Re: Weather cancellations

[Chuckigo@aol.com]

Mr.Ross wrote:
>>Keeping the cancellations on through the commercials,
as other stations did, would have been easier for that
person as well as more convenient for viewers.<<

Well, on this issue, i'd side with the stations that
turn the crawl off.  not sure what the going rate is
for a TV :60 or :30 or :15 or :10, but i'd not be a 
happy advertiser if my message were being usurped by
the people who sold it to me.  it's bad enough that 
advertisers risk the inherent "ignore factor" of most
viewers and commercials.  running something tantamount
to "programming" DURING the commercial is not a great
way to keep the customer happy.  school cancellations,
which for years were the *sole* property of radio, were
(and in many cases still are) read twice an hour.  miss
the list?  listen again in twenty minutes. the list was
not read from beginning to end ad infinitum.  and school
cancellations are NOT emergency information.  the list,
be it printed or spoken, is a public service.  a storm
warning might, and often does, warrant an on-screen
crawl or even the interruption of a programming element,
which may also include a spot set (resulting in a make-
good situation for the clients).
  the "pause" that was detected on the crawl, and
some of our TV bretheren can help on this, may have been
from an "update" being loaded into the graphics system.
  in radio, last time i checked, we don't (or <grin> try
not to) read news or cancellations during a spot break.

- -Chuck Igo