a severe weather outbreak. WFMN - FM Flora-Jackson, MS.

Now, this is a talk, information station, and the only way they get weather information out to the public is SOLELY EAS! No live information (that I have heard both this season and seasons past), whatsoever!

What does the rest of the STORM 2 K community think about this? Most radio stations around here are weather-aware, and have mobiles flying around the city when severe weather hits.

If I were management, I would make sure that someone is ready to rip and read severe weather information or go wall-to-wall (as is common in my area) for tornado warnings. I don't care if it would be 3am Sunday; people are going to know just as if the weather occurred at 3pm Monday.

[MSRobi911]

Being in Jackson County Mississippi I know what you are talking about. Have never heard of this station before.

About an hour ago we could see it getting dark, we could see the radar on computer and on twc, but there was 1 break in of a station in Mobile, AL to warn their residents above Mobile for severe weather....did any of the two in south MS even break in? NOPE The local station in Biloxi had a thing at the top of the screen that said Tornado Watch......and then the different counties, nothing else. At least the one station in Mobile has first alert radar and was showing county by county what was going on. But you had to watch all the counties in AL/FL till you saw the ones in coastal MS....its a shame!

Mary

[MGC]

I just found out about the tornado watch #88 for south Mississippi and it is 6:20pm. Didn't hear a thing about it on the radio as I drove to work. I found out about the watch because I looked at the NWS radar out of Mobile and thought several of the cells might be severe. The dissimination of severe weather information is very lacking......MGC

[Guest]

I just found out about the tornado watch #88 for south Mississippi and it is 6:20pm. Didn't hear a thing about it on the radio as I drove to work. I found out about the watch because I looked at the NWS radar out of Mobile and thought several of the cells might be severe. The dissimination of severe weather information is very lacking......MGC

This type of stuff is so typical on the weekends and late nights. A bit off topic, but that Jackson radio station has a baseball game on. A station ID period (10 seconds) came and no ID, which tells me there is NO one at the station.

[MGC]

Yep, currently two tornado warning south of Jackson. Hope everyone in the area gets the word. I remember the Brandon tornado in 1992, no warning. Seems many radio stations are automated these days.....MGC

[Guest]

Seems many radio stations are automated these days.....MGC

Exactly!

I remember on our now CLEAR CHANNEL-owned KFAB back in the early 1990s before the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Some evenings you could not listen to the program because every 10 minutes a new warning would be read LIVE.

[MSRobi911]

All we have down on the coast is if you are watching a local TV Station they will put a little line at the top of the screen and say what the warning is and the county or the Mobile stations put it lower left hand corner that show the counties involved and a different color and a legend for the colors. That's about it!

If you turn on the TWC you can see it run across the bottom, unless "the stories" are on...reminds me of what my mom use to call the soaps...

Mary

[MGC]

TWC is not the place for me to obtain up to date information. I have Direct TV and don't get local information.....MGC

[Brent]

The local channels here suck as well. They rarely come on for warnings, and will only go continous if it's bearing down on the city they are in.

[Guest]

The local channels here suck as well. They rarely come on for warnings, and will only go continous if it's bearing down on the city they are in.

The radio stations around here are the same way pretty much, but our television stations have at least some brains. Last year when Hallam, NE, May 22, was being demolished by a later-rated F4, Omaha television stations had wall-to-wall coverage. Hallam is not even in the Omaha metro area; it is near Lincoln, 60 miles away. If it is particularly serious, they will kind of push their geographic boundaries and break into programming; otherwise, yes, a little severe hail, doppler radar tornado, it needs to be in the metropolitan area for much fanfare.

I find that the small town radio stations that haven't been gobled up by a big conglomerate in Texas (hint, hint for folks who are familiar with media companies) have better weather coverage than those in the metropolitan areas.

For example, there is this smaller market radio station up in WestPoint, NE. It is FULL-SERVICE, and they mean it. THis AM station has to sign off at sun down due to FCC regs. Well, I guess they have permission to return to the air at anytime during the night whhen severe weather is approaching the VAST listening area.

Here in big bad Omaha/Council Bluffs, you might hear a youngster in the broadcast biz break in to programming and mention the warning and that is IT!

[simplykristi]

I live in the KC area... Our four local TV stations are very good about putting information out about severe weather.

Kristi