New Year's Resolutions and Where is Prater

I somehow deleted all of your New Year's Resolutions you passed along the way. Strange thing though is that the post had nearly as many comments wondering what happened to Prater. I managed to get those posted as comments. Some recently have posted they cannot find any info on Prater. I have heard many different stories generally pointing to KAKE not resigning him and a part where his job was posted on the internet possibly before he was even officially notified. However as of Saturday night his picture and bio are still on the KAKE site. It gave me a chance to read his bio. Very impressive with the three Murrow Awards, various Emmy nominations and of course the big regional Emmy win with the design of the "KAKEland WeatherPlex "set for '06. The awards that impressed me most, was that he is the current defending and two time champ of the State Fair Grape Stomp. -Hal
http://www.kake.com/station/bios/weather/822037.html

New Year's Resolutions

Let me know what you think the Resolutions for the TV stations should be for the upcoming year. I'll tally them all up and post them for the new year. You can be serious, but also be sure to have fun. -Hal

The nonWinter Weather Woody Update

With the 10PM newscasts over and the fact I can still see the pavement in my driveway, I am starting to have doubts with the 5-7+ inch snow forecasts for Wichita. Obviously 2 of the 3 TV forecasts didn't or couldn't come to grips with admitting defeat at least in the Wichita area. Let me get this out in the open, yes, somewhere will get 10 inches, but I will not lose sleep tonight saying I will be right in writing that "most" of the weathermen missed the snow forecast for the Wichita area. Also let me get it out that I am sure some meteorologist will say, "Hal, forecasting isn't easy, if its so easy why aren't you doing it?" Hey, I do not have an AMS seal nor meteorology degree and don't pretend to have one, but lately as a whole the forecasting on the supposed "big" storms in Wichita has been lousy. I say majority because a different station the last 2 storms has been decent enough to back up at the last minute and admit that things looked a little differently then they originally thought. With the ice storm earlier this week, KWCH's Ross Janssen started to compare and contrast and alluded to the fact that the ice may not be so severe in Wichita because of a number of factors. With Friday's storm, KAKE's Jay Prater gets the accolades for saying that although he still had the map saying 5 in. for Wichita he thought the longer time went it was looking more like 3 in. for Wichita. One station not named in backing off its predictions of doom with neither of these storms, KSN. Can't a meteorologist admit defeat once in awhile? Congrats to Prater for saying that he may be wrong on Friday. To me, I think that resonates with viewers more than a meteorologist who will not back up on his forecasts and say, "Things don't look like I thought they were so I have to change and lower my predictions." -Hal

Weekend Weather Woody Warning

We just cannot get enough of the Weather Woodys lately with all the weathermen last night calling for snow accumulations of 4 inches and up for the area Tonight into Tomorrow. Once again I have to say I continue to be impressed with Ross Janssen at KWCH. He isn't overly flashy and he tells you the facts and what to expect and lets the viewers decide if they want to get excited or not. He doesn't force the viewer into excitement or panic.
The Attack at KWCH - It was interesting to hear the thuds in the background of the newscasts on KWCH Yesterday. A few times they informed viewers that the noise was chunks of ice falling from their tower. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody - Review

It was a storm that missed Wichita, for the most part, but did target areas of the local TV stations' viewing area. There was plenty of warning on this storm and the ice it could bring over the weekend. As we moved in on Monday, the ice accumulation predictions were set up for central Kansas including Wichita. A comment to a previous post mentioned KWCH's Ross Janssen and KSN's Andrew Kozak and their overall calm demeanor in their forecasts. I must ditto that and also say I thought Janssen did a nice job this week filling in for Merril Teller on the main casts. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think he was the first to bring the possibility out that this storm may not be as bad as 2005 for the Wichita area on Monday Night. He had a compare/contrast graphic explaining there was less wind and the temperatures were going to be higher than in 2005 and that might change things for the area.
As for news coverage I thought KWCH was most consistent of the 3. In the past I mentioned at times, although dominant, I feel KWCH can be somewhat safe and conservative as the long time #1 station. I must say this storm showed a slightly different side. They threw everything at this storm and I thought definitely dominated coverage for the most part. KAKE didn't do all that bad and normally would have given KWCH a run, but 12 was so dominant this time around, it wasn't that close. There has been some interesting comments regarding KSN's decision to lead with the Morrison story on Sunday and not the upcoming weather. I defended the decision at the time, but maybe that was a preview of things to come. I thought KSN was a little slow to react on the snow early on as it came in on Monday and Tuesday. Maybe that is a good thing with KSN, because Dave Freeman's weather segments can normally add enough hysteria for the 3 stations combined without the news staff going overboard. I thought the other 2 had more stories and more reporters on the storm. Quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality, but for the most part the many stories were decent for this storm. -Hal

