# Everything Else > Arts & Entertainment >  Frustrated by KOCO's constant interruptions

## stone163

First time poster here.  I was just wondering if anyone else is frustrated by KOCO's constant interruptions of their daytime programming to report on news events of minor significance.  I don't know if they do this in the evening, but daytime programs are frequently interrupted.  Today during The View, people were interrupted mid-sentence to report on an emergency landing of a small plane.  It was a heavily promoted "behind the scenes" episode that I was looking forward to watching, and the badly timed interruptions over a minor news event were really frustrating.  I flipped over to the other network affiliates and neither was reporting on it.  I suppose KOCO would argue that this is somehow a service to their viewers, but I would disagree.

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## jbrown84

KOCO is terrible about that, as well as overdoing weather coverage and dragging it out as long as possible.

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## drumsncode

Administrator, how about moving this thread to the radio and TV thread?

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## bornhere

Behind the scenes at "The View"....

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## Intrepid

I know this isn't fully on topic, but did KOCO finally get their whirly bird as rumored in another thread?

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## rwood8

FYI:

Typically, unless there's "major" breaking news, or a tornado warning is  issued by the National Weather Service, KOCO will only break-in to programming during commercial breaks.

So really, you should be thanking them.  I'd rather watch the news or weather over commercials any day of the week.

And yes...they finally got Sky5.  In fact, the video of the one of the emergency landings was Sky5 video.

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## duckman

> FYI:
> 
> Typically, unless there's "major" breaking news, or a tornado warning is  issued by the National Weather Service, KOCO will only break-in to programming during commercial breaks.
> 
> So really, you should be thanking them.  I'd rather watch the news or weather over commercials any day of the week.
> 
> And yes...they finally got Sky5.  In fact, the video of the one of the emergency landings was Sky5 video.


But they do interrupt their daytime programming for latebreaking updates that arent updates at all. Go ahead and interrupt commercials or even have a crawl on the screen, but actual programming should be left alone unless it is an emergency that viewers need to know about immediately

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## rwood8

> It was a heavily promoted "behind the scenes" episode that I was looking forward to watching, and the badly timed interruptions over a minor news event were really frustrating.


I can totally see how my life would end because I missed 30 seconds of "behind the scenes" at The View.

*rolls eyes*

Let me guess -- interrupting All My Children is worse than interrupting The View?

THEY ARE TV SHOWS!

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## duckman

"Let me guess -- interrupting All My Children is worse than interrupting The View?"
During Angie and Jesse's wedding...yes.

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## limitedvista

I can't speak to the daytime stuff, but I'm tired of the constant reminders of what's coming up on the 10pm news during prime time shows. The other night during the LOST finale, there were subtitles that couldn't be read because I HAD to be told again that Girls Gone Wild was coming to OKC. 

One more reason to wait a day and go to ABC.com instead.

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## drumsncode

I agree with duckman, there are some shows you'd better not butcher unless it's really important.  Dancing with the Stars is one of them, American Idol is another.
Besides, if I'm killed in a tornado, I want the last thing I see to be Cheryl Burke. ;-)

For the record, I like Rick, he's a great guy and very dedicated.  (Just don't touch my Cheryl Burke.)

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## rwood8

Considering that there are about 500K people that could _potentially_ watch the channel, I'm going to guess that it's pretty hard to please everyone.

I just think it's silly that people get so worked up because news stations cut-in for 30 seconds to do their job...bring you the news.

Plus, if there are alternatives -- like catching the show later online -- why complain?

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## bornhere

> I just think it's silly that people get so worked up because news stations cut-in for 30 seconds to do their job...bring you the news.


Well, that's the hitch now, ain't it? The "news"... aerials of an emergency landing... Girls Gone Wild coming to OKC... I can't get too worked up about interrupting crap with more crap, but that's because I get my news off the web.

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## rwood8

A man landed his plane IN A WHEAT FIELD...

And the story wasn't about "Girls Gone Wild" coming to Oklahoma City.  The story was about explicit-looking posters being hung up illegally next to a school.

-----

That's crap if I've ever heard it.  

*rolls eyes...again*

------------

Either way, it's not going to change.  Not on KOCO, KFOR, or KWTV.  You have the ability to change the channel for a reason....that should be complaint enough...not whining that's mediocre...at best.

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## bornhere

OH... MY... GOD!!!! In a _wheat field_! Explicit-_looking_ posters? What are explicit-_looking_ posters? Is that different from explicit posters? Better or worse? Were they anywhere near that misspelled street sign?

Yes, that _is_ crap. And believe me, I do change the channel. I haven't watched local TV news in I don't know how long  years, I guess. I got tired of the high-speed chases, low-speed chases, 'area man speaks out' stories, woman makes horrific discovery in her frosted flakes stories, could some common household product that has never hurt anyone _kill you?!?!_ stories, blah and blah.

