Journal heliocentric's Journal: Latest and greatest in traffic information. 11
I don't know about in your neck of the woods, but around my place the several local TV stations like to compete for viewers. They like to use different lures and quote different statistics about themselves.
There are several fronts, with a few winners in my mind, but the battle of interest here is for traffic. I will post my breakdown of the other battles following this discussion.
So, the one channel has in its arsenal a traffic helicopter. This seems to be their claim to fame. With it they can show you an aerial view of how an accident has impacted our already overcrowded roads. This is mostly useful.
All channels seem to have the ability to report with maps, showing accidents with glowing stars and alternate routes. The only difference among them is who they have reporting the traffic. Some stations have hotties, others have really boring ugly people that read from the teleprompters very s-l-o-w-ly. One station even hired away another station's traffic reporter and they feature him on their commercials as being the, "Best person in the region when it comes to traffic." Like only he can listen to the police scanner.
But the new tool is here, have no fear! The local CBS affiliate has now put into motion an in-car traffic camera called "Live Eye." No longer must you settle for maps with alternate routes on them, now you can see what someone who is stuck in the traffic sees. Now you can live the traffic. Why put up with possibly good-looking reporters when you can pretend to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
None of the mobility of a helicopter without the hassle of information like a map, all rolled into one easy to watch package. What more do you want?
For a sample of the "Live Eye" check out this demo. Well, good to know that the one particular road you happened to drive down at that time isn't backed up. Guess everything out there is just peachy.
Am I to understand that the greatest tool man has yet created to learn about traffic problems is some sap driving around with a camera? Why are they even bothering to advertise this? Are they honestly proud?
******
Ok, the other wars, and my take on winners and losers.
Weather:
NBC has had their own "Super Doppler Radar" for what feels like years now. They do a fine job over estimating snowfall just like everyone else, but they have prettier pictures and their people aren't terrible. Winner.
CBS just now got their own radar. They are an also-ran as they are merely lagging behind NBC in this ammo intensive war. First loser.
ABC has things... but their weather guy is so old and boring I fall asleep before I hear anything. Last place.
Reporter Hotness:
ABC has a lipstick lesbian. Winner.
NBC is a crew of decent people, but the one has a bent nose, sort of like she's sniffing around the corner. Their one traffic chick is a hottie, but is rarely on (I think she may have even left, I'm not sure). Second place.
CBS fills their anchor desks with trolls that have speech impediments. Loser.
Times and length of broadcast:
NBC does a 1 hour show at noon and all the usual other things. Winner.
ABC does a half-hour show at noon and all the usual other things. Second Place.
CBS has heard of doing the news and will figure out a time to run it around episodes of Becker. Loser.
Sports:
For hockey and football I either watch the game or I know the score via online sources before it is reported locally. Thus, I find no need to watch local sports as they just cloud things up with talk of baseball and basketball.
No decision provided, except to pass a message along to the sports guy on NBC, "The Smothers Brothers called, quit impersonating Tommy."
Content:
Well, this category is so hard to judge what with the liberal media and all
Cool! (Score:2)
Seriously though, I feel sorry for the fucktard who has to drive around in the "Live Eye" car - within a few weeks he'll be suffering a near permanent state of road-rage.
As for time/length of broadcast...
Here we have three commercial networks (7, 9 and 10) and two public broadcasters (ABC and SBS). The commercial stations, as you would expect, are continually battl
i vote for the cowboyneal option (Score:1)
TV news here is too busy with in-network advertising and wrapping it around bad shows such as "The View," "Dr. Phil," and "Oprah" that it's not worth watching.
The local written word isn't any good either, they can't seem to (1)get the stories right, (2)correctly quote people*, and (3)write about anything remotely intersting.
*My Dad and I have both been interviewed by the local papers several times and
Channel 4 News gets my vote! (Score:2)
Check the biog page [channel4.com] for the total newscasting hawtness!
Best person in traffic (Score:2)
Good God, I have seldom laughed so hard as when I read that sentence.
I got this image of this moron screwing up his eyes and sweating as he strains to listen to the squawks and chirps of the poh-lice scanner. Hell, I bet he got lots of gold stars for effort from Teacher back in the day, except that he got beaned with the baseball a lot in gym class.
I suppose everyone can truly be "best" in something. Be
TV... (Score:2)
The news ALWAYS gets the facts wrong on anything they report that has even the most trivial amount of non-common knowledge. They are horrible at reporting aviation issues (especially general aviation, painting it as this scary thing that everyone should be frighte
Where are you? (Score:2)
well, we would if I got any channels. No broadcast TV in the river valley I live in, and I've given up on dish. Yea Netflix!
Re:Where are you? (Score:1)
I moved to Mechanicsburg, but I was living in Middletown for a few years. Same TV line up.
do you not get WPMT?
I get it.
as well?
I have cable, they come in as well as the others
their news [sic] dept is always good for a few laughs.
I couldn't bring myself to listing them in a discussion about news. To include them would require me to include MTV news and the kids' produced news shows at all the local high schools.
I love traffic information. (Score:2)
The rtt [realtime-traffic.info] tells you how fast the local motorways are moving, altough it looks buggered right now
The bbc provide a good service for local roads, here [bbc.co.uk]
And most useful [speedorsafety.com], is where the speed cameras are going to be today.
Re: (Score:2)
The Best News Anchor (Score:1)
Re:The Best News Anchor (Score:1)
Cecily Tynan [go.com]
Only problem is that I'll never know what the weather is as hearing goes away when she comes on the tube.
My only gripe is that her hair has been slowly fading away from red to blonde.