So we have this huge winter weather system coming across the U.S. and the Shenandoah Valley is expecting sleet, snow, and freezing rain ... so I turn on The Weather Channel after lunch to get the latest ... and they are running some pre-recorded program that is supposed to be on for the next two hours or longer.
I have been losing patience with The Weather Channel because it seems most of the time when I want to check the weather, they are running a program on gardening or going green or old storm stories or preaching about what I need to do to be a better citizen with the environment.
Get real!
In the mornings now Al Roker has his own program with entertainment and news and a little weather ... isn't that what they do on ABC, NBC, and CBS in the mornings? Why didn't he just stay at NBC as their weather guy?
The Weather Channel was unique when it first began in that it was possible to get the weather for anywhere in the country anytime during the day or night. Today I find them useless as I try to find out what this weather system is doing and where it is and how long before we can expect something to be here. I had plans for tonight ... we're trying to decide if we need to cancel to avoid everyone getting caught in bad ice conditions ... but I'm getting no help from TWC.
The Weather Channel. Could someone please tell them to return to their roots ... the weather ... and forget all the programming that is available on 362 other channels?
2 comments:
Amen. I'm afraid that the phenomena that you noted with the Weather Channel isn't unique to that particular network. When cable was first introduced it was hailed as a medium that would allow for a diffusion of ideas and interests. That's exactly what happened, for a while.
American Movie Classics, Bravo, Arts and Entertainment, The History Channel, even VH1 and MTV to a certain extent--all held the promise of a niche of programming. However, what many didn't forsee was that many of these networks would end up being bought out by media conglomerates which were far more concerned about the bottom line. So we saw a slow diversification of programming that has really crescendoed in the last year or two, with all of the above networks putting far too much focus on either reality programming or going "mainstream" with advertising. Some collapsed quicker than others, but the fact of the matter is that with a broad, broad spectrum of media choices out there, the media moguls figured they'd rather diversify than stay small and lose cash on what would eventually become a public service.
The Weather Channel suffers from the additional wrinkle of services like Weather Underground and Weather Bug online. Why bother with weather reports when too many consumers are getting their weather info elsewhere?
I think we'll see a backlash soon as many of these networks lose their loyal base, but they may take just as long as it took for them to be overwhelmed by innane, barely related programming.
It's all about entertainment and ratings.
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