The Storm Chase Network

[Shane Adams]

This has probably been thought of before, but I don't remember ever seeing it anywhere in discussion, so I'll throw it out here. A few years ago, my bro J.R. Hehnly threw a classic chaser bash, and showed it over the internet. It was a small, but smashing success, as several regulars in the chaser chatroom got to peer in on the festivities. That got me thinking...

Wouldn't it be cool if there was some kind of online site that was dedicated solely to broadcasting video? Like a television station for chasers. You log onto the site and then get to watch chaser videos, interviews, and whatever the webmaster wanted to throw in the program mix. Like you log in on Friday night at 10pm and walla, there's Jim Leonard's "A Quarter Century of Chasing" classic playing....and then you scroll down the guide and see that coming up next is the 2004 Stormgasm Highlights. Nothing could be shown without written consent of the copyright owners/authors, so 100% of the program list would be consentual material provided by the authors themselves.

Basically, it would be just like watching television except it's 100% chaser-geared and online. Maybe this idea couldn't work because of copyright/bandwidth issues or whatever, but man it'd be cool to have a site like this. It wouldn't even have to be 24/7 either, maybe just on weekends to start or like a Mon/Wed/Fri thing. Who knows? It's wide open. You could even do premieres for new releases....I mean just think of the free publicity and advertising chasers would get for their DVDs. Just a thought.

 

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

You know what, that's a good idea! And suggestion from me: when there is severe weather, it could roll the severe weather bulletins, or if any chaser would provide the live camera, show it...

 

[Joey Ketcham]

That's a really cool idea Shane. I like that idea!

 

[mrobinett]

Really good idea. When Kory Hartman and the guys from severestudios.net intercepted a tornado earlier this season, I was pure giddy watching it in real time via his mobile internet connection. Ive been online most of my adult life and that really amazed me!
Chaser TV, I love it, by chasers for chasers, not filtered through some knuckleheads who dont know anything about chasing.
Mike

 

[MatthewCarman]

How much would something like this cost and would you have to pay stormchasers just to show thier footage on the site? Who would run it? Would it also have a page for on going severe weather and warnings or a discusion forum or chat room? Would it be on a dedicated server and would it have ads for stormchaser sites or videos etc? Mabey a place where people could buy a tape if they liked it enough? Here is a idea have some advertisement for the Stormsof charity DvD's so people can see we do care.

I think this is a good idea Shane.

 

[Shane Adams]

The live feed stuff is cool, but my main idea was to have a program schedule and show past events, like a television station. I have no idea how it would work technically but I know the technology exists from what I've seen others do with live streaming stuff. Just think about it....you come home from work, you're in the mood for some chase videos, and you go to www.stormchasernetwork.com and click on the day's program guide....and maybe the video you're craving is on that night, or maybe something new is.

Honestly, I think the biggest caveat to this idea would be the amount of interest it would generate. People are fickle with their interest in severe weather, and I seriously doubt there would be a year-round audience for a site like this....which is why I'm thinking more and more of it being a once-a-week or weekends-only endeavor, with constant programming throughout whatever time frame.

Then again, if it was FREE, people would flock to it, as the only limitation to people's interest in severe weather product seems to be a price tag. I see tons of requests from people for chasers to post their images from recent chases, but when it comes time to sell a DVD, no one gives a damn. Yep, this site would definitely have to be free, because, quite frankly, the majority of severe weather enthusiasts are tight asses.

 

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

I for one, don't know how to make payments to USA. So maybe if it would be free, it should be ad-supported.

 

[Zac Flamig]

I've had this idea before, of course in my vision it was always the 24/7 kind of deal. However, I think that your idea about doing it a few times/once a week is much better because it solves a lot of the problems that one might face otherwise.
At the end of the day the only real questions left are how do you actually implement such a site/system and who is going to foot the startup costs?
I was kind of hoping that video blogging would continue to rise in popularity and that a real, easy and feasible solution would be found to the technological problems. But alas video blogging seems to have simmered off.