WJBF Storm Coverage

Overwhelmed is an understatement.  I spent much of Saturday here at Television Park speechless.  I had come in early to help craft some coverage for storm coverage - sort of the “day after” mode.  The first call I picked up was from a viewer.  “God Bless You all” she said.  She was so grateful for the coverage of severe weather Friday night, this kind viewer felt compelled to pick up the phone and thank a real live human being.  And once I opened up the email queue, there were literally hundreds of notes from viewers thanking us, in some way or another, for the coverage of Friday’s devasting weather.  So what did we do differently?  I mean, a tornado warning leads to a very specific kind of coverage.  George, Matt & John are conditioned to go on TV and not stop until the threat is over.  Watching the coverage, I can tell you that one little thing made all the difference in the world.  And that one little thing was actually pretty big.  Let me give you the play-by-play.

It’s around 10:30 p.m. Friday night.  We’ve just wrapped the Fox 54 News at 10 broadcast and George needed to get on television - and fast.  A tornado warning was raised.  So you know, the difference between a warning and a watch is significant.  A tornado “watch” tells us that conditions are favorable for a tornado to form, either in the clouds or as a sky-to-earth funnel cloud.  A warning indicates that rotation is happening in the clouds i.e. the essence of a tornado has been picked up on Doppler radar.  With a warning, all it takes is a heartbeat for that rotation to drop out of our sky and become a funnel cloud.  So when we go “wall-to-wall,“ so to speak, it’s important.

When George hit the 11:00 hour, Brad took his seat on the news desk and proceeded to help with coverage.  The goal was to have Brad share information about damage and how to stay safe while George focused on tracking the weather.  Brad asked for viewers to send in reports of damage.  We have sort of a “bucket” email that almost anyone in the newsroom can read - .  And it worked, for about two minutes.  Then something amazing happened.  Emailers went from supplying information to asking for it.  They wanted specific information about their hometown.

Examples included: “My sister lives in Gibson, we need to know what kind of weather to expect.“ “I live in Swainsboro with a baby do we need 2 seek better shelter 4 the night?“ “I have family in Millen how bad is it going to be?“ “I need to know if the storm is going to hit Olar, South Carolina.  Also, if someone lives in a tent in Bamburg what are they to do?“

You get the idea.  What Brad decided to do was use emailers’ first names and ask George directly about their question or concern.  George would quickly zoom in on the VIPIR (this market’s ONLY live radar) and get an immediate answer for them.  This went on over and over again.  And of course, the more we answered, the more we got.  And we also started to get more and more reports.  One viewer was sure he had seen a tornado off Dyess Parkway.  Others explained what what sort of hail they were seeing.  Viewers helped guide our coverage.  From email, we learned about the devastation in Beech Island, Burke County and a long stretch of Barton Chapel Road.

We started to get questions like “should I crack my windows?“ (No, it’s just a myth) and “where is the safest place to be in my home?“ (Simply stated, put as many walls between you and the outside).  YOU had a direct hand in our coverage.  Those who know me know my mantra is news must be a “conversation” in order to survive.  Friday was as strong an example of that as anything I’ve ever seen in local television.

Behind the scenes, our crews went out and got video, interviews & compiled damage information.  When there was an opportunity, Brad brought those team members to the set for some Q & A.  Even John Hart & Chris Kane (both exhaused from a long day preparing our nightly Masters Report) grabbed cameras and went out to get content.  The stories were harrowing - 150 evacuated from a nursing home, 50 homes damaged in South Augusta - and all the while, YOU continued to help us fill in the information gaps.

And for every single question that came in - we made it our mission to get you a personal and direct answer.  I knew we were doing something unprecedented.  You had control of our coverage.  It was, for lack of a better description, the ultimate in customer service.  We learned more about what you’re looking for in one night than I think we’ve learned in the past year.  I didn’t see the competition, but based on the feedback - we were on the right track.

From viewers:
“Brad Means and George Myers,  Thank you so very much for doing such a great job keeping all of us informed about the terrible storms tonight.“
“Thank you so much for the minute by minute coverage that you gave us through this horrific weather, it allowed our family the comfort of when it was necessary for us to take cover.“
“Thank you all at WJBF for your coverage of these storms.  Storms terrify me, and it’s important to me to have someone I can count on to keep me updated.  Thank you very much!“
“I am so very thankful for your hard work and keeping us updated minute by minute!! GOD BLESS ALL of y’all ! Thank God for such awesome technology to be able to track storms so wonderfully! Thanks for answering my earlier email about my son on Highway 1!!!“
“I wanted to thank you for your coverage of the storm last night.  Your coverage was timely and incredibly helpful The Weather Channel and it’s online information was behind by at least 15 minutes whereas WJBF was current.“
“I would like to thank the entire WJBF news team that covered last nights severe weather. Brad Means & George Myers did an excellent job, George’s weather expertise, along with Brad’s compassion to those who suffered damage was comforting to all of those who watched.“
“A rant to the idiot who emailed News Channel 6 complaining about the extensive updates: If you were in a large house alone, crying in a small bathroom and on your knees with a possible tornado coming your way, maybe you’d appreciate the constant coverage, as well as Brad and George’s never-ending patience with repetitive questions from terrified viewers.“
“I would like to say “Thank You” to all the people at channel 6 who were responsible for the continuous news coverage of the terrible storms on Friday night and Saturday morning…your coverage possibly saved someone’s life in your viewing area.  I feel much more secure knowing that we have dedicated people like all of you to track the weather and keep the communities informed.  My thoughts and prayer are with the families whose homes and property were destroyed and pray that they will soon be restored.“

For everyone who took the time to write or call, our thanks.  For those with whom I spoke, the response was the same.  Your gratitude is fuel for some tired souls.

Our community lost two lives as a result of Friday’s storms.  And so many of our neighbors are now faced with the difficult task of rebuilding their homes and their lives.  Our staffers join so many others in offering our thoughts and prayers for strength during this difficult time.

If you’d like to help, it’s certainly needed and appreciated.  Visit your local chapter of The American Red Cross.  You can call the Augusta branch at 706-724-8481 or visit their website at http://www.arcaug.org