Re: Weather cancellations

["Chris Beckwith" <beckwith@ime.net>]

This debate reminds me of what CNNfn and CNBC do during commercials - one
continues the ticker, the other doesn't.  I don't hear of protest from
advertisers; otherwise the practice would have ceased at both networks by now.

If you're watching for your event's cancellation, and a station is running the
crawl during commercials, the advertiser has a captive audience that otherwise
would be taking a bathroom break or switching to a station that *isn't* in a
break.  This is more than public service; it is programming strategy and good
business.  A good salesperson can sell this point easily; if I were an
advertiser, I'd rather have a viewer's divided attention than none at all.  And
which station wins the mind share of cancellation seekers?  You guessed it!

Indeed, unless you're blind, in your car, or without power, TV has tremendous
advantages over radio in delivering this type of information.  If you don't care
about cancellations, or you already know the status of your event, at least you
can continue to watch the program.  With radio, you may feel compelled to change
the station - and will that listener come back anytime soon?  It's a question
worth pondering.

And I'll close with this observation:  where does at least one Southern Maine
radio station get its cancellation info?  The crawl from one of the TV stations
in Portland.  Why do they do this?  Because that's where the information is; the
TV stations get called first by schools and event coordinators (quite often to
the exclusion of most radio stations.)  Don't think for a moment that civilians
haven't picked up on this.

Take care,
Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: <Chuckigo@aol.com>

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.