Sick of weather banners [Archive] - MilwaukeeHDTV.org Forums

milwaukee

06-14-2008, 04:25 PM

I have had it with every local channel using huge weather banners. The only local station who doesn't use those big eye sore banners and downgrade to SD is PBS. How is it that Pbs can display a decently small weather alert while the rest of them have huge ones? Right now the US open is a trashy tiny little screen with a weather box that takes up 80% of the screen. Last week the French open final was ruined, as was the Formula one race, as well as golf.

Somehow Fox 6 is able to play the current MLB game without an annoying weather banner, while channel 4 has one running. They also over dramatize every single storm that comes along. If a tornado is on the ground that's one thing, but a full weather alert for thunder storms? Give me a break.

Nels Harvey

06-14-2008, 04:55 PM

I have had it with every local channel using huge weather banners.
I agree!

I wish the digital channel could at least offer a second, uncluttered version of the network feed, even if it isn't in HD! I already know it's going to rain! Now leave me alone to watch my program!

Nels....

OlsonNet

06-14-2008, 05:26 PM

Totally agreed. Right now there is nothing but a T-storm WATCH, not even a warning, and TMJ has their stupid graphics up.

That, and WISN causing 2 of the first 4 NBA Finals games to be in their squished format for more weather stuff.

If they have to downgrade to SD, fine, but just overlay something on top. No need to take away a huge chunk of the screen with worthless graphics. Have a crawl at the bottom with a small map next to it. No need for the big column of crap on the left hand side. Ugh.

But we all know no amount of complaining will do anything.

REVM1M

06-14-2008, 05:39 PM

I agree 100%. Specialy Channel 4, I am just sick & tired of this. As soon as there is drop of rain channel 4 have 10 reporters out there showing us it is raining. This must be stopped.

Mark Strube

06-15-2008, 08:34 AM

To be fair, we've been having some extremely dangerous weather lately. However, I do agree it's been far too long, they must get the equipment to remain in HD while adding a small weather map to the corner.

bschlafer

06-15-2008, 11:07 AM

I'm right there with you guys on this one.

I ranted pretty extensively about it in the On/Off Topic Chit-Chat section and expected someone to come back and chide me a bit about it, but no one took the bait. ;)

It sure would be nice to have a button (or something) to opt out of the banners, alerts and radar overlays, and keep the HD signal up. Or, maybe just slide all that over the top stuff to another channel, like WTMJ's Weather Plus on 4.2. But somehow I doubt that would ever happen.

My main gripe is the "chicken little" aspect to all this. Depsite all the hand-wringing and constant alerts of flood, famine and disaster, not a single viewer benefits from all this coverage. Anyone who was experiencing flood conditions probably wasn't watching tv anyway. Or they likely knew all about it long before the warnings went up. All the warnings and graphics couldn't prevent a downed tree or any of the (for the most part) minor tornado damage of the last couple of weeks.

The only purpose of all this weather coverage is to keep us glued to the tv set. It's all about ratings folks.

Justified warnings should be broadcast on all channels. A tornado, on the ground, right here, right now... take cover. That's fine. But we really don't need to be hammered with constant coverage for thunderstorm and flood watches.

A weather alert radio will serve you much better. When it goes off, you know it's serious enough to pay attention.

My $0.02.

*Bill

techboywi

06-15-2008, 08:22 PM

My main gripe is the "chicken little" aspect to all this. Depsite all the hand-wringing and constant alerts of flood, famine and disaster, not a single viewer benefits from all this coverage. Anyone who was experiencing flood conditions probably wasn't watching tv anyway. Or they likely knew all about it long before the warnings went up. All the warnings and graphics couldn't prevent a downed tree or any of the (for the most part) minor tornado damage of the last couple of weeks.

How do you know that? The warning could of given people a chance to move to higher ground, or prepare for the inevitable. At least to get valuables to higher ground.

