A Lot of Wind and Rain, Bob

The BBQ Pit
1

Why the fuck is it that every news outlet has to send hordes of reporters and camera crews down to Florida to cover the latest hurricane? I’m not saying that the event isn’t news worthy, or that they should ignore it, but do we really need reports from every fucking city in Florida on how bad things are? Especially since everyone’s showing basically the same image: The ocean whipped into a frenzy, palm trees bending under the wind, torrents of rain blasting about, and a reporter or two standing there, possibly strapped to a pole going, “As you can see, there’s a lot of wind and rain.”

Once this reporter’s done giving his report, they immediately cut to another reporter 100 miles away. Is this guy relaxing on the beach, or in a shelter, talking to evacuees? Nope. He’s standing in a near identical looking spot and saying, “As you can see, there’s a lot of wind and rain.”

And they keep on, cutting from pole strapped reporter to pole strapped reporter, with occassional cuts to the reporter who’s inside one of the tracking facilities, who shows us on the monitor there, the same radar image that’s currently plastered in the lower right hand part of our TV screen of the hurricane engulfing the entire state of Florida.

Then cut back to the reporter in the studio in New York, Atlanta, Washington, or wherever, looking concerned and making noises about how he/she hopes everyone comes out okay. Then back to the folks strapped to poles.

Come on, you bastards, show us what it’s like outside in one city, talk to the evacuees, talk to the FEMA folks, and then cover something else for a few minutes. Don’t just constantly flip from one city to another, showing the same crap, while ignoring events in the rest of the world. You do know that there’s around six billion people outside the state of Florida, and while we’re all pulling for Floridians to come out of this thing okay, we’d kind of like to know what’s going on in our neck of the woods as well. Thanks.

2

They ought to send sportscasters.

“There’s the mobile home. The gust. Oh my God, that one is out of the park! I don’t believe it, Bill!”
I’ve been in a few of those before, it’s not any fun at all. Kind of like a Mets game. Hope all you FL Dopers are okay.

3

I’m in Tallahassee, and my roommates and I have been watching this crap for the past few days. First it was watching the eye float over the ocean right next to the area where our parents live, then watching it travel over the state. Today we’ve got some feeder bands, and maybe eventually this thing will go away. Right now we’ve got hurricane and tornado warnings in the area, and luckily the cable and internet haven’t crapped out yet. I’ve been through Andrew, and thus I’m not overly concerned about my fate in this hurricane. I must admit, though, that I find the reporters out there in the storms to possibly be the most expendable morons in the newscenter that day. On the local channels, I have the choice of watching the hurricane or a bunch of evangelical churches on television. At least cable’s not as concerned with the hurricane.

4

Hey, nashiitashii! Welcome to the boards. Stay safe. (In the hurricane, not Tallahassee. Well, both.)

I’ve been watching pretty much all day, too. Earlier today on the Weather Channel, one of the female on-site reporters flipped out about a little piece of a roof that was blowing around- “LOOK OUT, JERRY! LOOK OOUUUUT!” She ran behind a pillar or something while the camera man coolly panned across to the little scrap of whatever that had her all a-twitter. It was great. The best part is, they keep replaying it like it’s an example of Weather Channel heroism, instead of idiots putting themselves in harm’s way to confirm that, yes indeed, it does rain during a hurricane.

5

There was a great shot yesterday of the NBC weatherman from the Today Show being blown right into the Weather Channel guy, on camera on a live shot.

And I saw that itty bitty roof piece that woman flipped out over, too – it was pretty clear she was looking for an excuse to get the hell back to some kind of shelter. I don’t think when she signed on to stand out in a hurricane, she didn’t realize it wouldn’t be all fun and games. (Except for the crazy people like Jim Cantori, or the woman on Guam named Barbara who’s been standing out in storms for 20+ years – they’re storm junkies, clearly!)

Expendable morons indeed.

6

This dumb shit always cracks me up. I think the implication is ‘There’s a huge storm, but you won’t believe us unless we send some jackass out into the middle of it wearing a slicker and hollering into a microphone.’

7

Remember that they do remotes with the flimsiest of excuses ALL THE TIME. “City Hall debates garbage pickup” and there they are, standing in front of an anonymous building at 11:13 PM and reading 3 sentences.

