Let me bring back a few of my favorites from when I was doing hurricane/tornado coverage a year+ ago. These were emails, reposted EXACTLY as they were sent:
“How long can Evon talk about a tornado that doesn’t exit???????????????? He said the threat is over but yet he continues to talk talk talk about it. I can’t believe I am sacrificing Dancing with the Stars to watch that idiot repeat himself over and over and over. What an IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Here’s another:
“YOU ARE HORRIBLE FOR MESSING UP THE SHOWS
THANKS FOR F-ING UP THE NIGHT WHEN ANYONE WITH A BRAIN
COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOUR YAMMERING FOR A 1/2 HOUR
BAD DECISIONS…..EVERYONE HAS A WEATHER RADIO OR THEY DON’T CARE.
AND YOU BACK IN TIME FOR A COMMERCIAL……A HOLES”
We used to get these ALL THE TIME. Phone calls, too. I’ve been cursed at over the phone so many times, I just give them a cheery “Thank you!” before hanging up, because there’s really no point in arguing with morons. And if you cut in during Oprah, FORGET IT. Good luck getting the 5 o’clock newscast on because there will literally be phone call after phone call for the next hour with irate ladies screaming at you because she missed Oprah’s next favorite thing.
I realize everyone (probably in WMA more than other places) is getting sick of the media hype about this Hurricane/Tropical Storm. I get it. It’s a cycle of “This could get bad” that prompts “We need to do this so it doesn’t get bad” which then leads to “City does this which means it will get bad, run for your lives” and so on. I get it, and I was once part of that cycle. And yes, I’ve rolled my eyes at the decision to cut into programming with a weather alert. I’ve groaned when I had to stay later on a Saturday morning after an overnight shift because weather patterns were unstable and people “needed” to know exactly where the green on the map is going next.
But when that tornado struck Springfield back in June, I am willing to bet that the same exact people who complained about oversaturation of weather information are the same exact people who called in asking, Why the hell didn’t you warn us?
I’ve learned there’s no winning in this game. But I do give props to my old station for their pretty legit coverage of this thing. I’ve been following Virginia weather news more than Massachusetts’, because I know all we’re gonna get up here are rain and wind and a bit of flooding. I’ve lived in VA long enough to know that the area can’t win weather-wise. And most of the people I care about live there – so yeah, I want to know what’s going on. It may not have gotten bad in Virginia Beach, but people in Sandbridge, the Outer Banks, and even Richmond lost a lot during this storm. To my homies in VB, I’m glad you’re safe. But stop bitching about how you got nothing. Did you want to get “something” — because I’m sure the people who lost their homes and their loved ones will gladly trade with you.
A viewer sent this in to a TV station with the caption "Just lucky to get out of this alive!" So please stop complaining about how you couldn't log into Facebook for a couple of hours.
So go on and enjoy the ECSC (wish I were there!) and get a tan (heard it’s a beautiful 90 degrees down there today). Laugh at the idiot streakers and Spiderman, and be thankful your tree didn’t get thrown into your house or car or pet or friend. But keep those who were affected in the back of your minds, please.
And Massachusetts, ditto to you.
/endrant
