@BlogKCThis may be a record. During yesterday’s storms that struck all day and night, there wasn’t a single time we tuned to KCTV when they weren’t in full-scale TEAM COVERAGE SUPER MEGA DOPPLER WEATHERGASM mode. How do you think she stays up there for so long? Depends or a catheter?
We also feel kinda sad for Ted Textor, the former CNN guy who spent all of yesterday driving Katie’s radar – Ted, zoom in! zoom out! left! right! for the love of god, more doppler! We also feel sorry for Time Warner Cable’s MetroWeather channel. They had some kind of radar problem that left them with a camera pointed at a computer monitor.
i feel really bad for folks that got hit really hard by the storms… but… i also really would have liked to see more than 3 minutes of ‘family guy’
so… conflicted.
Most stations have a policy for wall-to-wall coverage of severe weather. Essentially, wall-to-wall for tornadoes in a highly populated area. Brief 15 minute updates outside of a populated area. KCTV does not follow this normal standard.
But… if any day warranted overcoverage, it was Sunday. Best setup for big house-ingesting tornadoes since May 4, 2003.
when time warner does their break in thing does the gnenrated voice talk really really slow for anyone else? that is so annoying.
Granted, the weather was bad yesterday. But I lived in the metro KC area which was not affected. And like many other locals, I am a Iowa Hawkeye fan. But, due to KCTV overhyping the weather for ratings, I couldn’t see Iowa win the Big Ten tournament yesterday. They could of shown the game with the sound off, or had it on a smaller screener in the corner.
That’s what Fox 4 did during NASCAR yesterday. They cut in and would still leave the picture of the race up. I was glad about that!
I grew up in Wichita and I can assure you that the tv weather alert hysteria is much worse down there. It’s incredible. I find the coverage pretty subdued up here, excepting yesterday.
The sirens in Edwardsville kept going off. But we lost power for an hour and a half. So, I didn’t see KCTV blow a load yesterday. I only suffered minor hail damage on the hood of my car.
Since KCTV 5 now owns the WB Channel 62 (or on my Time Warner Cable, channel 10) why couldn’t they just move “The Katie Horner Variety Show” over there, and put a blurb on KCTV telling people to go there if they want weather?
Seriously, these channels need to put a stop to all the weather hype.
By the way, that Time Warner storm warning auto-voice is FRIGHTENING.
Actually… the Time Warner voice was probably the automated voice from the National Weather Service.
When I worked at KSHB, we had thought of doing the dual-box idea Andrew mentioned. I really like it, and I know other stations in Wichita and OK City do it periodically. I was told it would be “difficult” and management promptly forgot about it. We also thought about doing the “other station” thing (Scripps-Howard also owns and runs KMCI-38), but again… nothing done about it. Maybe this wasn’t put into action because the other stations don’t transmit with the same amount of power, and not everyone has cable. Who knows.
KCTV is going to go on and on about how they were the only station concerned with people’s safety during the storm. They do wall-to-wall to give the impression that they are “the best station to watch when severe weather STRIKES” (no matter how untrue it is). Each of the stations are going to pimp their coverage also. Of course, they want to pimp EVERYTHING. They were mad when I was doing volunteer work and not pimping it on the air. “Hey! Look at us! Look at what our kind people are doing! Praise us! Praise US!”
Anyway… at least we had a break in the weather long enough to see the Selection Show on CBS.
I find KCTV5′s weather hysteria to be condescending. Do they really think people are too stupid to know what to do in a thunderstorm? I’m not minimizing the loss of property or life but yesterday’s non-stop weather coverage was abuse of the public airwaves!
There is also the factor of the ‘little boy who cried wolf’. If you’re hysterical all the time about storms, stay on the air for hours at a time, people will just tend to ignore you over time.
Oh, and I also love it when stations pimp their ’3-D’ radar on TV, a 2-D medium.