The only purpose of all this weather coverage is to keep us glued to the tv set. It's all about ratings folks.

Yes, That is true.

Justified warnings should be broadcast on all channels. A tornado, on the ground, right here, right now... take cover. That's fine. But we really don't need to be hammered with constant coverage for thunderstorm and flood watches.

A warning when a tornado is on the ground??? By then its too late! If there are storms capable of producing tornados, it is best to be warned so you can take action when one comes your way.

Lets remember, per FCC rules, stations are required to serve the public interest, one could make the argument that broadcasting watches/warnings serves that requirement

A weather alert radio will serve you much better. When it goes off, you know it's serious enough to pay attention.

Agreed, but they do the same exact thing. the stations do, I lost count how my times my weather radio has gone off so far this month, and I only have a 1 county radius of Milwaukee county set to send a alert

My $0.02.

And mine too.

Jack 1000

06-16-2008, 03:28 AM

There are two sides to this,

I agree that there should be a opt out thing in the remote to kill the weather graphics with today's technology. Or at least the option to reduce weather content to a simple crawlspace on the lower part of the screen.

But I do believe in better safe than sorry. I don't think a "happy medium" has yet been found. Since Hurricane Katrina, where people did not respond fast enough to a national weather crisis, there has been more overkill. A lot of general populations aren't sophisticated and knowledgeable like us on this board. They need to know, where to go, what to do, and how to do it. Environmental changes can effect everyone. Some people get very anxious about weather, some have health problems related to weather, so in that regard, I am happy that we have the advanced technology to keep people aware and informed.

But for those who know what's going on with the weather, get some kind of optional opt out device to kill the weather graphics, or reduce their size on screen. This I agree with-totally.

Jack

vegasvic

06-16-2008, 06:06 AM

I know there were a lot of ticked off golf fans trying to watch the US Open on channel 4. Those with DirecTV could switch over to the special U.S. open channels and still watch in HD without the weather crap all over the screen.

I agree with better safe than sorry. But there is a big difference between a watch and a warning.

950ash

06-16-2008, 05:39 PM

I think people need to look at the way they put weather warnings up not say use or dont use them. Its total BS for them to switch from HD to SD to show a warning. We lose 40% of the screen when they do just that. Then we lose 20% more for the warning.
:bang:

picopir8

06-17-2008, 11:30 AM

Ill bite...

I want my HD as much as the next guy but this is a pretty small issue to get upset over.

Given all the existing property damage, and the fact that the ground is pretty saturated and many rivers are above flood stage, even a moderate storm could cause many more homes to be flooded. The weather banner could give those people warning enough time to check their sump pumps or sandbags, and make kids/pets are safe, etc. and for the rest of us to go close our windows then I say go right ahead. I can live with SD for a short while. Heck its still better that the snowy picture we got when it stormed when I was younger.

It would be nice if the stations had upgraded their equipment to allow them to show the weather banner and still display HD content, but since nobody in our area has it yet, I can imagine the cost is pretty high or there are other factors preventing them from upgrading. In any event, those who are upset still have options. You can write/call the station if it is worth your time, or you can simply change the channel.

brewtownska

06-17-2008, 01:20 PM

As much as I hate losing the HD signal for any reason, I understand why these sort of weather warnings are important.

For those that have mentioned they hate seeing the warnings that aren't even near them, keep in mind how BIG the viewing area is for these stations. A storm can be hitting up in Dodge County and you might be way down in Racine or Kenosha...there's a good chance that storm won't even hit you, but because the viewing area is so big, the station can't choose who to send the warnings out to.

