The agenda is important, but their biggest “target” is viewers. They’ve been remaking/re-branding the channel for the last couple of years, but much of their reality programming hasn’t worked out very well. So, they’re always on the lookout for a major weather event to juice the ratings.
I’m a weather buff and I’ve been watching their coverage since early afternoon. I think you said it well when described them as being in full “apocalypse” mode. They’ve actually got Jim Cantore broadcasting from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, but I’ve noticed they’ve put him in a small room with one of the SPC’s coordinating mets who just happens to be his former college classmates.
Still, it’s a bit funny that the “experts” at TWC put Mike Bettes in SW Missouri when most of the tornadic activity has been in Nebraska and Iowa (so far), and conditions are getting ripe in SE Oklahoma and much of Arkansas is under a PDS watch.
A friend of mine who’s still in broadcast news tells me that wall-to-wall weather coverage will boost your ratings 15-20% at a minimum, and if you’ve got a met who’s well known in the market, the ratings go even higher.
There will be a lot of “weather-gasms” on the TWC and at local stations in the south and Midwest over the next couple of days.
I try to like TWC but I just can't.
much of their reality programming hasn't worked out very well.
That said I really enjoyed the admittedly stupid Iceberg Hunters!
Been in Pittsburgh radio since the early '80's.
Very difficult market to predict.
Waiting to retire I can say today it's all smoke and mirrors, Has been for a long time.
I have my own modest PWS and it is more accurate than TV/radio forecasts.
One problem is radio now relies on TV forecasts (branding/cross promo) which typically covers a larger area. So we forecast snow in our "local" area when in reality it can be a hundred miles away or a thousand feet higher in elevation.
One year to retire...not that it means much in radio...but I don't want to make waves, LOL! My company has gone from 30+ markets to less than 20 in a few years. Tulsa, OK City and west of the Mississippi are all sold.
Outside of Pittsburgh and a couple of FL stations the company is done.