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## SoonerDave

TV news in Oklahoma City is a joke, but it is not unique to KOCO. 

The problem is that locally produced newscasts, unfortunately, all flow from the same gene pool - about 20 years ago or thereabouts, the direction of local news broadcasts across the country was turned over to "media consultants" who convinced the powers that be that people wanted to see endless, mindless yammering between two Ken and Barbie clones, "news" written for an 8th grade education level, and alarmist news teases to create the illusion that a depdendency exists between you, the news/media outlet, and your personal safety. News ad sales are a premium advertising sales source for any local station, so the only criteria for success is ratings and the ad rates that go along with thm.

Go across the country and you'll see the same packaged news promos, sets, themes, slogans, and music everywhere. I will offer that KWTV does at least tend to depart from it a bit, as they are not owned by a larger upstream conglomerate, but they are driven by similar motivations.

The golden age of OKC TV news journalism died about 20-25 years ago, when seemingly every station had truly investigative journalists...some exposing actual corruption in government and/or business....those were the days  :Smile: 

-sd

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

KWTV-9...

_...Listen to Gary England OR YOUR CHILDREN WILL DIE!_





Yeah, I'd say that's a _bit_ of a departure  :Wink:

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## SoonerDave

> KWTV-9...
> 
> _...Listen to Gary England OR YOUR CHILDREN WILL DIE!_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'd say that's a _bit_ of a departure


Point taken...I was trying to be gracious  :Big Grin:

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## AFCM

(Sigh of relief)  I thought I was the only one who got annoyed at the weather updates concerning a "severe" rainstorm at the Oklahoma-Kansas border traveling NE into Kansas.

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## Midtowner

> The golden age of OKC TV news journalism died about 20-25 years ago, when seemingly every station had truly investigative journalists...some exposing actual corruption in government and/or business....those were the days 
> 
> -sd


Yep.. remember in the early 80's/late 70's when the Oklahoma Attorney General's office and Vince Orza (former KOCO reporter, former CEO of Eateries, Inc. and current Business School Dean at OCU) worked together to uncover, expose and prosecute E.K. Gaylord and a dozen or so OKC "elites" who had dipped their hands into the public trust and were using the tax dollars to enrich themselves while violating all kinds of open meetings laws and open records laws?  Think the media would tackle that now?  Hell no.  

They'd rather be the spokesmonkies for the road and bridge contractors trying to drum up public hysteria when those contractors were after an increase in the fuel tax.  Amazing how that issue just went away after the election, isn't it?

The Gazette in one of its every-once-in-awhile hand-wringing articles made mention of the fact that there hasn't been a "No" vote cast on the OSU Board of Regents in over 19 years -- a pretty condemning sign that the open meetings laws are being ignored completley.

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## rwood8

> OH... MY... GOD!!!! In a _wheat field_! Explicit-_looking_ posters? What are explicit-_looking_ posters? Is that different from explicit posters? Better or worse? Were they anywhere near that misspelled street sign?
> 
> Yes, that _is_ crap. And believe me, I do change the channel. I haven't watched local TV news in I don't know how long  years, I guess. I got tired of the high-speed chases, low-speed chases, 'area man speaks out' stories, woman makes horrific discovery in her frosted flakes stories, could some common household product that has never hurt anyone _kill you?!?!_ stories, blah and blah.


If you don't watch it -- then why are you wasting your time and energy complaining about it?

Unbelievable.

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## CuatrodeMayo

> The golden age of OKC TV news journalism died about 20-25 years ago, when seemingly every station had truly investigative journalists...some exposing actual corruption in government and/or business....those were the days 
> 
> -sd


Sounds like the opening credits of "Anchorman".  :Smile:

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## SoonerDave

> If you don't watch it -- then why are you wasting your time and energy complaining about it?
> 
> Unbelievable.


There's a bigger point you're missing.

It doesn't really matter to me what someone is watching - a soap opera, a sitcom, or the 5000th rerun of M*A*S*H, an interruption for interruption's sake is rude and annoying. Maybe you don't like what I watch, maybe I don't like what you watch, but I wouldn't want either of us interrupted while we're watching it. I don't even like the "artistic" graphic promos that superimpose themselves on the bottom 1/4 of the screen at varying times dring most programs - and KOCO is one of the worst offenders. 

You'll have to forgive me if I don't "thank" the stations for "doing their job." News isn't "their job" unless there is urgent public peril or the clock says "10PM." I might be more inclined to be more "thankful" so if there were actually any hard news programs left in Oklahoma City, which is laugahably untrue.

As far as interruptions go, stations long ago leapt over the wall called "abuse of discretion" when it comes to "news bulletins," and most such interruptions barely qualify as teases for the next newscast.