And Andrew, I feel your pain. A couple of years ago one of my alma maters was playing in a bowl game. KCTV managed to keep interrupting it every 5 minutes to talk about a hostage situation at a McDonald’s in the Northland. Now, they were no where near the actual McDonald’s, KCPD wouldn’t let anyone that close, so you couldn’t see anything. And, they had nothing new to report, just the same old hackneyed cr*p repeated over and over again. Eventually I totally gave up and tuned into the internet to hear the end of the game.
you people and your urgent tv-watching needs… pathetic! gary lezak actually had to forcefully tell people to shut the hell up about whatever was supposed to be on NBC last night.
Dave KCMO,
Why do people turn on the TV? So they can watch TV!
Sometimes that includes getting weather information, but constant re-telling of old news and forcing people to look at all the intricate details on moving multi-color weather maps is not necessary. Just tell me what is important. Most time, you don’t need to interrupt programming – just put up a small map in the corner, and a crawl at the bottom.
Oh, and a final note to the “Meteorologists”:
JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT WEATHER, DOESN’T MEAN I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!
Stop telling me about system lines, fronts, cloud types, etc. I don’t care!
Is it going to rain? Do I need to take cover? Should I wear sunblock? Those are the things I want to know. No other people on television are allowed such blatant egotism.
Can you imagine if Jack Harry spent 10 minutes explaining to the audience the finer points of how sportscasters put together the sports segment?
Katie Horner Variety show – comedy gold!!!
I certainly hope I didn’t come across as the insensitive rabid sports fan. I don’t think I did at all – I’m glad people see my point. The bigger issue is that KCTV uses fear and hype to garner ratings. Can you imagine if this happened in September and they cut out of the Chiefs!?!?!?
anyone remember her saying “we’re surrounded by tornadoes” a few years back?
So, I guess “Survivor KC: Last Meteorologist Standing”, will not be cancelled.
Talk about sensationalizing. I do remember Kansas City being “surrounded by tornadoes” in years past. Did they consult with Katie Horner for the movie “Twister”? She could probably convince *someone* that tornadoes blow instead of sucking, and Dodge Rams are impervious to mother nature.
No, I prefer the semi-laid back approach used by KMBC’s team (even though Pete Grigsby is a goof). “Yeah, if something happens we’ll break in”. It instills images of Brian Busby in a barca lounger smoking a pipe.
ChrisM70, I agree that they do giz all over bad weather, there obviously is a market that is into weather or they wouldn’t do it.. I personally love those severe weather days. Just because you pefer the 40,000 foot level to life doesn’t mean other people do.. There are 100′s of channels you can go to avoid reality… go pick one and let the rest of us stay informed
I’m glad Flanagan addressed it today in the Star. A good point was put up, similar to mine: if this were the Jayhawks playing you would not have an interruption.
“pefer (sic) the 40,000 foot level to life…”
What does that mean?
I’m not advocating the removal of storm information. I’m advocating a decrease in pointless blathering and fear-mongering used just to boost ratings.
Dave C, your right – there are 100′s of channels.
Maybe you could go find a different channel to “stay informed”.
Or, perhaps when the weather gets bad, you can go outside and live in “reality”, while I stay inside and avoid it.
Okay so Dave C., you are saying that you watched all ten zillion hours of Katie Horner? How many times do you need the same stale information? No one is saying that they don’t want or don’t see any need for severe weather information, they just don’t need the same old BS repeated over and over as nothing new develops. Tell us what the deal is, then go to a little blurb in the corner of the TV. Just because I might want to watch a game rather than hear about a tornado in a city I’ve never even heard of (trust me Katie, the people living there already know about the storm), that is only in the KC area by the media’s broad definition. I am originally from California where we had every plague known to man: mudslides, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and trust me, KC makes a far bigger deal out of storms than they ever did there.
My wife and I saw Katie at the Macaroni Grill on Metcalf Monday night.
Kevin;
Hopefully she still wasn’t talking about the storms…
haha i’ll bet she was!
