DAVE BREITENSTEIN|DBREITENSTEIN@NEWS-PRESS.COM
If it seems like local television stations put a lot of emphasis on weather, it's because they do.
Weather is the No. 1 reason peopletune in to local TV news, according to a study from the Radio Television Digital News Association.
"If you aren't thought of as a dependable, trusted source of weather information, you are not going to be able to compete as a news source in any market," said Dick Haynes, alead research analyst at Frank Magid & Associates who has worked as a consultant for hundreds of TV stations in markets across the U.S.
Local stations invest heavily in weather, employingexperiencedteams of meteorologists,purchasinghigh-tech mapping software and subscribing to various weather services. They devote anywhere from a couple minutes to an entire broadcast to weather, depending on conditions. They rely onsocial media specialists and website producers to bring weather forecasts and weather stories onto alternative platforms.
While reporters in small- and medium-sized markets come and go, anchors and meteorologists tend to have more staying power, according to Teresa Bals-Elsholz,chair of the geography andmeteorology department at Valparaiso University. Longevity leads to trust.
"Once that trust is built, then you depend on them when severe weather hits," Balz-Elsholz said.
Locally, NBC2 employs five meteorologists, a numberWINK matched three weeks ago with thehiring of weatherman Zach Maloch.ABC7 hasfour meteorologists, and Fox4 employs three.
Every stationhas its own weather personality, but the battle for weather supremacy between NBC2 and WINK runs especially deep. The Fort Myers-based NBC and CBS affiliates, respectively,do not agree on which station'smeteorologist was first to "call" Hurricane Charley's turn toward Southwest Florida.
RELATED STORY: Weather Wars: NBC2, WINK rift dates to Hurricane Charley
Charley isn't the only strifebetween WINK and NBC2, either.
Points of Contention
Live Doppler Radar
Southwest Florida's weather conditions change hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute. It can be raining on one street, and sunny on the next.
NBC2 and WINK each describe their radar as "live," but the stations use very different systems.
WINKno longer has Doppler radar at its Palm Beach Boulevard studio. An image published by The News-Press in January 2014 showsthe familiar radomeatop WINK's tower, but the sphereisn't there today.
Darrel Lieze-Adams, vice president for news at Waterman Broadcasting, which owns NBC2,also noted its absence, tweeting a photo with the caption: "What is missing in this picture? #tellthetruth"
Mark Gilson, manager at Fort Myers Broadcasting, which owns WINK,explained the absence.
"NBC2 has a radar that is nearing 20 years old," Gilson said. "Radar technology changes rapidly. WINK News prefers to stay with the latest live cutting-edge technology that is also the most powerful."
TV stations without their own Doppler can tap into the National Weather Service's radar, and that's what WINK does. Southwest Florida is covered by towers in Key West and Ruskin, which is just south of Tampa.
NWS sites offeran upgradednetwork of dual polarization radar, which scans horizontally and vertically, thus offering improved accuracy for rainfall estimates, tornadic conditions and weather-related warnings.Because of the earth's curvature, though,NWS radar might not detect certain low-level weather conditions in distant locations.
TheNWS feed alsoreflects weather conditions about 2 minutes after they occur, according to Dan Noah, Ruskin's warning coordination meteorologist.Conventional Doppler, like the one used by NBC2 and ABC7, provides images that can appear on a TV viewer's screen with minimal delay.
"It can be almost instantaneous," said Noah, who was assigned to Lee County's emergency operations center during hurricanes Charley and Wilma.
Waterman's radome is approximately 60 feet off the ground. That's mounted too low, Gilson said, and the tower stands ina populated area with ground clutter.
Waterman invested more than $1 million to builda Doppler toweron its Central Avenue property, andLieze-Adams said the equipment has undergone $500,000 in upgrades during the past fiveyears, along with software enhancements. It's not a 20-year-old system.