So I agree with picopir8 that we need to focus not on WHEN they post the warnings, as they're going to whenever weather affects ANYONE in the viewing area, but more about HOW they show the warnings. I could be wrong, but I imagine most of the people viewing the TV can read...so if thestations stick with text at the bottom of the screen and small graphics that fit in there, that would probably keep the picture loss to a minimum. And of course, once the stations can overlay HD graphics over the network feed, that should make things a lot better. There's no need to keep a full map of SE WI on the screen at all times, as those pictures rarely update...if you need to show it, only show it WHEN things change, then only for a minute or 2. I know I respond more to change on the screen than a stationary image, so by not showing the picture all the time would probably help people know something important just happened if they only put up the image when it changes.

bschlafer

06-17-2008, 07:13 PM

Ah, I knew I would stir things up a bit.

To quote Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, "Allow me to re-tort!" :)

I stand by my comments. I still think the weather coverage was overkill. The local stations market the weather coverage like it's a football game. And I don't think we are well served by hour after hour of this type of coverage.

But, I'm not paying for cable or sat service, so it probably isn't a big deal. If I don't want to watch it, I'll turn it off or switch over to PBS. Which only carry severe weather warnings, as needed, instead of tracking every storm cell as they marched across the state. Does that mean that PBS doesn't care about our safety? Or maybe they feel (as I do) that a simple warning will do.

I'm not saying that we should ignore severe weather, or to minimize the losses many have suffered in the last couple of weeks. I'm just getting tired of the over the top coverage. Warn me when necessary. Don't chicken-little me to death with it.

*Bill

Mark Strube

06-17-2008, 09:12 PM

Well, another thing you might want to take into account here is that the stations which go nuts with weather warnings and banners happen to be the ones with nightly local news shows to sell. They all want to be recognized as the most informative and most knowledgeable when it comes to dangerous weather in the area. PBS, TheCW, and My24 have no news to sell. Hence they have simple warnings, just what is required. They don't care about ****ing off HD-lovers. We're on the end of the see-saw that's up in the air, while everyone going nuts with fear of weather (amongst other things) are the big fat kid on the other end.

REVM1M

06-17-2008, 09:46 PM

There was no warning today but stupid channel 4 had to run banner on the bottom of the screen with the phone number to help the flood victims during nightly news so it was not HD.

UncleMeat

06-18-2008, 11:47 AM

Few thoughts...

A) I *HATE* the interruptions. Banners, I can generally live with, but when Vince Condella breaks in every 2.5 minutes to alert us that there are wind gusts of 30mph (I'm not talking about the recent floods, I'm talking about the last 10+ years), it is going too far. There are amazingly detailed weather banners that can give out all the information that an actual reporter can do without completely disrupting both video and audio for over a minute (like they did during NBA Finals game 2).

B) Is there any reason for the break in HD signal for banners? I guess I don't understand why ESPN can run an emergency banner to say Tiger Woods is undergoing surgery without losing HD, but WISN can't do the same thing to say it is raining out.

C) How much information do these banners really need to provide? The typical weather graphic now occupies 3 sides of the screen! And one side is generally just to display the station name/logo. Can we just move the station ID on the same side as the weather map and only steal 2 sides?

D) If you (being the local network affiliate) decide that you must interrupt to give your weather team some face time, can you at least do a 1/4 screen PIP of what is being missed with the regular broadcast? I think most people can agree that weather is important, but I think that a lot of people who live in Milwaukee County probably would rather continue seeing the US Open and not miss a key shot because of storms in Walworth County.

Moral of the story... it just seems there is enough cost effective technology out there to make this a better system for the viewing audience (IE - I don't think I'm asking anyone to invent a completely new system here).

Doug Mohr

06-18-2008, 12:53 PM

I'm right there with you guys on this one.
Or, maybe just slide all that over the top stuff to another channel, like WTMJ's Weather Plus on 4.2. But somehow I doubt that would ever happen.
*Bill

I agree. Why do they take away our precious bandwith for a dedicated weather subchannel if they tromp all over the HD feed with more information than is actually available on the dedicated subchannel??

