I’m Only Following the News When It Rains
When you think about the structure of local TV news broadcasts, it becomes clear that they regard the weather report as essentially they’re main draw — it’s endlessly teased and stashed at the end, so you have to keep staying tuned forever and ever to get what you want. And via Peter Suderman, Pew has the data to back this up. The weather is the only category of news that has broad-reaching appeal.
This is interesting to me because I have essentially no interest in weather news. Not because I’m so much more smart and substantive than everyone else, but because of technology. I have a widget that runs along the bottom of my Firefox window that tells me current conditions, the day’s forecast highs and lows, and a general prediction for the next two days. What’s more, I can look up the weather on my iPhone’s weather ap whenever I’m curious. So I have no real need for news coverage of the weather. And I suspect that in the future more and more people will express their intense interest in the weather the same way I do — with pervasive weather information that makes the weather report on the news obsolete. And when that happens, what happens to the local TV news? What happens to the radio stations with their incessant weather reports? Technology impacts the media in weird ways, with Craigslist having dealt a devastating blow to newspapers . . . could weather aps have a similar impact?
Meanwhile, you sometimes hear it said that cable news’ obsessive focus on celebrity scandals du jour reflects the genuine lowbrow preferences of the public. I’ve always been skeptical and this seems to me to bear that out. People could be lying, to be sure, but the public seems happy to fess up to not caring about international news and to being obsessed with the weather so I think maybe we should take folks at their word that they’re not that interested in celebrity gossip.
32 Responses to “I’m Only Following the News When It Rains”
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August 19th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
so I think maybe we should take folks at their word that they’re not that interested in celebrity gossip
It’s not “celebrity,” but “crime” in the sense of contravening moral conventions, I suspect. Hence “Dateline: Pedophile,” etc.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I wonder if a cable TV network decided to devote the same aggregate amount of time to missing children and/or young cute females in general if their reputation and credibility and (most importantly, to them) their ratings would improve. I don’t particularly mind the focus on missing children, TV is good at presenting that kind of information. I do mind the cruel warped focus on one person at the expense of tens of thousands of open cases.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Local stations here in Rochester, NY do weather “first” after every break, regardless of how benign. But they hype it every bit as much as the others that tease you to get thru the whole newscast.
I’d say the whole technology thing spells the end of local news in its entirety. Computers, iPhones/smartphones, iPods (Touch), etc., all put the news in your hands whenever you want, with much more detail and cross reference than you’d ever get on TV.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
If you have interests that require major decisions based on the weather forecast* — e.g., if you sell at flea markets, which is my case — you want much more information than you are ever going to get on an iPod. On TV, when they finally stop teasing and get down to it, you get, maps, you get charts, you get an actual explanation of what the weatherperson thinks is going to happen and why.
* That was pretty much everybody, back when pretty much everybody was a farmer.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Here in South FL, one local channel touts programming that has weather before anything else (prior to the anchor intros). To be fair, that’s because we have actually have weather worries (in fact as I speak the Broward Co Emergency Mgmt. Office is giving a press conference about Fay).
My sense is that this thing is local (and ForecastFox always seems to alert me about “serious weather” when there is none).
August 19th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
My nightly gym routine includes a run or elliptical in front of a long bank of televisions. Remotes abound and pretty much whatever channel you want you get if you’re the machine in front of that set. However, many will nod towards a TV and indicate that it’s “theirs” as in that’s the channel they want it to stay on. Diplomacy dictates leaving well enough alone. Now, some evenings all of a dozen TVs are tuned to each of the four local newscasts. ABC on #1, then #4, then #8. Sprinkle the rest in there. No ESPN, DIY, cooking, national news, comedy, nothing else. OMG. WTF are these people watching? I could scratch my eyes out. Cats in trees, water skiing squirrels, zoning fights, 7-11 holdups, garage fires. Fricking girl’s softball scores (Goddamned Junior High no less!) And it’s with rapt attention they view, sometimes done with their run but standing aside to see if little Timmy got his bicycle back from the garbage truck that accidentally picked it up. And the talking heads grate supreme. How are you earnest about the new asphalt on 12th Street? Hell would be eternity in a prison cell and 4 televisions running this inanity 24/7.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Everyone can provide the weather equally well. The rest of the broadcast is tailored to appeal to people stupid enough to sit through the programming long enough to get the weather report from their TV. That explains a lot, actually.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I get all the news I need on the weather report…
Paul Simon, “The Only Living Boy in New York”
August 19th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
In terms of radio, I think the market will be around for a long, long time. I mostly listen to radio while in a car; I think that’s a much safer way to get traffic and weather than manipulating an unnecessary, expensive hi-tech handheld device like the iPhone while driving.
