Defending Meteorology

From NBC CT

There must be something about human nature that allows us to remember the bumps in the road more than the overall journey.   Meteorologists are seldom judged by their overall accuracy rate, but rather by the missed calls.    For the New York City metro area, what was billed as an approaching "historic storm" by meteorologists and local leaders failed to deliver much of a punch.   Facebook friends in that area equated meteorology with fortune telling.   A few weather forecasters even apologized.   Is that necessary?    No apologies were needed in my neck of the woods.  This latest winter storm arrived with relatively little advance notice, but it definitely lived up to expectations in eastern Connecticut and points north and east of here.   Several computer models misread the impact on New York City, but a newer type of model was proven more accurate.   Next time they may pay more attention to the new model.   Technology has improved dramatically since the unforeseen monster storms of 1888 and 1938 and continues a rapid advance.   While many lives have been saved, the future is still a tricky proposition.   We are reminded of our limitations in so many realms of scientific progress, but weather predictions have come a long way.   

I recall when media coverage of weather consisted of presenters with next to nothing for a meteorological background.   Some were hired because they could draw cartoon characters on a weather map.   Now the local stations have a real team of actual meteorologists backed by technology.   Still, I wonder if some of the nonstop hype is over the top, especially when they start with gimmicks like naming every storm.   Brag about your accuracy, not about equipment all your competitors also have.  There's a popular myth about meteorologists being unlike the rest of because they actually get paid to be wrong most of the time.   That's just wrong.   I've known enough weather people to know that they are well educated and take their job and our safety very seriously.   They do it with a remarkable batting average.    Judging forecasters' reliability by one storm is about as shortsighted as saying one cold spell disproves global warming.   Don't get me started on that one!

Sound Familiar?

Bill Belechick

You've got to be kidding.   That was my first reaction as a Patriots fan to the allegations that footballs used by the Patriots in Sunday's AFC playoff game had been inflated below the minimum allowed pressure.   I stopped laughing at the situation when I learned that eleven footballs were involved and it must have happened after the footballs were inspected for that game against the Colts.   Given the humiliating sanctions and fine imposed after the Patriots' 2007 so-called "Spygate" scandal, head coach Bill Belichick can no longer afford to be so characteristically tight-lipped when answering questions.   NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is also under pressure to investigate and proceed with any punishments.   This is not the first time Belichick and the Patriots could be in violation of league rules.   Given this history, credibility is very much at stake.   I know there are football fans that are sick of hearing about nothing but the Patriots and Tom Brady, but it is hard to see how this possibly deliberate infraction won't hang over this year's Super Bowl like the Goodyear blimp.    If true, the question remains: Why would a team that won so decisively in the last game feel the need to engage in dirty tricks?

Then my second reaction kicked in.   Do Belichick or perhaps the Patriots culture remind you of the Nixon administration?   In 1972, the outcome of the Presidential election was never in doubt, yet GOP operatives conspired in the Watergate break-in and the resulting cover-up led all the way up to Nixon himself.   It didn't have to be that way.   Is it arrogance, paranoia or a drive to win that supersedes everything else?   

Aging Demographics

From www.theblaze.com

I've seen a lot of radio music formats come and go over the decades.   Easy listening instrumentals, big band standards, '50s/'60s oldies, mellow '70s rock and a few others have either disappeared or barely exist as vastly updated versions of their former selves.   These once lucrative formats vanished from the radio dial well before their listeners had abandoned them.   Major advertisers simply did not want to reach an audience that was aging over 55, with more set buying habits that didn't change much through hearing advertisements.   The fact that they may still be active adults, loyal listeners and potential spenders didn't matter enough to the folks who sell and buy radio time.

 

Now the same thing has been unfolding on the talk radio side.   Liberal talk never took off, thanks to being on inferior AM market signals, a more diverse potential audience, NPR's appeal to liberal intellectuals and a somewhat half-hearted attempt to syndicate it by big conservative media corporations.   I never subscribed to the idea that liberals were less compelling or entertaining than their conservative counterparts.   The Stephanie Miller Show, for one, thankfully lives on through cable, satellite and streaming.  

