Friday, February 12, 2010

TV snow rules

I think the local television stations all use the same basic playbook when covering snow storms. They tend to look like this:

Day before storm:
  1. Warn everyone that a lot of snow is coming.
  2. Give hints about how to shovel and stay warm.
  3. Mention snow emergency parking restrictions.
  4. Repeat again and again about how you should watch them to stay informed about the storm.

Day of storm:

  1. Put a couple of their reporters on street corners in various parts of the viewing area so you can see it is snowing.
  2. Give a million traffic updates
  3. Let the weatherman do 20 minute reports about where the snow if falling so he can show off the expensive equipment they bought that allows them to zoom in on any street.
  4. Joke about how much snow it out there.
  5. Talk about kids having fun on day off/show obligatory footage of kids sledding or building a snowman.
  6. Talk about parents having to rearrange their schedule for those kids.

Day after storm:

  1. Talk about the cleanup.
  2. Show footage of people shoveling or snowblowing.
  3. Mention how many cars were towed for parking on street during snow emergency.
  4. Show a couple of schmucks complaining about their car being towed.
  5. Interview someone who plows for a living and show how happy he is.
  6. Talk about skiing/snowmobiling/other snow activity.

The Milwaukee stations grind this stuff out again and again. My favorite are the schmucks bitching about having their cars towed. This year one guy tried to claim the signs weren't clear enough. Another said he had no clue a snow emergency was declared and wondered if it was legal for the city to just tow cars.

Yes, that is the intelligence we have in this city. People making up excuses for their own ignorance. How does somone not know a snow emergency has been declared? Is this guy living under a rock? Is he the only person who doesn't watch TV, listen to the radio, or doesn't use the internet?

*****

I am looking forward to the weekend. Heading out to Madison for the Badger hockey game on Saturday. The #3 ranked team will take on Minnesota State at the Kohl Center. It has been a couple years since I have been out there for a game. I prefer college hockey to the pros as there seems to be more strategy as setting up plays. Looking forward to having some fun out there.

1 comment:

SirFWALGMan said...

For us this year step 1 has been "Lie about how much snow is coming" and step 3 is "Make some shit up about a low front stopping the massive amounts of snow you lied about to get readers so they do not think you are stupid".