Disturbing Radio Comment

[Andrew Pritchard]

I made a comment about this in the report thread, but figured I'd throw it here for more to see.

Last night while wrapping up the chase in central Illinois I had the radio tuned to some everything rock station near Peoria. The DJ came on and began talking about the weather and makes the comment "I was told by someone we might get a tornado, but I don't think that's 'for real' so don't take me too seriously on that one." I couldn't believe it. This was in the same hour that at least one tornado caused injuries probably barely 10 miles away. I called the station to inform him that there had been tornado watches in effect the entire evening, and that a major event was unfolding across Illinois and Missouri but he was on his way out. The man seemed fairly clueless anyway, as earlier in the broadcast he made the comment that "we had some global warming for a few days but regular winter will be back soon".

I went back to my car to see what the dial was set on, and this was 99.9xrocks in Bartonville, Illinois.

I tried their website to contact management or something, but it seems the site is down. Who knows how long that's been the case.

 

[David Drummond]

What can we say man. We have idiots in every profession these days.

 

[Terry Tyler]

yeah, that happened out here on 92.5 on 10/18/07 when there actually was a tornado watch out and all that...i was already kind of stoked up waiting for the storms when i heard it on the radio, old boy said there was a tornado warning or somethin like that, and asked if people were scared...he didnt sound serious in the tone, but i turned around and when back to the house to check the radar just in case and sure enough...nothing...

i guess a rule of thumb to avoid this would be to only to heed warnings with the EAS tone and all that...you know, the official warning tone they play on the radio...but either way, people can get fired for that...i heard some people played a prank about the governor gettin killed or something like that, and they lost their jobs...

 

[Dave Gallaher]

That is very unprofessional on-air work. Even if the guy was doing a talk/call-in program that was based partly on humor, it doesn't remove the responsibility of accurately broadcasting weather and other emergency information.

I've been on radio since 1989, and I think the reason that guys like this get work is due to the centralization of programming. With the shows coming from out of town via satellite, stations are putting less funding on local air personalities and I think some have dumped any idea that severe weather warnings are a duty for them.

At one of the stations I work, we automatically cut over to a local tv met (in this case, Dan Satterfield) for wall-to-wall in these situations.

 

[Mike Smith]

Write a letter to the general manager of the station with a copy of the letter to the F.C.C. if you wish to take action. It will get results, especially since there were injuries nearby.

 

[joel ewing]

A quick comment if I may on this. Just from years of dealing with people via my retail business, you might consider not bashing this obviously ignorant DJ (I'm assuming you were, perhaps I'm wrong). What I mean is...be even-keeled when either talking to him personally, or especially his immediate supervisor. For sure, this situation needs to be addressed...but I'd urge reserve when making your complaint. We all make mistakes...and I believe that when we do...we should be offered the chance one time to "clean up our mistake" with dignity. But....if it happens again...drop the hammer on him.
Anyhow, just one man's thoughts...that's all. Thanks Joel in Tucson

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I had no intentions on attacking the person, I just wanted to inform them that they should be better abreast of the weather situations if they are going to try and discuss something so pertinent as whether we're dealing with tornadoes or not.

It's obvious not every station is there for weather information, and this station is one example of that but if a tornado has already caused damage not 15 miles away and tornado watches have been in effect for several hours I don't think one should be on air telling their listeners that the tornado talk is not "for real".

 

[John Diel]

Having done the radio thing for a few years (Like Dave), and having done hundreds of live reports and the like, someone like that is liable to get hammered all on his own someday.

However, I have seen where someone who didn't have a clue in reading radar or even what the pretty colors meant was giving out live reports and declaring "tornado" when a bogus TVS popped up on GRLevel3. This basically incited panic in the small town he operates cable in. Not a good thing.

 

[Jarrod Cook]

99.9x rocks has moved to 105.7. 99.9 in Peoria is now a station that plays a wide variety of music. Just wanted to point that out, so you don't accidentally blame the wrong people!

This is not right though, and is not very similar to the way other Peoria stations operate...the others usually do a fairly good job on severe weather. I know a lot of folks did not believe things yesterday since it was January, but that doesn't make it right - it makes it ignorant...and yes, I do think the station should be notified.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

what do you expect out of a music station? im not defending him but he very well may not have known there were those conditions, it is afterall early January in Illinois. People need to take care of themselves, if they think taking the word of a disc jockey is a good thing, so bet it, its their lives

 

[Chris Nuttall]

There was a station in NW OK...can't remember which one...started talking about Tornado Warnings being issued...except about 15 seconds into it, they finally say something about "Tune to us for Severe Weather Coverage." It was nothing but a promo.

But there was no special music, nothing that indicated it was a promo until the last line....and there were SVR warnings currently in effect when the promo was run. It definitely got my attention..I thought, "Oh man, a Tornado Warning!"...only to get let down.

I kind of felt like I was sitting all dressed up in a restaurant waiting on my hot date to arrive only for her to call my cell phone and say, "I'm not showing, I was just practicing getting a date."