Saturday, November 13, 2010
Radar reader
One of the reasons I like Spokane's NPR station ... and the main reason I pledged this year after a looooong gap of politically based non-support ... is that KPBX follows the old notion of broadcasting as public service. Part of public service is keeping a live announcer on duty all the time. Their announcers give accurate weather reports based on live radar and the Weather Bureau hourly updates. Best of all, they've perfected an art that would have been appreciated in radio's golden age: they read the radar aloud, sketching out a verbal picture of where the rain is and where it's going.
Local commercial stations have live announcers only during morning drive-time, and their weather is either (1) focused mainly on Seattle, or (2) focused mainly on the needs of ski resorts, or (3) garbled and incomprehensible, or (4) out of date by a full day, or (5) just plain goddamn wrong. (Commercial stations exist solely to carry Football. When Football is not on, they keep the frequency occupied with some sort of modulated carrier. Sometimes even unmodulated carrier. They don't know and don't care.)
Obviously I can check the radar and the Weather Service online, but that's not as much fun as listening to Amanda Loder's word pictures. ¶ 8:45 PM
One of the reasons I like Spokane's NPR station ... and the main reason I pledged this year after a looooong gap of politically based non-support ... is that KPBX follows the old notion of broadcasting as public service. Part of public service is keeping a live announcer on duty all the time. Their announcers give accurate weather reports based on live radar and the Weather Bureau hourly updates. Best of all, they've perfected an art that would have been appreciated in radio's golden age: they read the radar aloud, sketching out a verbal picture of where the rain is and where it's going.
Local commercial stations have live announcers only during morning drive-time, and their weather is either (1) focused mainly on Seattle, or (2) focused mainly on the needs of ski resorts, or (3) garbled and incomprehensible, or (4) out of date by a full day, or (5) just plain goddamn wrong. (Commercial stations exist solely to carry Football. When Football is not on, they keep the frequency occupied with some sort of modulated carrier. Sometimes even unmodulated carrier. They don't know and don't care.)
Obviously I can check the radar and the Weather Service online, but that's not as much fun as listening to Amanda Loder's word pictures. ¶ 8:45 PM