 

Now these same big conglomerates who eagerly hitched their wagons to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and countless other right wing voices are now struggling to downsize them to less potent signals while scratching their heads over who (or what) can replace them.   AM syndicated talk has few options while the shift to FM talk has been almost totally stopped in its tracks.   Sports talk on FM gets a younger adult audience, so that migration from older-skewing AM works; conservative talk doesn't.   Rush and company face the same issue on radio as Fox News does on TV with its median 68.1 year old audience.   I believe conservative talk has also been beating a dead horse to all but the most strident Obama bashers.   Cumulus Media is now trying to convert the angry, one-sided political narrative to more "lifestyle" topics.   Good luck with that, Mr. Savage.   I have serious doubts it will work while Cumulus' locally oriented station in Providence, WPRO,  clobbers the right wing syndicated shows competing against them.    Rush may have singlehandedly saved AM radio 25 years ago.   Those days are gone.   I hope AM can  find a way out of this mess.   It won't be through rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.    

Je Suis Charlie

The story around Paris unfolds as I type this.  Police just raided two sites and killed Islamic terrorists who have been holding hostages.   This was connected to a horrific massacre a few days earlier of twelve people working at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.   This bloody assault on free speech is a clear and present danger to every freedom-loving citizen.    Just weeks ago, a satirical movie about North Korea's leader was prevented from mass distribution in theatres on Christmas Day with a hack on Sony Pictures and violent threats orchestrated by a government that terrorizes its own people.    I was recently talking about the role of media in the Ferguson and Queens shooting controversies and was told there was too much freedom of the press.   That attitude is scary.   It's bad enough how much of the U.S. media is owned by a few giant corporations not necessarily committed to journalistic integrity..   Why would anyone want government to further limit news coverage?   The Charlie Hebdo killings serve as a reminder that there are many threats to getting both the objectivity and multiple perspectives we all need to make the right decisions.   We need a truly free press let us know what we're up against.    The French and people around the world are defying the intimidation of violent radicals with the phrase "Je Suis Charlie"... "I Am Charlie."   

My Times Square New Year

Times Square 1992

Happy New Year!    I readily admit to sleeping right through the midnight celebrations, but there was no way I was going to do that when I have a 4:00 AM wakeup call for the early morning show on WICH AM 1310.      I don't bid good riddance to 2014 any more than I expect 2015 to be perfect.   My resolution last year to avoid drama worked well for the most part, but health issues persist with elusive answers.   There are certainly some things still on my bucket list, and I really want to feel up to it.   That's all I ask.

 

The trip to Times Square is one major New Year's tradition that came off my bucket list when a friend and I became a part of it during the transition from 1991 to 1992.   We took the train from New Haven to New York City that night.   Panhandlers were everywhere from the moment we arrived at Grand Central Station.    After dinner, we made the trek of a few blocks to where a million revelers had gathered.     It was very cold, similar to last night, and there was the most massive police presence I had ever witnessed.   Wherever the TV cameras would point, that portion of the crowd would absolutely erupt like a giant wave of sound and motion.   I remember trying to get out of the cold in the alcove of a Broadway theatre for at least a short time, only to be politely yet firmly told to move on with a "Good evening, gentlemen" by the workers there.   We finally found refuge and facilities in a huge McDonald's that was among the most welcome sights I've ever seen.   After hours of waiting, mostly outside, the ball dropped and pandemonium ensued just like the clockwork it always is.   Within an hour, the crowds were mostly headed home, producing a roaring echo through the canyons between the buildings like I've never experienced before or since then.   The train ride back to New Haven was certainly full of a cast of drunken characters.  One guy got off at a small rail platform stop to relieve himself only to find his train ride pulling away.   I'll never forget the astonished look on his face.   A big barrel at New Haven's Union Station proved its worth as a handy receptacle for a very inebriated young female passenger's vomit.   Yes, it was a special night.   Now I can say that Big Apple adventure is under my belt.   As with many things in life, I can say I have no regrets doing it and have no plans to do it again.