I really LOATHE the local CBS affiliate!!!!!

I can't even begin to say how I feel about this station. Not within TOS guidelines. Suffice it to say they, um, stink. Badly. They have this horrible habit of preempting network shows for local area college games, and not even big games - stuff NO ONE not from there cares about. Then any time there is weather, they preempt ENTIRE SHOWS to let the pathetic weather guy come on and show us a radar map. Apparently, they never heard of the banners every other station uses. They do this with no warnings, even. "Look, here is a storm!" "Look, here is another one!" "OOO, lightning here, take cover!" They claim one can watch the program, that they have already talked over more than half of, on some alternate station, but NO ONE has that station. Not the local cable company, and not the satellite companies, either. Why they can't air the stupid sports there, I'd love to know. Why they think anyone needs two hours of some idiot showing us a radar map, I can't fathom. Anyone in an areas threatened by a tornado wold see a warning on the screen and take cover. They would not be watching some dork ineptly maneuver his way around a radar map for hours. So, for everyone in the viewing are not affected, the shows are GONE, not to be aired again. To add insult to injury, their GM is a complete, um, jerk, who is insulting and rude of you explain that most in his viewing area don't care about some girls' basketball game in a small town. He actually thinks most viewers prefer that over a top-rated television show. If the show is a season finale, or a key episode, the odds are higher that they will preempt it.

I want to scream. I want to move. At least the network shows the episodes the next day, so I can catch then on a laptop instead of the nice big television in my living room. Did I mention I am seriously steamed?

Rant off.....

I have the same problem with our local NBC affiliate. I remember one year they broke into the all-star game to give us a 'critical' severe weather update. I was so angry I called them up and complained in a not so T&C friendly way.

Hint: If you want to give a weather update run the text on the bottom of the screen. I am not impressed with your Doppler 10k and advanced weather tracking maps.

They have huge egos and very little substance.

a reply to: Metallicus

Sounds just like the place here!! Oh, if only the cable companies were allowed to air affiliates other than the crappy local ones. Some of them deserve to go out of business!

I might be more impressed if the clown doing the weather could aim at the map properly. He zooms in, then out, then adjusts the position,jerking it all over. A toddler with a touch screen could do better!

I was polite when I contacted them, but the GM who responded was a horse's patootie.

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
I can't even begin to say how I feel about this station. Not within TOS guidelines. Suffice it to say they, um, stink. Badly. They have this horrible habit of preempting network shows for local area college games, and not even big games - stuff NO ONE not from there cares about. Then any time there is weather, they preempt ENTIRE SHOWS to let the pathetic weather guy come on and show us a radar map. Apparently, they never heard of the banners every other station uses. They do this with no warnings, even. "Look, here is a storm!" "Look, here is another one!" "OOO, lightning here, take cover!" They claim one can watch the program, that they have already talked over more than half of, on some alternate station, but NO ONE has that station. Not the local cable company, and not the satellite companies, either. Why they can't air the stupid sports there, I'd love to know. Why they think anyone needs two hours of some idiot showing us a radar map, I can't fathom. Anyone in an areas threatened by a tornado wold see a warning on the screen and take cover. They would not be watching some dork ineptly maneuver his way around a radar map for hours. So, for everyone in the viewing are not affected, the shows are GONE, not to be aired again. To add insult to injury, their GM is a complete, um, jerk, who is insulting and rude of you explain that most in his viewing area don't care about some girls' basketball game in a small town. He actually thinks most viewers prefer that over a top-rated television show. If the show is a season finale, or a key episode, the odds are higher that they will preempt it.

I want to scream. I want to move. At least the network shows the episodes the next day, so I can catch then on a laptop instead of the nice big television in my living room. Did I mention I am seriously steamed?

Rant off.....

We had a station when we lived in NY that would pull that. They would show the regular programing AFTER the Late shows around midnight to 1am, so if you didn't have DVR, or had work the next day and had to get some sleep, tough luck cookie was their attitude. One other station was more forgiving and would replay the programming on Saturday so you at least wouldn't miss anything. I preferred the Saturday programming, but some days I had shows on the crappy channel. For some towns, the games equal money, hence the preempting.

a reply to: Anyafaj

They have done that 2 am crap here, too, sometimes. When it's weather, you just miss it. hey rely on the mythological "second channel" they claim to have, that no one carries. They cut into programing this evening before 8:30, and 2.5 hours later, the weather dork is still there. It's like they don't care if people can't stay up that late, or can't record, or watch on a weekend.

Who depends on local weather for storm warnings, anyway?? Heck, here they have freaking alarms.