"TheNational Weather Service radar that others use is a supplement to what we have and considered a back up because 'live' radar is more accurate and current for the neighborhoods we serve," Lieze-Adams said."When severe weather strikes,would you rather rely on radars that are located hundreds of miles away, only provide data on the clouds above 7,000 feet and take up to 6 minutes to report, or a 'live' Doppler radar that is immediate and in your backyard?"
Waterman airsa weather promo boastingthat NBC2's weather app in January warnedCape Coral residents 18 minutes before the National Weather Service that a tornado was possible. Shortly thereafter, anEF2 tornado packing135 mph windscaused an estimated $6.6 million in property damage.
"By the time other stations were on the air, the tornado already had touched down," said Robert Van Winkle, senior chief meteorologist at NBC2.
Lieze-Adams said is critical of WINK saying its radar is "live."
"It is a disservice to our community and the folks at WINK should be embarrassed," he said. "Unfortunately it may take another major natural disaster for viewers to understand that the difference between a liveDopplerradar and a feed from theNWSdoes matter,especially when your life is in danger."
Most Watched
TV news is a non-stop business in Southwest Florida. Beyond websites and apps, which run 24/7, a news junkie in the Fort Myers market could flip channels to watch alocal TV newscast 12½ hours daily from Monday through Friday, not includingshort news and weather updates during commercial breaksor breaking news bulletins.
Here is a breakdown of weekday local news programming, excluding national news and paid news programming:
- NBC2: 7½ hours
- WINK: 6½ hours
- Fox4: 4½ hours
- ABC7: 4 hours
Additionally, WINK provides four hours of weekday newscasts to WXCW, a CW-affiliated channel.
Despite all of that programming, the four primary affiliates are onlyon air simultaneously for three hours:5-7 a.m.;6-6:30 p.m. and 11-11:30 p.m.
Fort Myers Broadcasting and Waterman Broadcasting both air promos claiming their stations are the most-watched at certain time slots, based on Nielsen ratings.
The News-Press attempted to verify those claims through Nielsen, but a spokesman said the company does not publicly release ratings information for local markets.
Accuracy
WINK's weather slogan is "The Weather Authority," and the station offersthis description of its meteorological prowess: "We are the most experienced, most accurate, most trusted weather team in Southwest Florida." Chief meteorologist Jim Farrell began working as a weatherman in Fort Myers in 1982, only leaving the market once for a two-year stint in Tampa.
"WINK’s research, viewers and competitors' viewers have claimed WINK News is the most accurate," Gilson said.
But WINK isn't the most accurate, according toWeatheRate, an independent agency that measures forecasts against actual conditions.
It's not NBC2, either.
That honor goes to ABC7, which has been certified as the "most accurate" in this market annually since 2013. ABC7 Chief Meteorologist John Patrick took the issue to YouTube last year in a video that drew heaps of praise and criticism.
WeatheRate itself has been criticized for requiring the "most accurate" station to pay a fee before usingthat slogan. Gilson called WeatheRate's paid service "misleading."The four major affiliates in Southwest Florida all have claimed WeatheRate's "most accurate" title at some point:
- 2013-present: ABC7 (WZVN)
- 2008-12: NBC2 (WBBH)
- 2007: Fox4 (WFTX)
- 2005-06: WINK (WINK-TV)
Drone
NBC2 on Sept. 13 received itscommercial drone certification from the FAA, approval that allows Waterman to legally use its $6,000 drone, which can broadcast live from the air. The next day, NBC2 posted thispromo video on Facebook.
"NBC2 is changing the way news is covered in Southwest Florida with the debut of SKY2 - the area's first live news drone," the Facebook post boasted. Longtime stafferTodd Ofenbeckearned FAA certification to pilot the drone.NBC2teased viewers to its 6 p.m. broadcast on Sept. 14, when it would debut"SKY2."
Nineteen minutes before the grand reveal, however, WINK News posted this statement on its Facebook page: "We were the first station in the area with a drone capable of sending back gorgeous shots like what you see here."
WINK startedairing a promo commercial proclaiming this:"WINK News drone: The first and the best."
