50th Anniversary of Scientific Tornado Coverage on Television

[Jeff Smith]

There is also this old audio recording from a home that was impacted in Tulsa. The sirens are eerie and you can hear an announcer come on with the TV playing in the background seemingly from KTEW-channel 2 in Tulsa (Now KJRH) with a rather stern warning.

 

[JamesCaruso]

^ Pretty incredible at ~4:29 to see clothes still on the clothesline despite the destruction all around

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I first read about this day in Gary England's book Weathering the Storm: Tornadoes, Television and Turmoil in which he vividly describes his early years in television weather and his efforts to get KWTV on the cutting edge of technology for the time.

Ironically, the station I work for used to have its own Doppler radar (long before I started, which was almost 11 years ago now) but the corporate ownership didn't see the value in maintaining it. Our market area is covered by two WSR-88Ds (KMKX and KARX) and the meteorologist on air has to remember to switch between them depending on where the storm is. I remember during the Boscobel, WI EF3 of August 7, 2021, we were showing MKX when ARX had the couplet, TDS and reflectivity debris ball much more clearly.

While the 8th was the 50th anniversary of the 1974 event (unusually late in the season for such an intense Plains outbreak that far south), it was also the 40th anniversary of the last official violent tornado in the Madison TV market, the Barneveld, WI F5 of June 8, 1984. That one was remarkable for occurring in the dead of night (not long after midnight on the 8th) when storms in our Wisconsin events have nearly always grown upscale into a derecho or weakened due to boundary layer decoupling.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Ironically, the station I work for used to have its own Doppler radar (long before I started, which was almost 11 years ago now) but the corporate ownership didn't see the value in maintaining it.

While the 8th was the 50th anniversary of the 1974 event (unusually late in the season for such an intense Plains outbreak that far south), it was also the 40th anniversary of the last official violent tornado in the Madison TV market, the Barneveld, WI F5 of June 8, 1984.

Not to drift too far off the original topic of the June 8, 1974 Oklahoma outbreak, but to make a bookend comparison to present day... we're at the exact opposite side of the local tv weather spectrum [OKC, ITC, OMA, DFW and MSP markets are the exception] in regards to use of live station radar units and it's exactly due to the aspect you highlight, Andy [budgets].

So many excellent strides were implemented to improve and bring in [then] cutting-edge technology, early live television Doppler radar [1980's] and boost live field reports in the golden era of local broadcast television that Mike, Gary and others experienced. That in turn got other markets to follow similar leads. Cut to now and the majority of stations use "real-time" delayed 88D data with a faux "live" radar sweep for effect. It's tacky, unnecessary [imho] and purely consultant driven. All three original affiliates [CBS, NBC, ABC] in the West Michigan market once operated their own live Doppler and conventional radar units. All were decommissioned one by one post 2005 upon ownership consolidation and corporate cuts due to maintenance costs.

Re: June 8, 1984. That event was pivotal to my early interest in documentary storytelling thanks entirely to the 1985 NOVA Tornado! special. Lots of stories from that terrible night and the days after. I preserved hours of archived video material from WKOW-TV 27 ABC when I worked in Madison as [then] had intended to do a joint immersive documentary/museum project with the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2008. Ultimately that was shelved, but still have the video and interviews. June 8th all around tends to be a big tornado date historically speaking.

 

[Mike Smith]

June 8th all around tends to be a big tornado date historically speaking.

In that part of the world, June 8 is also known for the horrible F-5 Flint-Beecher Tornado of 1953 which killed 116 and injured 844. The next day was the F-4 Worcester which killed 94.

In Kansas, June 8 is known for the F-4 1966 Topeka Tornado and, the same day as the Oklahoma Tornado outbreak, the F-4 Emporia Tornado which killed six.

Now to your main point, there are still stations with their own radars. The reason they are seen as negative from a cost-benefit standpoint is because 90+ percent of television stations have no idea how to do marketing. They do all kinds of (consultant-driven) research but they hire people off the street as their "marketing directors" directors -- and, so, they are not able to use that research effectively.

