Messages

16

Local Forecast / Re: August 2012 Playlist

« on: October 04, 2012, 10:29:18 PM »

Well, "a hurricane a day keep the vocal songs away" appears to be the lesson from Hurricane Isaac. I suppose one could grasp at straws and hope that Winter Storm Athena has the same effect  .

17

OCMs & Personalities / Re: Reynolds Wolf Freelancing for TWC

« on: October 04, 2012, 10:27:25 PM »

Reynolds Wolf is no Jeff Morrow, but I'm glad they picked him up. Now, if only TWC could actually focus on hiring and retaning real talent  . Surely something is very wrong when you fire Dave Schwartz and hire Al Roker.

18

Everything Else TWC / Re: Why The Weather Channel is Naming Winter Storms

« on: October 04, 2012, 10:25:39 PM »

What would qualify as a winter storm noteworthy enough to be named? I have a feeling that these names will be used mostly for winter storms in TWC's pet region, the East Coast, and winter storms in the Interior West, the Plains, and northern New England will be largely ignored. Case in point: the one-footer hitting Minnesota right now. Sometimes the noteworthiness of a storm isn't known until after it's passed, sometimes even after the whole winter has passed. The January 12, 2012 stormwas the notable event of the 2012 winter season, but in a season like 2010-11 it would've just been part of the background, a nuisance snow. We don't know at the time how the rest of the season will shape up.

I also don't even care for the naming of hurricanes. I've always found that the usual procedure with winter storms was better, with a descriptive name being attached to it, most of the time given after the fact. It's sort of like naming a baby - it often pays to observe its characteristics before deciding on an appropriate name. The "Labor Day Hurricane of 1935" or the "Great Gale of 1815" to me is more evocative than "Hurricane Isaac". Likewise, "The Pre-Christmas Blizzard of 2010", the "Great Snow of 2013", the "Groundhog Day Blizzard", the "Superstorm of 1993", and the "Carolina Crusher" evokes more than "Winter Storm Athena" and "Winter Storm Nemo". Also, it's quite unnecessary, since winter storms are already adequately cataloged, with the exception of the usual East-Coaster shenanigans.

I prefer a system where winter storms or hurricanes are just numbered, with noteworthy ones receiving descriptive or evocative monikers. In fact I'd like for the descriptive names to be used more often than they are now, but I don't care for using a list of preselected names.

19

OCMs & Personalities / Re: Jeff Morrow leaves TWC

« on: October 04, 2012, 10:20:34 PM »

This is terrible news. I liked Jeff Morrow, but if he left voluntarily I can understand it. If they fire more people it will be yet more nails in the coffin of what looks like a terminal decline for TWC. Since the initial squeezeback attack in August 2011 the quality and spirit of TWC has been in free-fall.

I don't watch The Weather Channel much anymore, mostly because of what's happened over the past year or so but partially because they don't really cover the events I care about. Why haven't meteorologists been stationed in the Upper Midwest? Why hasn't there been massive coverage of a huge early-season snowstorm? Isn't a foot of snow in early October notable? Anyway, if they fire Mike Seidel I won't be watching them at all anymore. Veterans like him and Cantore are the only thing keeping me tied to their network at all.

As for Jeff Morrow, I know that eventually people have to retire and be replaced, but for goodness sake he wasn't even old. He couldn't have been much more than 60, and he still has a lot of vitality. They could have and really should have kept him for another 15 years. Talent comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. If all you do is hire young, pretty faces, the pretty face is all you'll have, and nothing else. Some of their younger people do have talent, but so do experienced people like Jeff Morrow.

20

Local Forecast / Re: July 2012 Playlist

« on: July 09, 2012, 02:24:18 PM »

The holidays are indeed very far, but they I expect vocal holiday music with maybe a few traditional annual songs thrown in the mix.

That would be the lousiest Christmas ever, TWC-wise of course. It would be a real travesty. I'm generally not a fan of vocal music even for Christmas, with a few exceptions. They need a Christmas list like they had in 2010. 2011's list was subpar. However, there is still hope. After all, as late as September of last year the very existence of a Christmas playlist was questionable, given the L-bar situation, but they got rid of the L-bars before Christmastime rolled around. So there is time for improvement, though I wouldn't hold my breath.