The most responsible thing to do is during their canned news/weather promos that they run every commercial break, tell people that they can see up to the minute weather on 4.2 or TW channel XXX. Then if there is an actual emergency like a tornado touchdown or river overflow, then of course jump in and tell us, but otherwise stay the heck off my HD stream.

techboywi

06-18-2008, 05:35 PM

There are amazingly detailed weather banners that can give out all the information that an actual reporter can do without completely disrupting both video and audio for over a minute (like they did during NBA Finals game 2).

How is a person who is vision impaired supposed to see the weather banners?

B) Is there any reason for the break in HD signal for banners? I guess I don't understand why ESPN can run an emergency banner to say Tiger Woods is undergoing surgery without losing HD, but WISN can't do the same thing to say it is raining out.

Simple:ESPN has the equipment to insert graphics into the HD stream without switching to SD.

Moral of the story... it just seems there is enough cost effective technology out there to make this a better system for the viewing audience (IE - I don't think I'm asking anyone to invent a completely new system here).

Once again, I am sorry to say, but.. since HD viewship is not measured in the Neilsen ratings, there is little incentive for the stations to fork out the money to get that equipment. Once viewership of HD starts showing up in the ratings book (as soon as next March) the stations will purchase the equipment. So, one more summer of these "annoyances" and one more winter, and this will no longer be a issue

ArgMeMatey

06-18-2008, 09:52 PM

TV stations do not care about any of us. They only want the advertisers' money. Remember, they are selling your eyes to advertisers. You are the product. The TV program is not the product.

In other words, you are being used, and if you don't like it, you can get tickets to the games or push the OFF button.

If you want to get TV stations' attention, get them on your accounts payable list and then threaten to cut them off if they keep this up.

Advertisers are indicating that more weather coverage is good, or at least that more weather coverage is not bad, in terms of gathering viewers. Otherwise stations wouldn't do it so much.

May I recommend a book or periodical? Perhaps a prerecorded film of some type? :)

mrschimpf

06-19-2008, 03:28 AM

I've just noticed that WISN has added a local news ticker in HD during "Good Morning America", "12abc" logo and all. I don't get it; if they have the ability to air an HD ticker and to also insert their logo bug onto the 16:9 screen, don't they have the ability to create a weather warning template specific to the HD feed, or does the weather department currently not have that ability? I've also seen WTMJ-DT air full-screen scrolls during the EAS tests, but they must be limited for now just to that one scroll.

Danno321

06-21-2008, 08:42 PM

duncantuna

06-21-2008, 09:25 PM

I have to add my voice to the many who hate the weather banners. They are far over-used for weather events that simply are not severe enough to warrant the high drama that the local stations present.

Unfortunately, I don't believe the TV stations are making poor decisions, as they are simply following the market. The sad part is, the least common denominator is a big, fat, uneducated, easily frightened bunch of people .. they are the ones who respond to marketing campaigns the most, and advertisers want to appeal to them primarily.

I was invited to be a Nielsen family about 6 months ago, and I was looking forward to flipping OFF any channel with weather over-kill. (Long story short, Nielsen came to wire my TV system into their recording boxes but my A/V system was too difficult for them to capture all data, so half way through the install, they gave up and ripped it all out.)

BFavre4MVP

06-28-2008, 01:48 PM

Looks like no Cubs-Sox in HD on Fox today :bang:

Stupid storms. Anytime I get to watch the Brewers pick up a game on our biggest rival in HD, I want to do so.

Oh well, HD or SD, go Sox!

HCF

06-28-2008, 02:02 PM

Looks like no Cubs-Sox in HD on Fox today :bang:

Stupid storms. Anytime I get to watch the Brewers pick up a game on our biggest rival in HD, I want to do so.

Oh well, HD or SD, go Sox!

As a Cubs fan I'm extremely sick of this. Last time the Cubs were on Fox they only showed 1 inning of the game before breaking into weather coverage for the rest of the day. The sad thing is, you know they would never do this for football. If the Packers were playing, it would take the end of the world for them to cut into programming, but a raindrop falls 100 miles away and it's important enough to stop covering baseball.

milwaukee

06-28-2008, 02:20 PM

Another weekend of HD content ruined by absurdly over hyped weather alerts. Once again TMJ4 is at the front of the pack to put up worthless weather banners first.

