Weather nation? Is it a goner already?

[Dee_Ann]

We've got some really nasty rain coming through so I wanted to hop over to WN on 87w C-band.

There's some tard-toon running with the e/i watermark in the corner.







Seriously ?

Oh, and this same exact cartoon is running simultaneously on PBJ.... They eventually kicked in some commercials and they ran a commercial for, of all things, Weather Nation.

Some time back I went to check WN in the wee hours of the morning because we had some severe weather coming through the area and they were running 30 minute infomercials.

What's up with this? This is not a legit weather channel if they are playing this nonsense. When things are bad outside you can't just wait until morning when the informercials are over or until after lunch for the cartoons to be over with.

Is this channel floundering, gasping for it's last breath?


I'm of the opinion that this is a useless channel to me. I live in hurricane country and this is just not going to work.

Sorry, I just had to let off some steam, this is just so stupid!

 

[Mr Tony]

nope. Every OTA channel has to show 3 hours of E/I programming. Weathernation is an OTA channel in some markets. Radio asked about it a month ago so I'll refer to that thread (I dont want to retype my answer)

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/275435-weathernation-has-me-confused.html

That "E/I" in the corner is a dead giveaway

 

[Dee_Ann]

nope. Every OTA channel has to show 3 hours of E/I programming. Weathernation is an OTA channel in some markets. Radio asked about it a month ago so I'll refer to that thread (I dont want to retype my answer)

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/275435-weathernation-has-me-confused.html

That "E/I" in the corner is a dead giveaway

Oh. Ok, thank you, I'll read the link.

Personally I think if they have to do this, they should run something EDUCATIONAL and or INFORMATIVE. This cartoons they are running are neither.
They could have like the science guy explaining weather to the kids. NASA would run stuff sort of like that, if I recall.

This E/I law fails completely, on real OTA channels, I have never once seen a truly educational or informative show for kids. Not once.
Excluding the NASA stuff of course as it's not OTA.

edit: Ooops... I forgot I posted to that thread last month. My mind isn't operational yet. Not enough coffee soaked in this morning. Working on it..

 

[Mr Tony]

I wondered the same thing when I first tuned in to the country network (OTA subchannel) and saw some goofy kids show on it too. I thought it was just the "main" stations but its apparently every OTA station

 

[waylew]

Of course,isn't forecasting the weather EDUCATIONAL and INFORMATIVE : D

Now if they were actually live 24/7,had something resembling a schedule and quit running that ****in blockbuster commercial every 30 seconds,and there it is as I type ; /

Dee,if you really want to see what's headed your way quick,try this;

NWS Enhanced Radar Mosaic: South Plains Sector Loop

You can click inside the image to get your nearest local radar too.

 

[TNGTony]

The local OTA weather radar sub-channel always has "Ask Gimly", an idiotic children's show with a guy in a dog suit, on every Sunday morning. It would seem that is a good time, but during football season, it SUCKS because I want to know what the latest is on the weather for tailgating and the game.

 

[Tron]

Would be great for them to produce a kids show about weather that explains fronts, storm systems, the seasons, etc., and run that during the mandatory E/I timeslot.

A program like that would truly be educational and informative for all of us!

 

[melgarga]

Would be great for them to produce a kids show about weather that explains fronts, storm systems, the seasons, etc., and run that during the mandatory E/I timeslot.

A program like that would truly be educational and informative for all of us!

Now there you go expecting government regulations to have a truly useful purpose for those affected and make coherent, logical sense, lol.................
If we didnt have halls, hills and capitals full of morons that do nothing but sit around and think up stupid, ineffective mandates for the populous we'd have hoards of sheisters and ambulance chasers scratching their collective unemployed asres.
Can a mandate be fixed? Probably, eventually, maybe, but if they did it right the 1st time they couldnt spend (waste) time in committee revising, rephrasing and revamping (ineffective) laws to begin with. They call it public service, I say.......self justifying JOB SECURITY!
I totally support educational programming, but much of what I see passing for it doesnt fit my definition.

PS - How much rain did you get Dee?

 

[TNGTony]

TV shows are much more expensive to produce than the get rights to reair a nearly free, old crap-toon or children's show. Ask Gilby (TV Series 2003– ) - IMDb (not Ask Gimly as I stated above) has the production values of a BAD public access show and is uber-cheap to buy. I would like to see WCPO take some of the weather answers segments they do through the week and tack them together as an E/I show. But the editor's time is probably more valuable than the price of this truly bad syndicated show.