21

Local Forecast / Re: Create your own playlist

« on: July 03, 2012, 12:16:51 PM »

Here's my July 2012 playlist, to run from July 5 through July 31:

Morning:

In Your Own Sweet Way – Miles Davis (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
My Beautiful Blue Sky – Moby
Symphony No. 9 – Beethoven (time in 1:04)
Room to Breathe – Brian O'Neal (last seen on TWC Jul 2009)
Weekend in Monaco – The Rippingtons (last seen on TWC Mar 1993)
West End – Steve Oliver (last seen on TWC Nov 2002)
Sunshine (Instrumental) – Timbuk (last seen on TWC Apr 2011 WUWA)
The Eyes of the Sky (Production Track) (last seen on Weatherscan)
Nice to Meet You – Chris Geith (last seen on TWC May 2009)

Daytime:

Chasing the Sun – Ryan Farish (Time in 1:00)
Simplicity – Stanton Lanier (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
The Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major – Mozart (time in 3:50)
Tingmiark (Flightpath) – John Serrie
Sunset Over Broadway – Roy Buchanan (time in 3:48) (last seen on TWC 1991)
Letting Go – Ryan Farish (last seen on TWC Nov 2001)
Disc Wars – Daft Punk (last seen on TWC Jul 2011)
Smooth Sailing – Trammell Starks (time in 1:35)
Song of the Sun – Mike Oldfield

Primetime:

Layla – Derek and the Dominos (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
Love of Strings – Moby (last seen on TWC Nov 2011)
Nature Boy – Miles Davis (time in 3:39)
Taos – The Rippingtons (time in 0:30)
Semper Fidelis – John Philip Sousa
The Stars and Stripes Forever – John Philip Sousa
James Brown – Locomotion (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
Walk With Me – Steve Glotzer (last seen on TWC Aug 2007)

Overnight:

Full Sail – Ryan Farish
Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven
We Should Be Together – Third Force (time in 1:19)
Echoes of a Dream – Third Force (time in 0:48)
Guitarland – Russ Freeman (last seen on TWC Jul 2004)
No Horizon – Robert A. Wolf (time in 2:04)
Proshaniye Slavyanki (USSR Military March) – V. Agapin
Calm Skies, Angry Skies (Production Track) (time in 0:34) (last seen on Weatherscan)

22

Local Forecast / Re: July 2012 Playlist

« on: July 03, 2012, 12:06:18 PM »

This playlist is a big step in the right direction, and I like many of the songs this month. Jane Eyre and Proposed Solution are two of my all-time favorites  . Now, if only they could banish those vocals from the local forecasts (or what's left of them), especially Lady Gaga's songs  .

TWC seems to be on the way up from a very low bottom. The music has been better from June onward, and other aspects of the precipitous decline have stabilized. They're still close to rock bottom and have a long way to go, but at least they're starting to move in the right direction. The only two songs that I've actually liked this entire year so far are Running Out of Time by Matthew Shuman (Apr 2012) and Deluge by Jeff Pearce (Jun 2012).

EDIT: I think the 2-minute flavors are back in the morning hours at least? Zach's clip was a 2 minute LF. It's the first I've seen of them since 90-second flavors became the longest flavor in late May.

23

Local Forecast / Re: June 2012 Playlist

« on: June 09, 2012, 09:50:10 AM »

They have better selections than they've had so far this year (now if only they could air the 120-second flavors...  ). They've also finally managed to have a monthly playlist instead of the mess they've had earlier this year.

Hedwig's Theme is kind of cool, and I'll see if I can catch a clip of that tonight. The current playlist is still pretty lousy, but overall I'd say it's the best of 2012 so far and the best since the November list (not that that's hard to do).

24

Local Forecast / Re: Your Ideas for Flavor Lineups

« on: June 08, 2012, 11:15:08 AM »

Oooh...I wonder how I could've missed this topic before. TWC's local forecast flavors could use a lot of improvement. Although I would have tweaked them a lot more, the lineups that debuted in December 2010 were very good; with the current conditions, 8-city, regional map, and almanacs having priority, it looked like a "meatier" local forecast.