Jayflap

06-30-2008, 10:43 AM

All that being said, I know channel 4 did have the best ratings during the snow storms since the pre-empted all the programming to show the weather. It is a sad reality, but a ton of the viewing audience will tune in for it.

As was also mentioned before, MPTV just puts up what needs to be seen by FCC law. Since we don't have a weather department, it would be foolish to try to do more without significant additions to the staff. Since the local commercial stations cover it extensively, MPTV just let's you know it's there. From there you can move over to 10-6 and get the NOAA weather radio report and the weather maps.

duncantuna

06-30-2008, 10:46 AM

Since we don't have a weather department, it would be foolish to try to do more without significant additions to the staff. Since the local commercial stations cover it extensively, MPTV just let's you know it's there. From there you can move over to 10-6 and get the NOAA weather radio report and the weather maps.

Way to go MPTV and Jayflap. That's a reason I'm a member.

Jack 1000

06-30-2008, 12:49 PM

This is another reason why my viewing of local channels is so limited. However, when I do want weather information, I go to TWC Weather Plus on channel 104, and see within seconds to minutes everything that I need to know when my city or closest day planner comes up on the crawlspace. That's all I need to know.

But the locals who can't afford cable, dish, or U-Verse thrive on this weather crap 24x7. I don't know how this brings in the ratings, but it does. What's so exciting about a local forecast anyway? Retirees love that crap. The extended conversations of my late grandparents was listening to all kinds of trivial *****, and part of that was talking about the weather. It seems to fascinate many old and simple-minded people.

Jack

jarschmd

07-02-2008, 11:59 AM

I am also fed up with the stupid weather banners. I receive all of my TV signals OTA, but if I was actually paying TWC or D or DT for nice local feeds, I would be absolutely irate.

Someone in this thread claimed that they were losing 40% of the screen size when the weather graphics come up. I just broke out the tape measure, and I'm losing 50% of the screen (area) from a widescreen HD feed when the Channel 4 weather bar comes up.

I'd go as far to say that I'm losing 75% (or probably even more lines of resolution) of the HD feed because the remaining half of the picture has about 200 lines of interlaced resolution.

What should happen is that Time Warner should be looking out for their customers, and they should be pressuring the locals to get rid of the excessive weather banners. Oh, wait, TWC can't even get their own "digital cable" to be digital. Of course, everyone should also be writing or calling these stations directly, as well.

The PBS weather warning is awesome. I also have noticed the local HD overlays during the morning shows. The technology is available for that; why not weather?

The whole situation is completely ridiculous. As I write this right now, there is a supposed-to-be-HD tennis match taking place on WTMJ 4. Currently, there is a weather "warning" bar and map and scrolling message line on the screen. There is not a bit of weather on the radar more severe than a light green (light rain). The current "warning" is for a THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR THE ENTIRE VIEWING AREA!!!!!!! YELLOW MAP. THERE ARE NO SEVERE WARNINGS RIGHT NOW AT ALL!!! YET THE STUPID WEATHER BAR IS DESTROYING THE TENNIS MATCH!!! I DON'T EVEN LIKE TENNIS!!!!! THE PARENT NETWORKS SHOULD STEP IN (oops, maybe not...CBS is too cheap or stupid to carry either their morning and/or evening national news shows in widescreen HD). Bunch of morons...

Bottom line: Local television channels 4, 6, 12, & 58 don't care about their picture quality during weather "events". That's it. Plain and simple. They don't care.

There are people who think that we'll be driving many of our vehicles with biodiesel, ethanol, and hydrogen fuel cells in a matter of a few years. Even with a (once-pushed-back) FEDERAL MANDATE on digital broadcasting, the local television stations can't even broadcast a stupid weather information bar on their digital feed without destroying the picture and broadcasting the feed in an analog format. Switchgrass and cellulosic ethanol...yeah, right. (I even support the use of ethanol)...Hah!