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes
a reply to: Anyafaj

They have done that 2 am crap here, too, sometimes. When it's weather, you just miss it. hey rely on the mythological "second channel" they claim to have, that no one carries. They cut into programing this evening before 8:30, and 2.5 hours later, the weather dork is still there. It's like they don't care if people can't stay up that late, or can't record, or watch on a weekend.

Who depends on local weather for storm warnings, anyway?? Heck, here they have freaking alarms.

Myself, I have the local weather storm app on my smartphone, if there's a storm, or some severe alert we need to know like polluted air, an alert goes off on my phone that sounds like the broadcast alert on TV, you then turn your phone on, bring your scroll screen down to open the app and see the alert. It will even alert you to school closings if you choose. On thing I like about it is you can choose different towns. For example, I have my town on there, in addition to the town my daughter lives in with her group home, as well as my sister's town, and my dad's and both my brother's. I like that it let's me know if there's anything serious going on in their neck of the woods that I should be worried about. (Like when Hurricane Sandy hit, most of my family was in it's path and some were hit pretty hard.)

I have a simple question. If you loathe that station so much, why watch it? I am sure there are plenty of stations to watch. Quit complaining ....Change the channel.

originally posted by: Anyafaj
Myself, I have the local weather storm app on my smartphone, if there's a storm, or some severe alert we need to know like polluted air, an alert goes off on my phone that sounds like the broadcast alert on TV, you then turn your phone on, bring your scroll screen down to open the app and see the alert. It will even alert you to school closings if you choose. On thing I like about it is you can choose different towns. For example, I have my town on there, in addition to the town my daughter lives in with her group home, as well as my sister's town, and my dad's and both my brother's. I like that it let's me know if there's anything serious going on in their neck of the woods that I should be worried about. (Like when Hurricane Sandy hit, most of my family was in it's path and some were hit pretty hard.)

Exactly! People get weather alerts other ways, which is why sensible stations just run a banner at the bottom, along with the alert sound, to catch the viewers' attention. Lots of weather radios are sold here as well.

originally posted by: Ceeker63
I have a simple question. If you loathe that station so much, why watch it? I am sure there are plenty of stations to watch. Quit complaining ....Change the channel.

This is the ONLY CBS affiliate available in the area. Many of the shows I watch are on CBS. If the law wasn't set to protect crappy stations like this one, they wouldn't be able to preempt network programming. People should not have to miss network shows because some local yahoo idiot GM can't manage to show the local sports garbage on their other channel.

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes

Exactly! People get weather alerts other ways, which is why sensible stations just run a banner at the bottom, along with the alert sound, to catch the viewers' attention. Lots of weather radios are sold here as well.

In my new state here, today they had a breaking news alert during a program today. I was watching Judge Judy because nothing else was on and I was bored out of my skull. The station broke in with a breaking news during commercial, and did a split screen when Judy came back on. Later it was a banner on the bottom. In a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, two women were murdered, a grandmother and a young woman. It started off as a well visit when one of the women didn't return to work at the Social Security building or something, the police noticed a foul order and very loud music, broke in and found the women shot to death. But they never cut the program at all. There were 4-5 breaking alerts, all on split screen or bannered, including a car accident involving a school bus and a motorcycle, another involving a police officer's memorial service after a drunk drove 30 miles wrong way on a one way street. But NO break into the program.

a reply to: [post=19321343]LadyGreenEyes[/post

You CLEARLY have no understanding of how a television studio operates. The law isn't protecting them, it's forcing them to cut into programming to give life saving information. As archaic as YOU believe it is, there are people who rely on it. I don't blame the GM for treating you the way he/she did. How contradicting you are to be tough on the forum and politely speak to them on the phone. Do you realize these FELLOW HUMANS aren't doing it on purpose? They don't get up in the morning and make it a goal to anger only you.

Oh and...WHO STILL WATCHES TELEVISION. Hahaha I mean seriously. We live in an age of technology and you watch local stations. You have high blood pressure because you can't simply switch the channel or heck, read a book.

That "clown" doing the weather may not be technically inclined, but he has an education; could you step in and do a better job? Doubtful. That's the problem with whiny customers, they can always do the job better and seem to know everything there is to know about running a television station.

As far as I'm concerned, severe weather takes precedence over any athletic game, ever. It's sports. I honestly can't comprehend why people live or die for sports. I'm sure the people directly affected by severe weather would love to hear you complain about missing your sports.

originally posted by: Anyafaj
In my new state here, today they had a breaking news alert during a program today. I was watching Judge Judy because nothing else was on and I was bored out of my skull. The station broke in with a breaking news during commercial, and did a split screen when Judy came back on. Later it was a banner on the bottom. In a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, two women were murdered, a grandmother and a young woman. It started off as a well visit when one of the women didn't return to work at the Social Security building or something, the police noticed a foul order and very loud music, broke in and found the women shot to death. But they never cut the program at all. There were 4-5 breaking alerts, all on split screen or bannered, including a car accident involving a school bus and a motorcycle, another involving a police officer's memorial service after a drunk drove 30 miles wrong way on a one way street. But NO break into the program.