There are several car loads of people with whom I traveled Sunday night who want to thank Katie Horner from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for staying on the air. We were hauling horses home from a Wentzville horse show. Because of Katie, we are alive. My mother stayed on the phone with us as tornadoes crossed I-70 and told us where they were. We stopped a mile from one and would be dead were it not for the information we were given. We saw many semis blow over – one onto two vehicles crushing those inside. We stood and watched that half mile wide tornado cross a field tossing cars around. Because of Katie, we knew when to stop, when to turn around and when to move closer to home. Our normal 3 hour trip took more than 8 hours. When we stopped, more people joined our caravan because we had up to the minute information about where the tornadoes were. We had no idea what counties we were in because most of the signs had blown over. Thanks to Katie for mentioning highway markers and towns. Some of those signs were still up and we were able to determine where we were. To those who complained, I am not sure what TV station you think Houstonia or Sweet Springs have other than our Kansas City stations. Just because you were not affected doesn’t mean that the information being broadcast isn’t saving someone somewhere. Your night of minor inconvenience was a major night in the lives and deaths of many people on I-70 who could not just stop and pull over because the tornadoes just kept coming. We were literally in a race for our lives.
Isurvived,
I would like to say that I am glad that you are safe and that everything worked out for you. I am also glad there was a contact that could get you the information you needed. Since there had been tornadoes going through this area beginning early Sunday morning and continued to pick up strength until the ones you mentioned hit around 8:00pm Sunday night.
My complaint is that much of the time spent by Katie Horner and some other meterologists is NOT spent giving out important information – it’s spent telling us about how they got their information and trying to justify all their fancy equipment.
I agree that information regarding the path of the tornado needs to get out, but is KCTV5 the metro’s ONLY weather link? How about the radio? Doesn’t the National Weather Service provide important information?
One more thing:
Perhaps someone with more information about tornadoes can answer this: I thought that when a tornado was coming, you actually ARE supposed to stop and pull over, lie in a ditch and NOT try to outrun them?
I’m not sure who’s worse: Katie or Gary Lezdork.
And like Chris pointed out, it seems as though they spend more time playing with their little meterological toys than actually telling people what the hell is going on.
ChrisM70,
“pefer (sic) the 40,000 foot level to life…”
It’s a figure of speech. For example my boss says give me the 40,000 foot level explanation, it means he doesn’t want the details, but the overview.
I personally watched Gary and crew on sunday. I enjoy severe weather so I had no problem watching this most of the afternoon, granted I didn’t sit on the couch stairing at it non-stop, it was on while I was busy with stuff…
ChrisM70
I think it would have been a little difficult to get the horses to lie in the ditch. But, thanks for the lesson in how to survive a tornado!
Do you also think that sitting under your desk with your hands clasped behind your neck in case of nuclear attack is the best way to be safe? There were multiple tornados!!! Whenever we stopped someplace, another was coming hence the necessity to dodge. I would have happily hit a ditch. That is the reason they needed to stay on the air and as far as I am concerned, they can tell me any time they want how their “fancy equipment” works for as long as they like! There are at least 11 people and 6 horses who are alive because of it!
We had the National Weather Service on a CB, a laptop connected to the internet for weather and KCTV 5 through a cell phone. Only Katie told us what towns and mile markers. The county signs were blown over. The reporting that caused a yawnfest to those of you lucky enough to be home and out of harms way saved lives.
Isurvived,
I didn’t fully understand that you were as concerned with the lives of your horses as you were with your own lives – I know many people care for their animals as if they were family.
I grew up in SW Kansas and I have seen a few tornadoes in my life, so I have a pretty good grasp on what to do when a twister is on its way, so my “lesson” is useful to most people.
Again, I’m glad you survived this ordeal with everyone (man and beast) alive. It’s too bad there wasn’t more/better information earlier in the day that could have alerted you to the continuing bands of tornadoes so that you could stop and take shelter in a nearby city.
Maybe when the day comes that we have a nuclear attack I’ll turn on KCTV5: Katie will know what to do.
ChrisM70,
We called our families before leaving and they informed us of the weather. Having checked with them and the national weather service, we concluded that we would be between storms and could travel safely. Unfortunately, there was a semi overturned on the highway and we sat for nearly two hours. While the weather advanced, we did not! When we could travel again, it was too late. We were right in it!