But let's keep politics out of this thread please.

 

[radio]

Sorry, Tony...Actually, one can't keep politics completely out of a thread caused by a government regulation. True? Dumb FCC moves are prominent in our discussions on this board.

And, it makes NO sense for the FCC regulation on requirement for education/information to apply to a 100 percent dedicated weather-format station designed for UPLINK, not for local-only origination. (meaning a local market only station.)

All it will take to change things.... is a major weather "event" not being covered during this government mandate time period by a weather channel, and you open the floodgates to public outcry against the particular weather service that is too busy meeting its "FCC requirements" to "protect" the public. Remember, we're a very litigious society.

 

[TNGTony]

We already had a weather event on a Sunday morning during that time period and the station broke in with the weather info. Of course it was an "It's going to rain hard" warning. My favorite type of "cry wolf" warnings that make people stop paying attention to ALL weather warnings.

TV stations (ALL TV STATIONS) are charged with serving their communities. In the era where ownership caps are a thing of the past and the very strict programming guidelines established in 1934 and just as relevant today as they were when they were written have been relaxed to the point of uselessness his vestige of EI programming that has ALWAYS been a requirement for OTA TV stations seems ridiculous. All the changes in the Communications acts are not to serve the public, allow for local ownership and programming or anything else than helping the mega-corps that own 98% of all electronic outlets make more money. The FCC makes regulations to enforce the laws that Congress passes and the President signs. And lately these laws have been more and more to allow stations to make money, not to serve the public. The E/I requirement is something that is left over from earlier regulations and is being enforced as directed by Congress and the President who signed the law (in this case Clinton, then reaffirmend by Bush II.)

 

[Dee_Ann]

PS - How much rain did you get Dee?

Over the past few days, a LOT. So far since the first of this year we've gotten more rain than we got in all of last year.
Since I know what my yard looks like when a 5,000 gallon swimming pool suddenly gives out, I can safely say that there was about 60,000 gallons of water standing in my yard on Saturday evening.

This photo was before it really got bad. A lot more rain fell after this and it got much deeper. The islands of green you see, that's winter grass that's over a foot tall so those areas, it's DEEP. Most of the yard was got 8 to 10 inches deep and my entire patio was underwater. I was afraid it was going to come into the house!



It cleared up today and a lot of it has drained off so now there's about 5,000 gallons out there now. It's going to take at least three more days before the standing water is gone and a full week before the mud dries up where the dog won't be tracking it in the house. It's supposed to get into the high 70's this week so the mosquitoes are about to get BAD... The county still won't spray.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Sorry, Tony...Actually, one can't keep politics completely out of a thread caused by a government regulation. True? Dumb FCC moves are prominent in our discussions on this board.

And, it makes NO sense for the FCC regulation on requirement for education/information to apply to a 100 percent dedicated weather-format station designed for UPLINK, not for local-only origination. (meaning a local market only station.)

All it will take to change things.... is a major weather "event" not being covered during this government mandate time period by a weather channel, and you open the floodgates to public outcry against the particular weather service that is too busy meeting its "FCC requirements" to "protect" the public. Remember, we're a very litigious society.

Yeah, like a hurricane. Or another tornado like those that hit Joplin or OKC..
We get LOTS of hurricanes here on the Gulf of Mexico.

One thing I would like to mention, I have a weather alert radio. It sounds an a very annoying alarm that won't shut off without me getting up to push a button.
When there is a weather event the NWS sends a signal to trigger these radios and you're suppose to go listen to them.
BUT, here's the deal. Baton Rouge. They are HUNDREDS of mile away from us. And storms there trigger the alarm here.
And it's pointless. I've lived here 51 years and weather ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS blows from NW to SE and no storms ever, not once, never have blown this way FROM Baton Rouge. Weather there has ZERO effect on us here.
It's STUPID to trigger our alarms here, hundreds of miles away when history has proven that no storm was ever blown in from that direction.

And it's not just them but every little hick town and Parish for 300 miles in every direction that triggers our alarms. And the d*mn thing goes off sometimes 8 or 10 times a day, several days a week.
I get sooooo sick of having to go reset it that I finally just shut the stupid thing off and I only turn it on when I know there is a hurricane on the way.
That means I have to rely on TV weather to see things like all other storms. Tornadoes (rare and small here), lightning, violent fronts, etc.. I would like to stay informed.