KNTV has a segment spotlighting a story in the morning paper. The PR flak (I assume) stands out in front of the newspaper offices each time. Wow!

If something is actually happening, they cannot help themselves.

8

We get that in the Midwest every winter - any heavy snowfall and/or crippling drop in temperature means that someone (or as I call them The One Who Lost in Rock/Scissors/Paper) will be filmed outdoors telling us that yes, the white stuff falling from the sky is snow or that a -20 F windchill is very cold.
I especially enjoy those vignettes when the reporter has clearly chosen looking cute over dressing for the weather. You can always spot someone who recently moved to Chicago when they are filmed in a snow storm wearing a trenchcoat and no hat or gloves.

9

Preach it, folks.

The whole “weatherdude in rainslicker fighting against hurricane winds” is just so pathetic. Yes, we know what a hurricane is, and if you tell us that the winds are 120mph we’ll believe you.

Idiots.

10

I think the real reason is so that they have filler for their Weather Center promos they run to show you that they are the ones you should turn to for severe weather information. I have seen the local stations turn footage around within about 2 hours after the event, which is ludicrous because the event wasn’t that big to begin with.

Vlad/Igor

11

They send them out there in case the camera guy can catch a shot of a roof being blown off.

Honestly though, having lived through two hurricanes in three weeks and getting wall-to-wall coverage on the radio, I actually didn’t know Pres. Clinton was having bypass surgery until yesterday. I was hungry for other news besides the fact that it was windy and rainy and not a good idea to go outside.

Although, I think they can go ahead and keep reminding people that when the traffic light is not working, treat it as a four-way stop. Not enough people hear that.

12

Or something like that footage of the captain and first mate struggling to dock that yacht in Palm Beach. Yes, it was interesting the first couple of times it was shown, but I’m over it now that I’ve seen it every fifteen minutes for the last day and a half. I’ve also seen the same shot of the roof peeling off a mobile home and the collapsing canopy of a Citgo station approximately 5,212 times.

13

Yes, but they want you to know that they are The Station To Tune To for Breaking News.

It’s all about oneupsmanship. If channel 6 goes to brave the wind and rain on the coast, how can channel 2 sit warm and cozy in the studio, sipping coffee?

14

Heh. A couple of years ago, one of the local stations had a gaffe about such things that made it on to the air. We were having what passes for a snowstorm in these parts, and the prime time weather man was on the air at 3 AM or so giving updates on the weather (“It’s a disaster, folks! There’s half an inch on the ground! Don’t go out, you might get stuck!” :rolleyes: ), and thinking that they had cut away for the moment, he started debating about going home and how it would look if he bailed but the weathermen on the other stations stayed on the air. Evidently, the guy was pretty tired and cranky and was using words which put the station in violation of FCC regulations.

15

Was the mate a mighty sailor man, and was the skipper brave and true?

16

Welcome to the Boards. Once again, a hurricane brings out the TallyDopers.

Someone mentioned in the other thread about Frances, that it seems newscasters get a little down when a hurricane downsizes or weakens. Here in Tallahassee they were getting so hyped up. They had me thinking the storm was going to plow into Tallahassee, restrengthen and become a Cat. 5 by the time it made landfall. I mean they didn’t exactly say that, but I was prepared for it to be REALLY bad. Right now it’s misting outside, and a couple of guys are playing basketball outside my window at my apartment complex.

Good thing though. I was hoping it wouldn’t get worse.

I love watching them flip out on TV though. I didn’t see the footage that you guys are talking about. Wish I did. I spent most of my time sleeping on the bed or the couch.

Jenny*

17

You mean you’d like them to get back to the story of the boy scouts adopting a road.

I love it when the weather is the big story. The more reporters with a chance of getting sucked out to sea on film, the better.

18

Adopting a road, hell! I’m more worked up over the sex offenders in Sumner Co.! I want my Dirty Laundry!

Sting/Henley

19

My husband asked the same thing! The skipper was barefoot in swim trunks and laughing hysterically when they tried to interview him.

The funny thing is that the yacht broke its moorings again and ended up wedged between two other boats further down the Intracoastal Waterway.

20

You forgot the international storm symbol – the stop sign vibrating back and forth in the wind.

Check out Excerpts from The Handbook for Roving Hurricane Correspondents, from Carl Hiaasen.