Just more reason to leave behind what little programmming there is to enjoy offerings on the numerous movie and specialty cable/satellite networks, choose one of my own DVD's, or turn the whole thing off and just read a book  :Smile:

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## rwood8

> There's a bigger point you're missing.
> 
> It doesn't really matter to me what someone is watching - a soap opera, a sitcom, or the 5000th rerun of M*A*S*H, an interruption for interruption's sake is rude and annoying. Maybe you don't like what I watch, maybe I don't like what you watch, but I wouldn't want either of us interrupted while we're watching it. I don't even like the "artistic" graphic promos that superimpose themselves on the bottom 1/4 of the screen at varying times dring most programs - and KOCO is one of the worst offenders. 
> 
> You'll have to forgive me if I don't "thank" the stations for "doing their job." News isn't "their job" unless there is urgent public peril or the clock says "10PM." I might be more inclined to be more "thankful" so if there were actually any hard news programs left in Oklahoma City, which is laugahably untrue.
> 
> As far as interruptions go, stations long ago leapt over the wall called "abuse of discretion" when it comes to "news bulletins," and most such interruptions barely qualify as teases for the next newscast.
> 
> Just more reason to leave behind what little programmming there is to enjoy offerings on the numerous movie and specialty cable/satellite networks, choose one of my own DVD's, or turn the whole thing off and just read a book


I'm missing the point?

Perhaps we should all be reading more books, anyway.  But what do I know? I watch the "crap" that is TV news...

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## duckman

so what did we learn?
its not going to stop so we should just deal with it and let tensions release.  :Smile:

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

> so what did we learn?
> its not going to stop so we should just deal with it and let tensions release.


I'm not going to "deal" with it by ignoring it. That doesn't solve squat.

Every time they do it, I send an email to them.

Same with the overcovering the weather, placing a 14" wide graphic on my TV screen during a show, and killing the HD feed 50% of the time they do it.

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## drumsncode

Stations should welcome our feedback and complaints; it gives them a chance to consider what we've said and make the product more enjoyable to more people.

Here's the KOCO feedback page, so you won't have to wade through all the links on their website.  I use this page quite often.

Comments? Questions? Contact KOCO-TV - KOCO-TV News Story - KOCO Oklahoma City

I criticize many stations, but KOCO remains one of my favorites.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't change several things they do that annoy me.

I don't send complaints to KWTV anymore.  I gave up completely and just stopped watching them.  Lack of feedback from viewers should be the one thing stations fear the most, because it means we just don't care enough anymore to even try to watch.

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## AFCM

> I watch the "crap" that is TV news...


It is crap.  Task yourself with finding ANY television news broadcast that is critical of ANY of their sponsors.  Reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report, and the agency will report anything in any manner that gets them more sponsors.  There you have it.  News agencies are sellouts, and what you're watching is crap.

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## SoonerDave

> It is crap.  Task yourself with finding ANY television news broadcast that is critical of ANY of their sponsors.  Reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report, and the agency will report anything in any manner that gets them more sponsors.  There you have it.  News agencies are sellouts, and what you're watching is crap.


That's why the now-defunct relationship between the Oklahoman's and News9 websites was such an unholy alliance. They advertised it as the "combined" power of both newsgathering sources when, in reality, it has to end up as the lowest common denominator of both - for precisely the same reasons.

Sadly, the same reasons go back to why you won't find anything adverse about cars, automotive dealers, or the broader industry in the newspapers, because auto advertisements make up the overwhelming portion of such papers' classifieds. 

rwood, yes, you are missing the point. You were diminishing the validity of the complaint about interruptions on the basis of what was being watched at the time, eg it was just "The View," or "All My Children," or whatever. The point is that's a lousy basis on which to argue the relative "validity" of an interruption. You and I and everyone else have distinct tastes in what we watch; the point isn't finding shows that "merit" interruption, its about ceasing the practice altogether.

About the only respite from commercials and interruptions is on pay movie services, I guess...I remember that cable - many years ago - was pushed as an "advertising-free" alternative to "regular" TV....pretty laughable now...

-sd

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## rwood8

> It is crap.  Task yourself with finding ANY television news broadcast that is critical of ANY of their sponsors.  Reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report, and the agency will report anything in any manner that gets them more sponsors.  There you have it.  News agencies are sellouts, and what you're watching is crap.


You know what, you're right.  TV News is a sellout.  It's a business.  In reality, all businesses are sellouts.

But I watch the news...I must be a sellout, too.

I'm totally okay with that.

Missing 30 seconds of what I believe is a terrible TV show has you all up in arms?  That just makes the cyclone in Myanmar look like a baby wind storm.  Give me a break.

And another thing --  you really must not watch the news if you think reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report.  That is completely ludicrous and undermines the ethics of journalists everywhere.

Believe it or not, journalists do have standards...very high standards, in fact.

