On Feb. 9, 2013, an article appeared in McClatchy News about a storm of controversy that "The Weather Channel" (TWC) has created by naming each, and every winter storm. The most recent completed event; or winter storm, was named NEMO by TWC. Yes, we have already reached the letter “N” in TWC storm naming vernacular. That leaves only 12 more (named winter storms) available, and they will find themselves starting over because the alphabet will run out.
Oops! Now they've named the newest storm in the southern United States ORKO, so now there are only 11 letters left! Yes, it's another named winter storm. And, there is still a long portion of winter ahead to be this far into the alphabet.
TWC; is also known in their circles as TWCC, or The Weather Channel Companies, according to their Press Room. TWCC is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group, and you’ll never believe it, but…….Bain Capital, which has gained much press during the last presidential campaign.
Did you know that they have purchased Weather Underground in July of 2012? Weather Underground is also a very popular weather website that provides great services for weather freaks.
TWC has been around since 1982. TWC used to provide much needed services, accurate assessments, forecasts and reasonable looks into the future of the weather for the United States, but things have changed. It seems that now TWC is more concerned about theatrics and coverage of what havoc their predicted storms have caused, and are not so interested anymore in giving us the facts about storms.
In one of the many comments to the McClatchy News article “JDarbender” said;
TWC started naming storms in an effort to boost ratings . . . plain and simple. Since NBC purchased TWC, the recipe has been to make it about the personalities instead of the weather -- the perfect example being mornings with Stefanie and Al. It has become un-watchable. Additionally, when there is a weather event (Nemo not withstanding) you would tune in and find some un-related weather 'show'. If NBC returns to the old TWC format, they won't have to resort to gimmicks to get people to watch, again.
And “ac287149” said sarcastically in their comment;
Is it me, or are we being confronted at every angle with exercises in molding public perception of everything? "Superstorm" Sandy? I'm sure the US has never seen a hurricane before, which is why we were all taught to call it "superstorm".
Naming nor'easters? I'm sure we've never seen storms in the winter before. Everything has to be a crisis these days. One day, no one will respond to the next big crisis because everything is presented as a crisis already.
While one cannot be sure if it is money, fame or both, that convinces seemingly logical and sane men and/or women to stand at sea shore during an hurricane with 75 or 80 mph winds, or to stand in hip deep snow in Connecticut to show off just how right their predictions were. But since they do that, it would seem logical to deduce that it is both money and fame along with directors that cause these folks to be willing to risk their lives.
Unfortunately, TWC has become much less accurate according to many individuals that this reporter has talked with. They find themselves scratching their heads, wondering what happened that the rain that never showed up, or the sunny day never happened that was predicted by TWC. Vacations, picnics, and visits to the park have been turned upside down by the inaccurate forecasting by TWC.
Next, there are those annoying commercials, and something called “Storm Stories” or other shows that have absolutely nothing to do with weather forecasting. We all know that commercials are what keep the channel on the air. Nevertheless, let’s get real. At least one-half of TWC TV broadcasts are commercials.
Do you believe that TWC should be more about weather and less about fun, games, movies, and commercials? Tell us below in your comments.
© 2013 by Jake Jones
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