When I was at KTVI, we had a marketing genius named Peter Smith (no relation) who was able to take our superior news-weather-sports content (yes, we had our own radar) and do incredible marketing. We were able to go from last to first in the market (first time in KTVI's history) because he was able to get the message out about why our weather content was so superior.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Poignant examples re: June 8th post Flint-Beecher, Cleveland and the Lakewood region west of the city took a direct hit that day in 1953 as well. I have a few newspapers saved from the 1953 MI-OH event, as well as the 1966 Topeka tornado in good condition. Great writing and accounts. Bill Kurtis had his broadcasting career launched by the 1966 TOP event at WIBW-TV with his live call to action statement, only to dovetail it with the Plainfield, IL event on August 28, 1990 at WBBM Chicago.

Agree on your point, Mike regarding lackluster marketing, as just about everything in a local TV news/weather sense is predominantly cookie-cutter ad nauseam. In some small markets where the in-house marketing department exists beyond two people and has not been outsourced to a regional/national entity, the "marketing director" is also the promotions director and chief meteorologist, at least in one Eastern Iowa market I'm aware of.

When Sinclair, Nexstar and TEGNA (formerly Gannett) took over ownership of assorted affiliates in W. MI, cuts were due to equipment maintenance costs, promotions/marketing remained overall in tact up until more recently [pre pandemic]. Corporate owners, for example at WWMT-TV where I formerly worked, saw little benefit of keeping an upgraded live Baron Doppler radar system purchased new in 2001 and an older (Enterprise, ADC?) brand Doppler operational when they could essentially get more bang for their cheap visual buck from real-time 88D data + a simulated sweep while mandating the weather department to still call it "live". Promotions and marketing went out the window with further staff cuts and departures. The same fate happened at the once dominant NBC affiliate, WOOD-TV. Just an unfortunate fact of that industry at present.

 

[Jeff Smith]

Unfortunately TV affiliates have lost revenue due to the advent of streaming services and has resulted in poor journalism as a whole. Recently KTUL in Tulsa was a prime and tragic example. Sinclair came in one day and fired most of the on air staff and went to a TUL/OKC simulcast with added in local stories. Tulsa has lost 2 out of 4 chief mets in the past year due to this. We do have some amazing on-air talent left in Tulsa but I wonder how much longer can it last. Broadcast TV a failing and obsolete business model, but on the other hand life saving information needs to get to the public.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Colton Cravens (OklahomaTornadoDB), Mike Morgan and I discuss the June 8 outbreak. I found the discussion fascinating and I think you will, too.

Mike Morgan and I Discuss the Historic Tornadoes of June 8, 1974

Left is storm chaser and documentarian Colton Cravens and right is Mike Morgan The telecast was done from the Drumright, OK Museum If you ar...

www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com

This was a very enjoyable listen, Mike!

Along with the retrospective history of the June 8, 1974 event, it was fun to hear mention that Don Burgess was briefly a college roommate at OU, Dennis Smith [no relation, correct?] went to your high school only a few grades up and that you technically were the "first" degreed broadcast television meteorologist within the OKC market just prior to Gary England's arrival at KWTV. The entire discussion showcased just how connected the broadcast/meteorology and "storm chasing" world truly is on a broader sense than most realize. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Mike Smith]

Dennis Smith [no relation, correct?]

Correct, Dennis is no relation. He was a year behind me at Grandview High School and the great Les Lemon was a couple of years ahead of me. All of us were inspired because of the F-5 Ruskin Heights Tornado.

 

[Mike Smith]

The memorial to the Ruskin Heights tornado victims has been several damaged by a car. For those in and around Kansas City, the memorial needs to be rebuilt and -- I believe -- it should be expanded to include the Weather Bureau's incredible accomplishments of that evening which paved the way for them to get into the tornado warning business.

Repair the Ruskin Heights Tornado Memorial!

Kansas City Star, 2010 The evening of May 20, 1957, a F-5 tornado struck the south Kansas City suburb of Ruskin Heights. I was a five year-o...

www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com

 

[Mike Smith]

Fox 4 KC just interviewed me ( Ruskin Tornado Memorial: Fox 4 KC This Evening ) and will be interviewing the head of the Ruskin Homeowners Assn which owns the Memorial.

The interview will air this evening on Fox 4 (WDAF-TV). Details are at the link.