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## rwood8

> rwood, yes, you are missing the point. You were diminishing the validity of the complaint about interruptions on the basis of what was being watched at the time, eg it was just "The View," or "All My Children," or whatever. The point is that's a lousy basis on which to argue the relative "validity" of an interruption. You and I and everyone else have distinct tastes in what we watch; the point isn't finding shows that "merit" interruption, its about ceasing the practice altogether.
> 
> -sd


You just have it all figured out, don't you?  And yet...news stations still cut-in.  Interesting how that works...

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## bornhere

What?

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## AFCM

> Missing 30 seconds of what I believe is a terrible TV show has you all up in arms?  That just makes the cyclone in Myanmar look like a baby wind storm.  Give me a break.


I don't mind a "we interrupt this program" cut every now and then so long as it's necessary, just like I don't mind having my sleep interrupted by the sound of emergency responders' sirens during an emergency.  However, I'd have a problem if the firemen and police sounded their sirens while racing to the scene of a papercut accident, and I think you'd have issues with this also.  

Now, imagine this happening frequently over a period of time and you'll start to see where we're coming from.  Whether or not _YOU_ appreciate the show that's being interrupted is completely irrelevant because the person who is watching the show is tuning in for a reason.  Everyone has different tastes.  I just get frustrated with a "Breaking News" report over trivial things.





> And another thing --  you really must not watch the news if you think reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report.  That is completely ludicrous and undermines the ethics of journalists everywhere.
> 
> Believe it or not, journalists do have standards...very high standards, in fact.


I'll be waiting to see a news report critical of an agency's sponsor.  When that happens, your statement might have some credibility.

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## SoonerDave

> You just have it all figured out, don't you?  And yet...news stations still cut-in.  Interesting how that works...


Yes, yes I do have it all figured out. And thanks for noticing!

-sd

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## AFCM

27 of rwood8's 31 posts are related to news coverage.  I just thought I'd point out that.

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## duckman

lets not attack someone for posting about what they clearly have knowledge of. Just agree to disagree and we can smile and have a group hug now.
P.S. No news station has any credibility left in OKC, standards or not.

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

> 27 of rwood8's 31 posts are related to news coverage.  I just thought I'd point out that.


Note the part where "journalists have standards" too....

Standards of what? Ineptitude?

Every single time I've had first-hand knowledge of something that is covered by the press, they've screwed up around 50% of the facts. That's from local to national news, across the board. They're incompetent and they have an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.

What the reasons behind that are, I have no idea. Could be a consipiracy having something to do with advertising dollars and the government wanting to maintain the status quo of the the "sheeple"...But I just usually chalk it up to the part where it's a business and not a public service...So it's all about pandering at both ends of the product line.

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## rwood8

All I'm saying is this:

It happens.  It's going to happen.  Suck it up like everyone else has to and move on.   Believe it or not, a majority of people _LIKE_ the breaking news.

Also, those of you with skepticism about the ethics/standards of a journalist -- you should do more research before jumping to conclusions.  They're probably the most ethical people you'll ever meet.

Think about it.  Ever heard of libel/slander?  Those are just a couple examples of how journalists are constantly maintaining their standards so they don't end up in a courtroom.

On another subject, someone researched the content of my posts?  Creepy, much?

In response to it -- big deal.  I enjoy TV news.  Other people enjoy The View, All My Children, etc...  I happen to like the news.

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

> All I'm saying is this:
> 
> It happens.  It's going to happen.  Suck it up like everyone else has to and move on.   Believe it or not, a majority of people _LIKE_ the breaking news.
> 
> Also, those of you with skepticism about the ethics/standards of a journalist -- you should do more research before jumping to conclusions.  They're probably the most ethical people you'll ever meet.
> 
> Think about it.  Ever heard of libel/slander?  Those are just a couple examples of how journalists are constantly maintaining their standards so they don't end up in a courtroom.
> 
> On another subject, someone researched the content of my posts?  Creepy, much?
> ...



I'm not going to "suck it up". It's retarded and it should stop. And while the responses in this thread are hardly representative of society at large, I think they're a good indication that the "majority" don't like their shows being interrupted by a story that doesn't impact their lives in any way.

How about this...How about your beloved newscast gets interrupted with American Idol updates and constant teasers for tomorrow's episode of The View? You like the news. Fine. You go right ahead and watch it. But don't make people that don't want to watch it be subjected to it. Last I checked, it's not a requirement of TV viewership. 

Journalists being ethical? That's probably the most laughable thing I've read all week...And I read a lot of funny sh*t. Libel and slander are very easy to avoid by oblique inferences and ambiguous statements, it's very easy to call somebody a liar without actually saying it in order to lean towards the legal side of things. Politicians and internet trolls do it on a daily basis.

As for the creepy factor of researching your posts...It's about two clicks and they're all grouped together for easy parsing. You having relatively few posts makes it even easier.