One of the advantages of me going over to the Dark Side (Dish Network) and having a 1m dish, I'm pulling signals down so crazy strong that there's little chance even heavy rain will affect it.
I'll have The Weather Channel sometime this week. The REAL weather channel.

Oh, that reminds me, isn't there a weather channel on one of the C-band Anik satellites that's ITC?


Actually, I want to buy one of those home weather stations. My uncle has one but it's pretty basic. The kind I want costs about $700..

 

[papabruski]

I haven't found much reliable weather information ITC via FTA, so I don't depend on it at all.
First line of information comes from weather radio via NOAA broadcasts. I keep 2 scanners with WX buttons...one in the house and one in the camper...so I can receive information and plan my day. I also keep a small portable weather scanner in my daypack that accompanies me when I leave the house.
Once, a few years ago, I sent an email to NOAA headquarters requesting that they get the local signal transmitter fixed because it wasn't working. I received a nice email in response from the local transmitting authority asking that I contact them first when I had a complaint. So, next time an outage occurred, I contacted them via telephone and had to insist for 15 minutes that they get the transmitter fixed. (Their transmitter is on top of a mountain and not easily accessible during certain seasons.)
Most often, I check NOAA National Weather Service online for my area. They are both graphical and descriptive as well as mostly accurate. Another online service that I like is stormpulse.co_.
Best bet...be prepared for the season you are in.

 

[waylew]

You mean "the real" NEVER The Weather Channel ; /

 

[freezy]

omg thats what the "e/i" thingy is for.

 

[T_N_T]

Yeah, like a hurricane. Or another tornado like those that hit Joplin or OKC..
We get LOTS of hurricanes here on the Gulf of Mexico.

One thing I would like to mention, I have a weather alert radio. It sounds an a very annoying alarm that won't shut off without me getting up to push a button.
When there is a weather event the NWS sends a signal to trigger these radios and you're suppose to go listen to them.
BUT, here's the deal. Baton Rouge. They are HUNDREDS of mile away from us. And storms there trigger the alarm here.
And it's pointless. I've lived here 51 years and weather ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS blows from NW to SE and no storms ever, not once, never have blown this way FROM Baton Rouge. Weather there has ZERO effect on us here.
It's STUPID to trigger our alarms here, hundreds of miles away when history has proven that no storm was ever blown in from that direction.

And it's not just them but every little hick town and Parish for 300 miles in every direction that triggers our alarms. And the d*mn thing goes off sometimes 8 or 10 times a day, several days a week.
I get sooooo sick of having to go reset it that I finally just shut the stupid thing off and I only turn it on when I know there is a hurricane on the way.
That means I have to rely on TV weather to see things like all other storms. Tornadoes (rare and small here), lightning, violent fronts, etc.. I would like to stay informed.

One of the advantages of me going over to the Dark Side (Dish Network) and having a 1m dish, I'm pulling signals down so crazy strong that there's little chance even heavy rain will affect it.
I'll have The Weather Channel sometime this week. The REAL weather channel.

Oh, that reminds me, isn't there a weather channel on one of the C-band Anik satellites that's ITC?


Actually, I want to buy one of those home weather stations. My uncle has one but it's pretty basic. The kind I want costs about $700..

So, purchase a newer All-Hazards Weather Radio, one with S.A.M.E.(Specific Area Message Encoding) Technology, also figure out your "FIPS"(Federal Information Processing Standards) codes for your county and you won't get warnings from 300 miles away. I know they have ones that have S.A.M.E. at my Kroger and Publix stores here, and they are like 30 or 40 bucks.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrsame.htm

 

[Dee_Ann]

So, purchase a newer All-Hazards Weather Radio, one with S.A.M.E.(Specific Area Message Encoding) Technology, also figure out your "FIPS"(Federal Information Processing Standards) codes for your county and you won't get warnings from 300 miles away. I know they have ones that have S.A.M.E. at my Kroger and Publix stores here, and they are like 30 or 40 bucks.

NOAA Weather Radio SAME Info

I have never heard of these new radios. Thank you, I will look into it for sure! The one I have is like almost 20 years old.

 

[Mr Tony]

Oh, that reminds me, isn't there a weather channel on one of the C-band Anik satellites that's ITC?

yup. But its The Weather Network and MétéoMédia which are just for Canada

 

[T_N_T]

I have never heard of these new radios. Thank you, I will look into it for sure! The one I have is like almost 20 years old.

Let me know if you need help deciding which one to get, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable with Weather Radio's.