While I'm temporarily in charge of everything Weather Channel-related  , I'd first cancel all long-form programming and have local forecasts airing on the 8s of every hour (:08, :18, :28, :38, :48, and :58). All local forecasts will be 120 seconds long (2 mins), except for the :58 flavor which will be 150 seconds long (2m 30s). Thus, no 90 or 60 second flavors exist under my system. All of these flavors assume it is an interior STAR (no marine forecast or tides), there are no traffic products, no record temperature screens, and that there are no NWS alerts. It also assumes that there is precipitation detected, so that the local doppler comes on. I've also added the satellite product as a regular feature on all STARS (it would be much more zoomed-out than the radar/satellite, like the current Satellite products on the West Coast).

The product and any additional notes are as follows. The time each product is on is in parentheses with (8s) meaning 8 seconds for example.

The :58 flavor (150 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (12s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Second Almanac Screen (7s) (displaying moon phases, actual and average precip and snow for month to date)
Getaway Forecast (10s)
Daypart Forecast (8s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Travel Cities Forecast (18s) (displaying three consecutive screens each containing 4 travel destinations in the STAR's general region (12 cities in total))
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)

The :08 flavor (120 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Metro Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Air Quality Forecast* (6s)
Getaway Forecast (10s)
Daypart Forecast (7s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (5s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (5s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)

The :18 flavor (120 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (12s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Radar/Satellite* (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Second Almanac Screen (7s) (displaying moon phases, actual and average precip and snow for month to date)
Travel Cities Forecast (18s) (displaying three consecutive screens each containing 4 travel destinations in the STAR's general region (12 cities in total))
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)

The :28 flavor (120 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (8-city) (12s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler* (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Almanac (8s)
Today's* Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)

The :38 flavor (120 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Metro Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Satellite (8s)
Outdoor Activity Forecast (8s) (replaced by the School Day Forecast in mornings when schools are in)
Today's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Tonight's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)

The :48 flavor (120 seconds):

Current Conditions (8s)
Latest Observations (8-city) (12s)
Regional Current Conditions (6s)
Regional Doppler (8s)
Local Doppler (8s)
Almanac (7s)
Radar/Satellite (8s)
Daypart Forecast (7s)
Today's Forecast Metro Map (6s)
Today's Forecast Regional Map (6s)
Local Forecast (48 hours) (32s)
The Week Ahead (12s)


*Today's Forecast or the first forecast period available, i.e. if it's evening the Tonight's Forecast would appear first followed by the next day
*All radars have two loops, with a total runtime of 8 seconds
*All radar/satellite and satellite products display a 10-hour loop
*All air quality forecasts display three cities like West Coast STARS do today

25

Local Forecast / Re: Songs you want to hear again on the LF

« on: June 08, 2012, 09:58:30 AM »

I want to hear What I Got and Green Onions again.

"What I Got" by Sublime? Again? That's already aired last September/October and in January/February of this year. Perhaps TWC can finally bear to wait a full year before playing that one again  . I will say, though, that I wouldn't mind it airing again.

As for Green Onions, I'd like to hear that one again, too, along with some more from the "classical" jazz genre  .

26

Local Forecast / Re: Create your own playlist

« on: June 03, 2012, 11:37:59 AM »

Much like TWC I'm a few days behind in updating the playlists for the next month  . But the May playlist was so good it doesn't need immediate replacing (just ask me  ). But without further ado, here's my own playlist for June 2012. This is intended to last until July 5, so that Fireworks by Moby can finally play on July 4th, an appropriate date.

Morning:

Papa Was a Rolling Stone - The Rippingtons (last seen on TWC May 2011)
Frail - Jars of Clay (last seen on TWC Nov 2011)
Excited - James 'PJ' Spraggins (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Cast Your Fate To The Wind - David Benoit (last seen on TWC Jun 2008)
Going Home - Mark Krurnowski (last seen on TWC Jul 2008)
So Beautiful - Boney James
Tannhäuser, Overture - Richard Wagner [time in 2:12]
Blue Train - John Coltrane

Daytime:

Sunlight Within - Steve Oliver (last seen on TWC Jul 2010)
Windjammer - Ryan Farish (last seen on TWC Aug 2010)
Raider's March [Indiana Jones Theme] - John Williams (last seen on TWC Jul 2010)
Reptile - Eric Clapton (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Sea Breeze - Eddie Reasoner (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Bright Clouds - Kathy S. Ball (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Distance to the Sun - Gooding (last seen on TWC Nov 2009)
Far Centaurus - John Stanford [time in 1:18]
Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra (last seen on TWC Sep 2007)