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## Spartan

> TV news in Oklahoma City is a joke, but it is not unique to KOCO. 
> 
> The problem is that locally produced newscasts, unfortunately, all flow from the same gene pool - about 20 years ago or thereabouts, the direction of local news broadcasts across the country was turned over to "media consultants" who convinced the powers that be that people wanted to see endless, mindless yammering between two Ken and Barbie clones, "news" written for an 8th grade education level, and alarmist news teases to create the illusion that a depdendency exists between you, the news/media outlet, and your personal safety. News ad sales are a premium advertising sales source for any local station, so the only criteria for success is ratings and the ad rates that go along with thm.
> 
> Go across the country and you'll see the same packaged news promos, sets, themes, slogans, and music everywhere. I will offer that KWTV does at least tend to depart from it a bit, as they are not owned by a larger upstream conglomerate, but they are driven by similar motivations.
> 
> The golden age of OKC TV news journalism died about 20-25 years ago, when seemingly every station had truly investigative journalists...some exposing actual corruption in government and/or business....those were the days 
> 
> -sd


The golden age of OKC TV news journalism put Molly Murphy's out of business.

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## SoonerBorn1973

> The golden age of OKC TV news journalism put Molly Murphy's out of business.


But, waitaminute. It's been stated here that news stations don't report stories against their advertisers?! Surely, Molly Murphy's advertised with KFOR. So I guess that whole incident never took place. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  

The fact of the matter is I can point out numerous times that stations have reported stories on people that buy their advertising time. Hell, Braums' refused to buy time with one of them for years because of a story that ran. And furthermore, that station was warned by Braum's that if the story aired then they would pull their business. The story aired, they pulled their ads, the station found someone else to buy time (that is always an option, you know).

Before Brad Edwards passed away a couple of years ago, he did a story on 1-800-2Sell Homes (You know, the woman with the most annoying voice since Linda Soundtrack) and the racket she and her husband were running and they advertised all over KFOR. More recently, Amanda Taylor did an expose on KWTV on a local contractor who advertised with all the stations and how he allegedly screwed a poor woman out of her money.

Plenty more, but alas, I know it will fall on deaf ears. Everyone in the business is totally aware that journalists are looked at, by the general public, just as cops and lawyers are looked at: You refuse to appreciate them until you need them. I can, however, offer a little insight into the constant weather cut-ins in that all stations believe if they've helped one person (be it warning them to take cover or allowing a viewer to contact a family member that might be in danger to take cover), then cutting into program is worth it. So for all of you who are annoyed by these interruptions, you really should count yourself lucky that you've never needed it.

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## jsibelius

There's a difference between a weather interruption and interrupting a show to air a teaser, in the guise of "breaking news."  That's what started this whole thread, and I agree, somewhat, that they need to save the interruptions for real breaking news.  I'm torn whether the emergency landing of that plane constituted breaking news, since it landed safely, albeit in a wheat field.  

Teasers belong with the commercials, not on top of your TV programs.

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## SoonerBorn1973

> There's a difference between a weather interruption and interrupting a show to air a teaser, in the guise of "breaking news."  That's what started this whole thread, and I agree, somewhat, that they need to save the interruptions for real breaking news.  I'm torn whether the emergency landing of that plane constituted breaking news, since it landed safely, albeit in a wheat field.  
> 
> Teasers belong with the commercials, not on top of your TV programs.


Agreed. If they broke in for a teaser, that was out of line(although, I've never heard of anyone doing that). And as far as the plane landing goes, I agree it's borderline. I can say from past experiences that when something like that goes down, the usual status quo (at least in my experiences) is to break in during a commercial break to show that we are on the scene gathering details. You have to keep in mind that when something like that breaks, there are literally hundreds of people calling the station to find out whats going on. So really it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation; if you break in you get phone calls from angry viewers wanting to know why you're interrupting their show and if you don't break in you get phone calls from viewers wanting to know why we're not reporting on the situation.

I will say that I've noticed KOCO breaking in a lot more than they used to. I would be willing to bet it's due in large part to cancelling their noon broadcast.

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## jsibelius

> I will say that I've noticed KOCO breaking in a lot more than they used to. I would be willing to bet it's due in large part to cancelling their noon broadcast.


I was just thinking the same thing.

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## jbrown84

> TV news in Oklahoma City is a joke, but it is not unique to KOCO.


It's not unique to OKC either...

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## Raspberry

Doesn't seem like KOCO is interupting the basketball game much.

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## zcamaro70

I do not understand why KOCO doesnt turn on the HD feed on 5-2 or put the weather coverage on that channel.  Weather porn at its finest.

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## duckman

> I do not understand why KOCO doesnt turn on the HD feed on 5-2 or put the weather coverage on that channel.  Weather porn at its finest.


I don't think this qualifies as weather porn. A Tornado warning in the immediate viewing area should always take precedence over Basketball, especially when they are offering the game on two other channels.