What is the WeatherPlus 4.2 feed for, TMJ4???????

Jayflap

07-02-2008, 12:05 PM

[QUOTE=jarschmd;47039the local television stations can't even broadcast a stupid weather information bar on their digital feed without destroying the picture and broadcasting the feed in an analog format. [/QUOTE]

It still is a digital broadcast, just in Standard Definition. Stations like 4.2 are really nice to haves at this point, but since not everyone is receiving the digital stations yet, you cannot simply direct people with a simple banner to tune into 4.2 while keeping the rest of your broadcast the same. Once everyone has the ability to see all the digital channels, this is an option that some stations may be willing to entertain.

techboywi

07-02-2008, 08:47 PM

I've said it before..I'll say it again... Digital broadcast is not their bread and butter yet. They make all their money off selling ad time on the ANALOG broadcast. Neilsen does not measure ratings on digital yet. Things will continue to be like this until next year when analog goes away, and stations & advertisers start seeing Neilsen numbers off of the digital broadcasts.

Are they ****ing off viewers? Yes, but it is still a small amount of people who have digital equipment, Yes, the number is growing, but it is no where near the majority yet. I'd be willing to bet money that this time next year, we will not be having this conversations. The locals will have the equipment in place to overly weather graphics without having to drop to SD

duncantuna

07-02-2008, 09:14 PM

Neilsen does not measure ratings on digital yet. Things will continue to be like this until next year when analog goes away, and stations & advertisers start seeing Neilsen numbers off of the digital broadcasts.

Umm .. not sure about that one. In a strange twist, about 9 months ago, I was asked to be a Nielsen family. They interviewed us, and came out to do an install on our TV.

Long story short, it turns out they hook up cables to EVERY component in your rack. They open the TV, cable box, DVD, stereo, and clip cables to every speaker. -- The DVD player? Yup. They track every piece of media that's played on your TV, including rented DVDs.

From asking questions of the installer, since they hack into the TWC DVR, they know exactly what channel you recorded, what you watched, what you didn't watch. They know you're watching channel 504 and not 04.

Now, whether or not they report all pieces of data to the networks, I know not.

The end of the story with my Nielsen install was .. they got to my one-box speaker system, called in another installer, made some calls, then after 2.5 hours of installing, came to me and said "Yeah, we can't figure out how to do this. We're taking everything out and leaving."

I was half happy to see them go, since I really didn't want them performing extensive surgery on my system .. plus, anything I did in the future, they would have had to come out and re-wire.

I would have enjoyed being your television overlord. -- I would have made it my mission to turn to PBS during every phony weather extravaganza these idiots put on.

(Plus, I would have single-handedly brought back the A-Team.)

Jack 1000

07-03-2008, 04:07 AM

Umm .. not sure about that one. In a strange twist, about 9 months ago, I was asked to be a Nielsen family. They interviewed us, and came out to do an install on our TV.

Long story short, it turns out they hook up cables to EVERY component in your rack. They open the TV, cable box, DVD, stereo, and clip cables to every speaker. -- The DVD player? Yup. They track every piece of media that's played on your TV, including rented DVDs.

From asking questions of the installer, since they hack into the TWC DVR, they know exactly what channel you recorded, what you watched, what you didn't watch. They know you're watching channel 504 and not 04.

Now, whether or not they report all pieces of data to the networks, I know not.

The end of the story with my Nielsen install was .. they got to my one-box speaker system, called in another installer, made some calls, then after 2.5 hours of installing, came to me and said "Yeah, we can't figure out how to do this. We're taking everything out and leaving."

I was half happy to see them go, since I really didn't want them performing extensive surgery on my system .. plus, anything I did in the future, they would have had to come out and re-wire.