Social media became a battleground for supporters and critics. One Fort Myers man posted an image of NBC2's droneon WINK's Facebook page, to which WINK responded; "We've had ours for about a year."
Lieze-Adams then took to Twitter: "Flying their own drone without an FAA license would be illegal! Or is this simply a drone for hire? #tellthetruth"
Gilson issued a response.
"That is a business decision," he said. "We stay with the latest cutting-edge technology. Does it matter if you lease or own your car? It’s still your car."
The News-Press, as a matter of fact, purchased and launched a drone in March 2013. It has not been used sincethe FAA began requiringadvanced credentialing for commercial use.
5-Day Forecast:The News-Press weather page, powered by AccuWeather
Race to be First
Viewers don't just expect accuracy; they demand it. And they want their favorite anchor, reporter or weather forecaster to deliver the news first, not just regurgitate what the other guys already reported.
The terms "exclusive," "sneak peek" and "only on (insert station name here)" continually are thrust into viewers' living rooms.
WINK's latest weather promo touts its extensive coverage ofHurricane Matthewin early October. The CBS station not only sent several reporters to Florida's east coast, but also weatherman Matt Devitt, the only Fort Myers-basedmeteorologist who reported on scene.
On weekday mornings, NBC2 airs its weather segments at 10-minute intervals, calling it "Forecaston the 2s," playing off its channel number. WINK does it one minute earlier, though,calling the segment "Weather on the 1s."
"We live in an area of the United States that is prone to severe weather, so it’s a very important safety issue for the people of Southwest Florida," Gilson said.
Van Winkle agrees with that statement, and says that's why his team takes so much pride in their work.
"It is important to be accurate and important to be on the money," Van Winkle said. "If there is something coming, people need to know they can count on me to be there and to be accurate, and let them know right away when it's happening."
Reality Television
Weather is one of the few topics that knows no political, geographic or social boundaries, and it's a participatory event, according to Nora Zimmett, senior vice president of live programming at The Weather Channel. Everyone is impacted when severe weather hits, and anyone with a smartphone can record weather videos or capture breathtaking images.
"It is the ultimate reality television," Zimmett said. "There is nothing more breathtaking and scary at the same time."
Those videos and live shots draw viewers, according to Zimmett, so much so that The Weather Channel now provides street-level mapping anda "local severe" product for communities, and it contracts with 70 storm trackers around the country for their footage.
Many national weather websites and cable channelsdo not offer consistent hyper-local, real-time forecasts. Newspapers are not equipped with meteorologicalexpertise, and in The News-Press, the weather forecast occupies a half-page on the back of the sports section. Mobile weather apps quickly drain storage space and battery power.
The race to become a market's No. 1 station starts with theweather team, Haynes said, and its ability to deliveraccurateday-to-day forecasts, as well as relaysevere weather information in a timely, factual manner. The investment in weather— financial, staffing and minutes of air time— can increase viewership, and improved ratings can increase advertising revenue.
While those are worth the investment, Haynes also believes TV stations have a journalistic duty to offer top-tier weather forecasts. Reliable information can save lives and property, while bad information can cost them.
"It's the price of doing business," Haynes said. "They have to make the investment because it's the right thing to do."
Nowadays, TV stations aren't just competing on TV. Haynes said stations also strive for the best weather app, the best weather alerts, the best social media accounts and the best weather websites.
And if that's not enough, stations are competing with self-described weather junkies like Casper Gregory, a Lee County resident who offers weather insights, opinions and resources across social media.
"If it helps educate one person, then it's worth my time," said Gregory, whose family "lost everything" during Hurricane Charley.
Connect with audience analyst Dave Breitenstein on social media:Twitter,Facebook,LinkedIn,InstagramandVine.
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EDITOR'S NOTE:AlthoughThe News-PressandNaples Daily Newsare both owned by Gannett and part of the USA TODAY Network, each operation maintains an informalrelationship with a TV station. The News-Press partners with WINK News, while the Naples Daily News partners with NBC2.