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## zcamaro70

I was only pointing out that they could turn on the HD feed so those of us that can pick up KOCO's HD feed with an antenna could watch the game.  Everytime I turned it back they were not talking about a tornado, just bad thunderstorms.

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## FritterGirl

> I do not understand why KOCO doesnt turn on the HD feed on 5-2 or put the weather coverage on that channel.  *Weather porn* at its finest.


Sorry, I just had to:  weather porn

I'm sitting here watching Gary and co.  "OH WOW!  GARY, THERE'S A POWER FLASH.  THERE'S A POWER FLASH.  LIGHTNING IS HITTING THE AIRPORT.  THERE'S ANOTHER POWER FLASH, GARY!  WOW! Oh wow, GARY! GARY! WOW!"

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## drumsncode

Maybe in 2009 when everyone has access to digital channel 5.2 or cable, KOCO will do all its extended coverage on 5.2, which is a dedicated weather channel, and leave the network signal alone, just running a crawl at the bottom of 5.1 to tell us to watch.

That would be the ultimate solution, and it would give control back to the viewers, where it belongs.

KFOR could do the exact same thing too, they have 4.1 and 4.2.

Not sure about KWTV, but you can be sure they'll get it if needed.

I got really tired of looking at cloud pictures last night.  When I want to get informed, show me a map with a storm-track on it.  

Gary England's broadcast had far too much noise in it, and at one point I could not listen at all.  These guys have too many things they are trying to utilize all at the same time, and sometimes the show resembles one of my favorite cereals, Honey Nut Clusters.

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## Video Expert

> Maybe in 2009 when everyone has access to digital channel 5.2 or cable, KOCO will do all its extended coverage on 5.2, which is a dedicated weather channel, and leave the network signal alone, just running a crawl at the bottom of 5.1 to tell us to watch.
> 
> That would be the ultimate solution, and it would give control back to the viewers, where it belongs.
> 
> KFOR could do the exact same thing too, they have 4.1 and 4.2.
> 
> Not sure about KWTV, but you can be sure they'll get it if needed.
> 
> I got really tired of looking at cloud pictures last night.  When I want to get informed, show me a map with a storm-track on it.  
> ...


I like what KSNW does in Wichita.  Basically, they have a constant weather related stream on their website KSN.com - News, Weather, Sports - NBC - Wichita - Great Bend - Garden City - McCook - Kansas that shows radar, 7 day, Satellite shots, etc.  Then during severe weather, their meteorologists go live and their report simulcasts on the main broadcast channel.  Then, unless there are tornados warnings in their viewing area, they generally return the broadcast channel to regular programming and let the viewer choose to watch more live weather coverage on KSN.com.  

The only problem is that those without computers, or those who live in rural areas w/o a decent Internet connection must really depend on the broadcast channel for their weather info.  

To be honest, there really isn't any perfect solution as you will always have people who will complain about too many interruptions, not enough interruptions, etc.

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## jsibelius

FWIW, I'd rather have too many interruptions than not enough.  I considered buying one of those crank-powered TVs after the ice storm last winter.  When our power went out (only 9 hours for us, thank goodness), we were forced to rely on radio to find out what was going on with the weather.  Radio doesn't tell you ANYTHING.  Luckily, we do have a weather radio.  Even so, I need moving visuals.  I'm hoping they'll figure out how to make a crank-powered digital TV before next winter and then I'm going to buy that.  Hopefully, it will come with outlets you can use to charge your cell phone.  I'm kinda spoiled that way...

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## okctvnewsguy

> It is crap.  Task yourself with finding ANY television news broadcast that is critical of ANY of their sponsors.  Reporters only report what the sponsors want them to report, and the agency will report anything in any manner that gets them more sponsors.  There you have it.  News agencies are sellouts, and what you're watching is crap.


That statement is ridiculous... that's the truth... We report news PERIOD nobody but the editorial team tells us what to report, there are no sponsers sitting in our editorial meetings... maybe if everyone in this state wasn't so uneducated we could raise the bar and use bigger words, but people wouldn't understand. 

The FCC when they gave broadcasters free use of the airwaves (yes believe it or not we still send our signal through the air) they gave them to us without charge! The only thing we had to do in return was provide news to the public. Provide timely information about the world surroundings. The news was readily available on CBS Radio from Murrow's The World Today a 15 minute program. November, 18th 1951 was first TV broadcast of See It Now, produced by Fred Friendly and directed by Don Hewitt in magazine format, broadcast coast-to-coast using newly-completed coaxial cable. This was the time of television heroes, when America turned to the evening news programs and trusted their presenters. There weren't talking heads offering up their two cents, they didn't share their opinion, They delivered the news, gave us the facts, and allowed us to make our own choice, and draw our own conclusions. I think when we as journalists forget that we are performing a public service to our viewers, we are nothing more that the biased idiot media that most of America stereotypes us as. I work where I work because I believe we deliver the most unbiased opinion in the market. We don't have any Ogle's offering up their opinions.. IT'S THE NEWS NOT YOUR NEWSPAPER OP ED COLUMN. THE NEWS IS FACT PERIOD!