Primetime:

Plurality - Gooding (last seen on TWC Jul 2010)
Terminal Frost - Pink Floyd (last seen on TWC Jul 2010)
Bite Back - Gooding (last seen on TWC Jun 2009)
Let It Rain - Ryan Farish (last seen on TWC May 2010)
Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones (last seen on TWC Jul 2010)
Love Clears the Way - Gooding (last seen on TWC May 2010)
Fireworks - Moby (last seen on TWC Jan 2012)
Deepest Days - David Helpling (last seen on TWC Jun 2009)
Proposed Solution – Ben Kopec (lase seen on TWC Mar 2011)

Overnight:

Cathedrals - Gooding (last seen on TWC Jul 2009)
Lights Out San Francisco - Craig Chaquico (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Shadow of the Moon - Steve Oliver (last seen on TWC Dec 2008)
Crimea II - Bodhi [Nov 2008 cut] (last seen on TWC Jan 2011)
There And Back - Boney James (last seen on TWC May 2011)
Touch - Boney James (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
Warm Summer Night - Lisa Hilton (last seen on TWC Jun 2010)
Nature Boy - Miles Davis [time in 1:50 from the start of 59rfmusic1's video]
Fragments/Ambient Space Music - Julien H. Mulder [time in 58:05]

27

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: May 14, 2012, 10:48:48 AM »

That Intellistar's metro map needs to be shifted quite a ways to the east - there's no point to showing that much water. Some of the Great Lakes Intellistars are an example of what I'm talking about. The regional radar and the radar/satellite also need to be zoomed out more.

Maybe it's extreme coincidence but most of yesterday and every LF I caught today had no vocals...

One can only hope that the vocals will be vanquished.

28

Everything Else TWC / Re: Create your own TWC Schedule

« on: May 10, 2012, 10:08:54 PM »

My schedule is simple: Live weather 24/7. No long-form programming. Local forecasts on the 8's of every hour.

As much as I may not mind a little long-form programming and L-bar forecasts like they were in January 2011, both of them have become menaces to the integrity of the network, so we'd be better off if they were purged entirely. I don't really care much how my live weather 24/7 is divided up, but I second getting rid of Al Roker. He was good during the blizzards of 2011, but everything considered him and his show are more trouble than they're worth. I'd extend First Outlook through the first WUWA hour, and make Ray Stagich the regular, permanent host. Heather and Carl would also be better on YWT than the current duo, though I think Abrams is a much bigger problem than Bettes.

On a side note, I'd get a new flavor line-up. The current flavors both on the IS and IS2 are lackluster. The lineup they had starting in December 2010 for the Intellistar worked very well. It was rather balanced in my view, though I'm sure a few improvements could be made. The IS2 flavors are all the same, and I'd introduce a lot more diversity, including something like the Intellistar's 8-city product, and regional maps as well. All we have now on the IS2 is the metro maps. I'd also eliminate the 90-second flavors in favor of solely 2-minute locals. The 60-second locals would also be eliminated as a side effect of eliminating long-form programming. I'd also mull over bringing back the 3-minute locals for special occasions, since a travel cities forecast may be useful during peak travel seasons. Speaking of travel, an airport delay product of some sort may be useful, perhaps in the form of a national map or list occasionally played at the tail end of live weather coverage (like what they do with cities or sports events now before they cut to commercials). Finally, I'd also bring back Storm Alert for major hurricane landfalls, with the 2008-style playlist.

My schedule really looks awesome, now that I think about it  .

29

Local Forecast / Re: Songs you want to hear again on the LF

« on: May 10, 2012, 09:19:35 PM »

I'd like to see these two make a return, Boney James's "Butter" and Third Force's "The Gift". There could be no better olive branch to the fans than putting songs like this on the air again, should TWC come to their senses again.

TWC [HD] Local Forecast- "The Gift" by 3rd Force

TWC Satellite Local Forecast from December 2010 Overnight #10

30

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: May 10, 2012, 09:13:55 PM »

TWC Social really holds no interest for me. I want to see more in-depth weather reports and information, not some random dum-dum's weather complaints. How the polar vortex works, the climatology of snowfall, hurricane belts, et cetera, would be far more interesting. It may even improve TWC's profits. After all, if they ran programming like that plus real local forecasts, what other weather source, online or otherwise, would be more attractive?