I would have enjoyed being your television overlord. -- I would have made it my mission to turn to PBS during every phony weather extravaganza these idiots put on.

(Plus, I would have single-handedly brought back the A-Team.)

Just to reiterate,

This was all voluntary, correct? I thought that those cable boxes could not be opened without messing them up to prevent them from being hacked? Did all of your equipment work OK after they left?

Jack

duncantuna

07-03-2008, 06:56 AM

Actually, no, it's not voluntary. One day a bunch of guys in a black van just show up with a judicial order from Judge Judy, and say, stand back, your TVs are going to be Nielsenized.

Kidding. It's voluntary of course. They called up one day out of the blue, asked just a few demographic questions. 2 months later, they called and asked more. Next week, they called and said we were in.

As for the TV .. yeah, it worked the same after they left. That being said, it died 9 months later. I doubt the two events are linked. They don't make them like they used to. I have a TV in the basement that is 17 years old, never had a problem. But in 7 years, this TV had service 3 times.

Indeed I was surprised they were opening the TWC box too .. I asked the installer the same thing .. do you have authorization to open that?? Yup, he said they have agreements with all the cable providers. They put a device between the motherboard and disk drive, capturing everything.

jarschmd

07-03-2008, 07:53 PM

I'd be willing to bet money that this time next year, we will not be having this conversations. The locals will have the equipment in place to overly weather graphics without having to drop to SDI hope to no end that you are right:) . I've been complaining to the stations for the past 3 years, probably once a month, every month, in writing, no email. Milwaukee is a somewhat backwards city, and I don't doubt that the network profits are coming from analog advertising. I read somewhere about how Milwaukee is among the "worst prepared and/or aware" of major cities of the DTV switch that will happen in less than a year (despite the scrolling message on the bottom of the screen that I've been seeing for the past 4 months...)....

REVM1M

07-07-2008, 03:56 PM

Here we go again with those idiots at Channel 4 with T-Storm WATCH, nothing on channel 6 or 12. :bang: :bang: :bang:

jarschmd

08-09-2008, 02:42 PM

Oh no!!!! Severe T-Storm WARNING 8-9-2008 @3:20 PM!!!! TMJ4 absolutely has to mangle the HD Olympics coverage of once in every 4 YEARS for this so that NO ONE is unnecessarily at risk................FROM A THUNDERSTORM! In DODGE COUNTY! OH NO! GOD FORBID HEAVY RAINFALL AND LIGHTNING!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the shower, everyone!

Has anyone tried to contact GE or the NBC parent company? This has just gotten out of control.

I'm getting OTA right now, but I would be ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS if were PAYING TWC or D* for this garbage HD, and now SD feed.

On top of that, the broadcasters complain about the proliferation of ppl watching programs via torrent or whatever other format people use nowadays. If it weren't for the garbage quality controls of local network broadcasts, such as right now, they would have to deal with significantly less market loss via this outlet.

All I have to say is GigaNews. Screw the locals. The anchors think that they're celebrities; the locals think that they know what's best for the general idiot Milwaukee viewership, and the sad thing is that they're probably right. Too many old ppl in Milw don't have a clue about content quality.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

As of 1 minute ago (3:38 PM CST), the weather banner was removed. I'm still going to complain to NBC Corporate; I will go about this via investor relations at GE.

I encourage everyone else to do the same. If you hold any mutual funds, odds are that you are an investor in GE.

I HATE LOCAL WEATHER BANNERS. Damn them to hell.

Milwaukee12

08-09-2008, 04:48 PM

Has anyone tried to contact GE or the NBC parent company? This has just gotten out of control.

Why complain to GE or NBC? They don't even own TMJ. The Journal does. And don't forget, WTMJ COVERS DODGE CONTY!!!. What would happen if a severe thunderstorm would come through your area no there was no warning?

I agree whole heartedly that the stations should get with the picture and overlay a small Warning in the corner. WISN has the ability to add an HD crawl. They should use it for warnings.