In the morning, I can watch local TV news while I’m getting ready for the day without having use a mouse, or type. I’d rather watch a little TV news at the end of the day rather than tack on additional eye strain spending even more time on the computer.
I’d like to agree with you on celebrity news, but the success of People magazine, TMZ, etc. indicates otherwise. Perhaps people have good intentions, but get easily roped in.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I agree with comment 4 — though I get most of my weather news via the web, there are a few local weather people I watch for the much more detailed explanation (providing better context to where rain is likely to occur). One local forecaster in particular makes the weather really interesting by treating it as a mini-lesson, explaining various scenarios, why he has picked a certain scenario as most likely, as well as the variables that could throw things off.
That being said, I have pretty much utter disdain for almost all other aspects of my local news.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
When you think about the structure of local TV news broadcasts, it becomes clear that they regard the weather report as essentially they’re main draw — it’s endlessly teased and stashed at the end, so you have to keep staying tuned forever and ever to get what you want.
It’s Pricktease Weather on News Channel 15! (And I’ve called it ‘pricktease weather’ for years.)
One local weatherman recently retired, and now appears in commercials that play during the bulletin he used to work on. I find that a little tasteless.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I wonder if the weather report is watched so much here in Southern California, where for much of the year the only question is whether it’ll be 80 and sunny or 90 and sunny.
I’d like to agree with you on celebrity news, but the success of People magazine, TMZ, etc. indicates otherwise. Perhaps people have good intentions, but get easily roped in.
Yeah. There’s a stigma attached to celebrity news, but there’s no similar stigma for most of the population in not watching the international news. People may hate Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, but they follow their exploits on TV. I hate Tom Leykis, but I’ve been known to listen to his show for 20-minute stretches, as long as there’s nobody else in the car. And I’m sure if you ask him, he’ll say he doesn’t care, as long as he gets ratings.
August 19th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Speaking of which, weather.com is predicting rain for next Thursday in Denver. Hope Obama has a good “rain-alternative” speech in his pocket.
August 19th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
This is why I live in San Francisco - you don’t need weather reports.
Once it rains in the fall, you start carrying an umbrella every day. Once it hasn’t rained for a few weeks in May, you stop carrying it. I don’t even do that - if I go out with my carry case, the umbrella is in the bottom - year round.
Temperature? It’s either 70 in the summer or 50 in the winter. Wear the same stuff every day, you’ll get through, except on the two or three really hot or cold days.
Easy. San Francisco has the best weather in the country - unless you like sweating.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
There are some weather reports that are just intrinsically interesting. Tom Skilling comes to mind: he really is more of a meteorologist (and weather geek) than a normal TV weather man though.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
one of the Queer things about singapore is that the temperature is always the same, and you can often have a solid week of ’scattered t-storms’ ahead of you. the clouds run as far As Heaven Is Wide but it’s not just A Stroke Of Luck if it stays dry. in a place like this you’re not a Stupid Girl if you don’t check the weather at all.
man, it’s really late over here. some sleep should Fix Me Now.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
My question is why do they display such a fixation on weather hear in SoCal where it’s hardly ever a problem.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
“… as essentially they’re main draw …”
That’s their main draw.
Damn it, Harvard. What are you doing to these people?
August 20th, 2008 at 6:58 am
I agree that probably the allure of celebrity gossip is somewhat overstated, but I’m not sure I agree that the number there is necessarily accurate. People may be aware that they are interested in the weather in general and not interested in international affairs in general or celebrity gossip in general. But there are probably a significant percentage of people who do not consider themselves purveyors of celebrity gossip in general but who also do not change the channel if they hear a tease about a story involving any number of celebrities that prick their attention.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Assuming that some device doesn’t come out that is both cheap and voice activated. After all, the iPod sounded far-fetched 15 years ago and the internet as it is today seemed far-fetched 30 years ago.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:05 am
One of the most important functions of weather is that if gives weather panickers, those people in the office who are always telling you we’re going to get a foot of snow, (I live in southern Michigan) a focus for their panicking.
August 20th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
But TV weather is delivered by an actual meteorologist (sp?) who presumably has a degree and knows how to interpret the radar and weather data we can obtain on the internets.
Also this site is much better about the slow-ass comments. And it wasn’t the Atlantic either, as every other poster including Coates now, had rapid comments. Yours were molasses.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Really? I didn’t know that Matt’s was the only slow comment blog!
Heh, heh, now we can directly blame Matt in the past!
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