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## bornhere

> crank-powered TV


That would be Bill O'Reilly's show, wouldn't it?

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

> That would be Bill O'Reilly's show, wouldn't it?


*snert*

Or that whole channel.

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## duckman

my wife would like to know if John Flick is as "cute" in person as he is on television.
Anyone have a clue?

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## rwood8

> my wife would like to know if John Flick is as "cute" in person as he is on television.
> Anyone have a clue?


Haha that's a funny question for several reasons...none of which I'll explain.

...and what does "cute" mean?

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## duckman

i guess little boy cute? anyway, please elaborate on Mr. Flick. I am intrigued now...

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## okctvnewsguy

> i guess little boy cute? anyway, please elaborate on Mr. Flick. I am intrigued now...


Oh good one rwood, now you've stirred the pot!

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## rwood8

...and I'll keep stirring...

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## duckman

so how bout that GSW dropped off at the studios?

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## kmf563

KOCO did this on Thursday or Friday.  All I wanted to do was lay on the sofa and watch worthless tv so I didn't have to think. They interrupted programming to tell me there were 2 car wrecks in the metro. They didn't have any further information at the time but they were working on it. GREAT! Interrupt me when you actually have something to say then please. And further more, interrupt the radio stations for people actually in their cars who give a crap about where the wrecks are causing problems. Who at home watching tv gives a flip?

I just changed the channel and found something else worthless to fall asleep to. Not a big problem, but annoying at the same time.

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## BeTheMiracle

> I know this isn't fully on topic, but did KOCO finally get their whirly bird as rumored in another thread?


I didn't have time to read thru the rest of this thread to see if anyone else answered your question, but yes, they did get their helicopter! My ex is a photog at 5 ~ apparently it had to be painted KOCO colors. I think it's up and running now, they used it the other day for the cop shooting story over on the NE side of town.

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## okctvnewsguy

We do have the new chopper, but it has only flown "test flights" It hasn't been on air yet. It debuts today! (Thursday) It's a beautiful ship too!<cr>

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## rkjg24

> We do have the new chopper, but it has only flown "test flights" It hasn't been on air yet. It debuts today! (Thursday) It's a beautiful ship too!<cr>


Finally. I'm glad KOCO finally has a bird.

Oh, and KOCO > all.

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## Bobby821

> Maybe in 2009 when everyone has access to digital channel 5.2 or cable, KOCO will do all its extended coverage on 5.2, which is a dedicated weather channel, and leave the network signal alone, just running a crawl at the bottom of 5.1 to tell us to watch.
> 
> That would be the ultimate solution, and it would give control back to the viewers, where it belongs.
> 
> KFOR could do the exact same thing too, they have 4.1 and 4.2.
> 
> Not sure about KWTV, but you can be sure they'll get it if needed.
> 
> I got really tired of looking at cloud pictures last night.  When I want to get informed, show me a map with a storm-track on it.  
> ...


Not Likely the public needs to be informed of weather conditions regardless of having a dedicated weather channel or not and weather will continue to be broadcast on the main channels if i have anything to say or do about it.

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## jsibelius

> Not Likely the public needs to be informed of weather conditions regardless of having a dedicated weather channel or not and weather will continue to be broadcast on the main channels if i have anything to say or do about it.


I'm curious...do you "have anything to say or do about it?"  (I don't disagree with you on this one, I think some weather coverage will need to stay on the main channels)

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## AFCM

Gary England, a pioneer in TV weather forecasting, developed "First Warning".  Unless all hell is breaking loose, I think "First Warning" is reasonable, responsible, and completely sufficient in notifying viewers of exactly what and where certain weather conditions are taking place.  Anything more is overkill.  The media today is all about ratings.  They'll do whatever they can to keep you watching, but at some point viewers need to wake up and see the redundancy and inpracticality of endless coverage on something that can be express in seconds.  

For example, on 9/12, EVERYONE knew we had been attacked and that the towers had fallen.  Yet for weeks, the media showed the towers falling with captions like: America Under Attack, like it's breaking news.  America Under Attack...well, duh.  Okay, the towers fell; we knew that already.  Quit rubbing salt in the open wounds of America.  Quit reminding America of something that's already fresh in their minds, all for the sake of ratings.  Guess what...it's no longer news; it's DRAMA!!!!  The same applies to weather forecasting.  For one, they're blowing things way out of proportion.  Secondly, they're repeating things they or everyone else has been saying for hours-on-end.  Lastly, they're fast-becoming the boy that cries wolf, exploiting the trust people put into the media for the sake of ratings and profit.