Winter Weather Woody Warning Day 5

First, Let me say that from all indications and forecasts this certainly will not be a storm to mess with it. If you want a time where strong coverage is needed, now and into tomorrow is certainly the time for it. Not Sunday night when KAKE's lead story was a couple who feed Geese in the cold and snowy weather. Hey, I am the first one to admit I like feature stories, yes straight feature stories, not feature stories made into news stories so you can have your token weather story to meet the need to seem like you are on top of the weather. For Sunday night I thought KWCH had the best weather hyped story in giving a good overall wrap up of the storm from a few years ago. Yes, other did have that angle in other stories but I thought KWCH had it tailored best. However the best coverage on Sunday went to KSN, for NOT leading with weather and instead with the Morrison story.
Tonight at 6 KWCH was strong going into 2 segments with weather related stories. Some were a little bit of a stretch like the driving school instructor, but they didn't repeat each other and were for the most part good. It was good having Jim Grawae in Ark City showing the heavy rain and also a story from Salina. A good snapshot from around the area. At 10, they focused a little more in Wichita, with Grawae doing a story from Wichita with video from throughout the day. The most useful information came from backup meteorologist Ross Janssen who compared the conditions from this storm to that of 2005 and the temps being slightly warmer and the wind lighter compared to the last major ice storm. All the stations have brought up the 2005 storm, but I think this was the first time so far, that anyone as showed how it might be a little different and maybe a little less worse than 2005. It made for a good overall complete product on the storm to come.
Over on KAKE I thought, especially at 10PM that had two stories with similar angles and not all that different. It shows they definitely are going big with weather, but for a station who was over hyping the little stuff from last week and weekend, you would think they could have a little stronger story selection at 10PM. Maybe they already wasted those stories the previous few days.
KSN leads with weather now everyday, even if it is sunny and 70. Well it is strange to me that when now you might want additional info right off the top newscast, the weather intro is 20 seconds at most and onto the weather news stories. Now, they did go back to the weather and what is to come later in the segment, but by then I think many who are watching are switching over to another station so they get that immediate answer to the question of how much and what will it be like in the morning. As for stories they had two at 10 with different angles with an interesting angle on how the overflow shelter can't handle the demand for the homeless. -Hal

Its Winter Weather Woody Warning Time!!!

I'll call the "Winter Weather Season" as the time generally between November through March where we have a chance for crazy alarmist forecasts, constant reminders to slow down, instructions on how to drive on ice and numerous measurements with rulers and occasionally yardsticks, otherwise known as a Winter Weather Woody Warning. After watching KAKE at 6, I think we are in our first Winter Weather Woody Warning of the season. I know there was ice this morning and sure some accidents and fatalities, but is it worth leading a whole newscast with a story showing minor fender benders and the interview with police and troopers telling people to slow down. No. Its a waste of a couple of minutes. Today it is worth an anchor reading over maybe 15 seconds of video, max. The storm isn't even to hit until tomorrow and I am sure then we will hear even more fun stuff and shots of stores unpacking shovels. My question, annually after seeing every "first season snowfall shovel story:" Where do everyones shovels go from April-December? Is there that many people moving into Kansas in that time frame, to sell that many shovels? Surely everyone just can't lose a shovel in a few months. Maybe they are disposable. Who knows? -Hal

Fun Link

Thanks to the reader for the link. It is very funny especially after Tuesday night.

http://hdnews.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0041/t.4648.html

If you want to comment please post it under the "Gremlins" post. -Hal

"The Gremlins" at KSN

A commentor wanted to know what went down on KSN Tonight. I tuned in about the time that new reporter Jennifer Pruitt is staring in the camera as her story doesn't play, then the uncomfortable pause between her and Anita as they and everyone else must figure out what is going on around them. This is far from the first time a technical glitch or as meteorologist Leon Smitherman referred to it later as a "gremlin" has struck KSN since they switched to a computerised system awhile back. I'll assume they still have the system that messed them up many months ago and set up the infamous "F**K Off Buzz" incident and numerous other system flare ups, since then. I think the station does good product, it is just a shame that it is marred by technical glitches that appear to be allowed to continue and rear its ugly head. I'm not quite a traditional viewer since I watch 3 stations at a time and might have a more critical eye, but even someone like me is growing tired of the messes. In my case it just provides more material to blog about, but if I was at home just wanting to see the news, at what point do I just give up on KSN and watch one of the others, if I haven't made the switch already? -Hal