RAIN/WIND STORM BRINGS OUT FULL-THROTTLE COVERAGE FROM BAY AREA TV STATIONSKGO; KPIX; KTVU; KNTV; KRON 'Storm Center' coverage wall-towall
OK, so I didn't buy into it, (as always) because it's winter and we occasionally get bigtime storms like tonight's rain/wind onslaught that is currently playing havoc with the Bay Area, especially commuters and their transit and residents suffering mass power outages.
*Highlights and Notes...
The local TV stations have provided almost wall-to-wall "team coverage" and then some. Along with chief weather guy, Bill Martin, KTVU brought in morning traffic anchor, Sal Castaneda and had reporter/anchor, Alyana Gomez at the Bay Bridge Toll plaza for live reports throughout the night...KTVU anchors, Frank Somerville and Julie Haener, manned the coverage...KGO used three (3!) weather anchor: Spencer Christian, Drew Tuma and Sandhya Patel all worked the 5 PM newscast; KGO went with Dan Ashley and Kristen Sze for storm reports on the desk and Lyanne Melendez live from the Ferry terminal on commuter options should the boat ride across the bay be closed. As of 6: 20 the ferry was still operating...KPIX conducted business with Ken Bastida and Veronica De La Cruz at the anchor chairs with Paul Deanno providing weather updates. Deanno informed viewers that "the worst part of the storm {was still coming later in the night}and that "we won't be out of the woods until midnight."...Martin too on KTVU provided more lengthy forecasts with urgent warnings about more ominous rain later in the evening and possible thunderstorms ..An aside: I've been critical of Martin of late but on Wednesday night, he was spot to the point and his anchoring was quite precise and crisp. Informational too, kudos to Bill for a change...Jeff Ranieri on NBC Bay Area also provided vivid descriptions of the rain event and suggested this storm might be the most powerful in quite some time. So far, he might be right...KRON wasn't out of the ordinary with Ken Wayne doing most of the talking and reporters doing their VJing from various Bay Area locales. It was the usual unspectacular work from the independent albatross but better then expected...KTVU simulcast its "KTVU Plus" on TV36 with anchors Alex Savidge and Heather Holmes.
I agree. Bill Martin has polished his presentation, lost the confusion, and the hemming and hawing. He presents an accurate, informative, and professional weather forecast like the professional he is. I am impressed with the turnaround. We knew it was there all along, and I'm glad he recovered it.
ReplyDeleteGiven the intensity of the storm just in time for the commute, I was grateful for the people reporting traffic. They all did a good job.
ReplyDeleteLawrence Karnow is off this week at KRON, so they've used two substitutes talking about these storms, but they all point at their radar maps and say "Check out all this yellow to the west of us" or (Karnow) "This magenta is impressive". Someone needs to remind them that they are doing the weather, not evaluating 1st Grade art projects, so they need to explain every once in a while what all their pretty colors really indicate as far as wind and rain intensity.
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