Maybe I'm an exception, but I can tell when bad weather is on its way.  A little map in the lower right hand corner confirms my premonition just fine.  That's all I, a reasonable person of caution and prudence, believes is necessary.

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## Oh GAWD the Smell!

I don't even want that little map.

Break into my programming when there's one on the ground. That's it.

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## jsibelius

I like to see the map so I can tell what's going on.  Anything more is way overkill, most of the time.  Break in when the sky is about to fall.

On the other hand, sometimes you learn to appreciate when they won't shut up, as long as it's on a station you don't otherwise watch.  Funny story:  before I moved here, the ABC station in my previous city has a weather guy (their main 10 p.m. guy, whom I like to call "Mr. TV") who doesn't know when to let it go.  Anytime there's the least little thunder rumble, he's on.  But I never watched the ABC station back then, so it was okay for him to be on because if I thought I needed to know what was going on, I just had to flip over to the ABC affiliate and there was Mr. TV, who, by the way, has stolen Gary England's line of "We'll keep you advised."  There was actually some serious weather one morning, so I was flipping around to see what different stations were saying about it.  You could hear the hail in the background, and the regular morning guy was doing his best to report what was going on but ol' Mr. TV wouldn't keep his mouth shut and let him do his job.  He was yelling directions at him from off camera, and finally just took over.  It was funny to watch, but I felt so bad for the other guy.  No wonder Mr. TV had a heart attack a few months later!  (maybe it was a stroke...I forget)

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## AFCM

I wonder if KOCO is going to interrupt the regularly-scheduled program to announce their weather forecast was just slightly off, by a little more than 15 degrees.  It's now 104, but I can't remember what the forecast originally called for as a high.  I think it was predicted to be in the mid-to-high 80's.

Where are you now, KOCO?

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## Video Expert

> I wonder if KOCO is going to interrupt the regularly-scheduled program to announce their weather forecast was just slightly off, by a little more than 15 degrees.  It's now 104, but I can't remember what the forecast originally called for as a high.  I think it was predicted to be in the mid-to-high 80's.
> 
> Where are you now, KOCO?


In all fairness, the other stations didn't get it right either.  

In fact, the National Weather Service Forecast that released just this morning was predicting a high at 94 in OKC.  So those guys in Norman were way off too.  They "revised" their highs upward at around 11am today, and were still too low.

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## okctvnewsguy

> In all fairness, the other stations didn't get it right either.  
> 
> In fact, the National Weather Service Forecast that released just this morning was predicting a high at 94 in OKC.  So those guys in Norman were way off too.  They "revised" their highs upward at around 11am today, and were still too low.


I always remember when the newsroom gripes at the weather guys for getting it wrong, the usual response is "OKAY YOU TELL ME WHERE THE NEXT SHOOTING WILL HAPPEN, YOU TRY PREDICTING THE FUTURE."

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## drumsncode

I saw the 104 too, on channel 5.2, but I thought it was a mistake!  It didn't feel that hot.  I guess it was a "dry heat!" ;-)

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## bornhere

> "OKAY YOU TELL ME WHERE THE NEXT SHOOTING WILL HAPPEN, YOU TRY PREDICTING THE FUTURE."


NW 13 and Virginia.

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## jungllejane

> I always remember when the newsroom gripes at the weather guys for getting it wrong, the usual response is "OKAY YOU TELL ME WHERE THE NEXT SHOOTING WILL HAPPEN, YOU TRY PREDICTING THE FUTURE."


that sounds like a "brent" line...haha

if you know what i mean  :Wink:

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## stone163

I posted the original message, and I think the situation has gotten even worse.  Whether you think The View, Oprah or Martha Stewart are worthwhile viewing isn't the point.  If KOCO is going to schedule these programs, then show them.  If they prefer to focus on news, then become an all-news station and allow other stations to pick up syndicated programming.  It's not fair to the viewer to schedule these programs and then constantly interrupt them to report on car accidents and house fires.  A dangerous storm or a terrorist attack warrants interrupting scheduled programming.  A two car accident on NW Expressway does not.  

It's especially infuriating when they interrupt during the 4pm hour to report on stories that can wait until their 5pm news broadcast.  And very few of these interruptions occur during commercial breaks.  They almost always interrupt their scheduled programming. 

What's interesting is that today's episode of Oprah (which happened to be the very popular annual "Favorite Things" episode) was interrupted several times to report on an evacuation of Crossroads Mall, yet the situation at Crossroads wasn't even the lead story in the newscast that follows Oprah.  I turned the channel after 10 minutes, and at that point, they had not mentioned Crossroads, although they did have time for Rick Mitchell to preview the weather for the Thanksgiving holiday.  So it was important enough to interrupt programming, but not important enough to provide an update to their viewers in their 5pm newscast.

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