The following email was sent to ABC3340 meteorologist James Spann on ABC3340 during continuous tornado coverage on Friday 10-30-09
“Please tell James Spann to get off. He has been on for almost 30 minutes talking about weather that is not even here yet. God, we want to watch Oprah. PLEASE. Jerry Tracy comes on for a minute or two and then gets off. Who cares about football weather right now. He can talk about that at 5…………………………………………That’s why I don’t watch your station!!!!”
“It is utterly ridiculous that you cut into an entire program to go on and on about the weather whenever there is a storm as far away as an hour. I cannot be the only person who does not understand why you cannot come on, state what you need to say and then run a ticker tape of updates. But to talk the length of an entire show and then some makes no sense at all. People don’t care, regardless of your reasons, to sit and have to watch this stuff. Notify them and update them if it is necessary, otherwise allow the storm to move on and be done with it.”
“Is it THAT necessary for James Spann to interrupt Oprah Winfrey shows on a regular basis because of the ’severe weather’?? Spit it out! It doesn’t take 45 minutes to tell people where the severe weather is, and what it’s doing. A tornado hasn’t even been spotted!! I am extremely frustrated…”
Ah, the joys of long form tornado coverage. I look forward to the day when there is sufficient bandwidth and a nice TV interface so we can do it all on the Internet!
What do you think all opinions will be appreciated.
Here is Mine: I really think it is needed because not everyone has access to radar and internet especially in rural areas (like Walker County for example). You get in some parts of Walker County Like where I grew up in Townley There is no Tornado siren and no high speed internet, all we had was James Spanns severe weather coverage. Now I am a avid storm chaser and a SkyWarn spotter for the NWS offices in Huntsville and Birmingham as well. I have been doing this since 1998 and I personally have access to radar, storm tracks and etc. that James has but some people still do not. I now live in the Huntsville market and really like the fact that Waff does the same thing Brad Travis, Jeff Castle, and Remisha Shade do a wonderful thing just as James Spann does. I hope they keep it up and do not let emails like the one James received bother them at all. I personally would not mind if my favorite show was interrupted if it saved at least 1 life. Yes the storm may be 2 counties away but policy is to go live as long as a tornado warning is in effect for any county in the TV market. The station cannot choose to show the tv shows for the unwarned counties until they are then warned. I bet the first time that they did not go live and a tornado done damage to someones home that they loved then they would be like " WHY WAS JAMES NOT ON LIVE HE COULD HAVE HELPED" We need them to do this. What do you all think.
This is Jewelene from Facebook and I totally agree. I always watch James Spann even if the warning isn't anywhere near here. They usually reair the show that has been interrupted so if anyone wants to watch it they can watch it then. I know I want to be up to date on all bad weather and local tv is the only way to do it. Keep up the good work James and keep chasin' those twisters Tommy :)
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