This is my third experience with a tornado. I grew up here too, and I have never experienced anything like the weather Sunday. It was incredible.
Since you were so kind with your tornado advice, please allow me to assist you.
It would seem that a nuclear attack would not be weather related but rather news. So since you would be looking for Katie and would not find her, here is my advice to you….In the event of nuclear attack, you would probably be on fire at the very least, so you should just stop, drop and roll! I am sure you would be just fine and then could continue to watch TV!
Isurvived,
I am kind of amazed at how defensive you are about this.
I acknowledged your terrible situation and good fortune in escaping the storm without injury especially considering all the vehicles that were blown off the road near Sweet Springs.
I also find your attitude towards my tornado advice puzzling. The National Weather Service recommends that during tornadic weather you should NEVER take shelter inside a vehicle, and you shouldn’t ever try to outrun one. I would hate for someone else reading this blog to think that just because things worked out for you, that they should try this strategy too – they might not be so lucky.
As for a nuclear attack, you brought up that subject! I just figured if Katie knows exactly where tornadoes will land, she might be able to get me safely through a atom bomb strike!
I still think that Katie’s antics are over the top, and meant to boost ratings and her ego (couldn’t she feed information to other weather people from OFF-screen?) KCTV has had no problem using Sunday’s disasters in their new weather commercials!
However, I guess she somehow through all of her colored maps and talk of quadruple-viper-doppler radar got you the information you needed, and that’s a good thing.
One final thing: not that I feel I must defend myself, but since you suggested I was some kind of tv zombie that couldn’t tear myself away from the tube, wasn’t it television watching that saved your life? Perhaps we should all watch more tv!
I thought all you men were more into Gary Lezac.
I’ll have to agree with most of these posts. KCTV 5′s weather coverage has become so over-the-top that people don’t take it serousely anymore.
I just think Katie is the greatest, so informative, interesting and presonable, and knowlageable. However, I was wondering where Ted Baxter transfered too. I just wanted to make sure he is okay and let you know we really got a kick out of him.
I am angry enough to severely batter the weather idiots at tv ch.5. After years of screaming profanities at tv weather PERSONALITIES, I have reached the end of my endurance. This ch. 5 weather punk interrupts the Bridgestone Golf Tournament with two holes remaining, which eventually ended with a four hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink, and finally won by Tiger Woods.This punk promised to get back to golf- he NEVER DID!!!!!I knew Katie Horner would not be far behind!!! There’s no way she’s going to be left out of the action!She couldn’t get there fast enough! She must have grabbed her dirty softball garb out of the hamper!”I don’t care what I look like – I’ve got to save HUMANITY!!!!!”
UNTIL WE ALL BAND TOGETHER AGAINST THESE IMBECILES, THEY WILL CONTINUE TO INVADE OUR LIVES! WE HAVE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO STOP THEM! BOYCOTTS!, CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS!, WHATEVER!!!!! I HAVE EXCEEDED THE ANGER OF ROAD RAGE! I NEVER get headaches, but these weather GODS can bring one on instantaneously!!!!!
I’m not even going to discuss the fact that anyone in harm’s way has multiple sources of information to call on – but, NO, this would deprive the WEATHER GODS their glorious 15 minutes!!!!!
Personally, I appreciate the coverage when there is severe weather and I have to say it is a lot more interesting than a lot of the TV shows.
I think Katie does a wonderful job and I always appreciate seeing her instead of someone else. I like her explanations of what is happening and why. Maybe some of you don’t care, but some of us do. I may be nearing 50, but I still like to learn.
Okay… I read the Blog Nice site I found and I bookmarked the site… Plan on coming back later to spend a little time there.
I am really tired of the wall to wall and unecessay weather info put out by Katie when 99% percent of the viewers are not affected and the affected viewers are in thier basements or the wind has knocked out the electricity. We all appreciate technology but enough is enough.Come on and tell us what we need to know and get off the air.
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