I would so LOVE that! Little banners, I can deal. Alert sounds, even, for real emergencies. Just not this hours of weather clown pointing at a radar map!

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
a reply to: [post=19321343]LadyGreenEyes[/post

You CLEARLY have no understanding of how a television studio operates. The law isn't protecting them, it's forcing them to cut into programming to give life saving information. As archaic as YOU believe it is, there are people who rely on it.

NO, they are not required to completely cut off programming for weather reports. This is why most stations do NOT do that. They can sound the alert noise, and they can run banners, and/or little corner inserts, but they do NOT have any requirement to yak over entire television shows, to point at a radar map. If they did, all of them would do it, and that isn't the case.

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
I don't blame the GM for treating you the way he/she did. How contradicting you are to be tough on the forum and politely speak to them on the phone. Do you realize these FELLOW HUMANS aren't doing it on purpose? They don't get up in the morning and make it a goal to anger only you.

If you paid better attention to my OP, you would see your error. I didn't contact the GM over the weather issue. I contacted the GM over network programming being preempted for minor college games. I also didn't say anything about speaking to him on the phone. In fact, I sent an email, explaining that NO ONE in the town where I live gets their claimed alternative channel, and that many of us were upset at having regular programming preempted for games, on a regular basis. His return email was completely out of line, condescending, insulting, and basically stating he didn't care, because the sports were more important.

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
Oh and...WHO STILL WATCHES TELEVISION. Hahaha I mean seriously. We live in an age of technology and you watch local stations. You have high blood pressure because you can't simply switch the channel or heck, read a book.

Make up your mind, will you?? You stated above,

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond"As archaic as YOU believe it is, there are people who rely on it. ", and now you ask

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
Oh and...WHO STILL WATCHES TELEVISION. Hahaha

You can't have it both ways. Posting contradictions like that makes me wonder about your purpose in the thread.

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
That "clown" doing the weather may not be technically inclined, but he has an education; could you step in and do a better job? Doubtful. That's the problem with whiny customers, they can always do the job better and seem to know everything there is to know about running a television station.

He is a clown. He repeats himself, can't handle navigating around the map AT ALL, and doesn't really tell you anything you can't see for yourself. Hours of talking, and nothing to say, and it was clear there wasn't really anything to say. I never claimed to "know everything there is to know about running a television station"; I stated that this guy is inept, and the station is poorly managed. Gee, do YOU work for such a station? This station gets complaints all of the time, and there are tons of online comments about the various issues they have. One doesn't have to be a chef to know that a certain dish is burned, you know.

originally posted by: InfinityandBeyond
As far as I'm concerned, severe weather takes precedence over any athletic game, ever. It's sports. I honestly can't comprehend why people live or die for sports. I'm sure the people directly affected by severe weather would love to hear you complain about missing your sports.

Again READ THE OP. I complained about sports preempting shows. I do not watch the stupid sports, and wold be happy if they banned them from all but dedicated sports channels. I didn't complain about missing sports. Reading comprehension matters. You don't pay attention, and come in posting things that sound quite foolish. Scroll up, reread the OP, and try again.

originally posted by: LadyGreenEyes

originally posted by: Anyafaj
In my new state here, today they had a breaking news alert during a program today. I was watching Judge Judy because nothing else was on and I was bored out of my skull. The station broke in with a breaking news during commercial, and did a split screen when Judy came back on. Later it was a banner on the bottom. In a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, two women were murdered, a grandmother and a young woman. It started off as a well visit when one of the women didn't return to work at the Social Security building or something, the police noticed a foul order and very loud music, broke in and found the women shot to death. But they never cut the program at all. There were 4-5 breaking alerts, all on split screen or bannered, including a car accident involving a school bus and a motorcycle, another involving a police officer's memorial service after a drunk drove 30 miles wrong way on a one way street. But NO break into the program.

I would so LOVE that! Little banners, I can deal. Alert sounds, even, for real emergencies. Just not this hours of weather clown pointing at a radar map!

I was actually surprised they DIDN'T break into programming with 4-5 alerts going off at once. Then again, the news was starting in a little under a half hour, so they probably figured the little blurb and the banner would keep people glued to the channel enough to want to watch the 2 hour local news. (It's on from 5-7 pm) They show at 5, repeat at 5:30, repeat again at 6 and again at 6:30 with anything new to add during the repeats from the breaking news.

a reply to: Anyafaj

That is a possibility. Sounds like they used common sense. This station appears to have no one working there that has any. Bad management will do that, of course.