Snow is expected again in Boston. Some tonight and then more again over the weekend going into Monday. This will make the fourth Monday in a row the city has experienced a dumping of the white stuff. The National Weather Service says Boston has received 76.5 inches of snow so far this winter. New Englanders, […]
Snow is expected again in Boston.
Some tonight and then more again over the weekend going into Monday.
This will make the fourth Monday in a row the city has experienced a dumping of the white stuff. The National Weather Service says Boston has received 76.5 inches of snow so far this winter.
New Englanders, accustomed to their fair share of snow, are calling it ‘other worldly’.
“Shoveling the driveway becomes like painting a bridge. As soon as you get to the end, you have to go back and start again,” one resident was quoted as saying, no doubt a common refrain heard in many neighborhoods.
While you would expect the local TV stations to cover the snow, coverage of extreme weather has become commonplace on the national evening news, especially ABC’s World News Tonight, according to a recent article in the Buffalo News.
The article pointed out that the most frequently seen correspondent on either ABC, CBS or NBC’s evening newscasts is Ginger Zee, ABC’s chief meteorologist.
“The weather is part of the national conversation and it is part of the news cycle,” said Almin Karamehmedovic, ABC World News Tonight executive producer.
And that article was from December of 2014, months before the recent blizzards in Boston.
I think news viewers like seeing the snow coverage anywhere in the country on the evening news. You might have family who lives in the affected area. Maybe you have travel plans there. Or if you live in the warmer parts of the country, it’s your chance to be smug about living there this time of year.
But in Boston, it is legitimate, breaking news and this time of year, February, that can only mean one thing, high TV ratings.
“Crazy days here in Boston,” says Russ Nelligan, creative services director at the Hearst-owned ABC affiliate there, WCVB.
“We have record snow, storm after storm, with little break to clean up. The 20”-26” we got Monday came after a huge blizzard struck the week earlier. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, (known locally as the “T”), took the surprising step of shutting down.”
That didn’t help matters. Last night, the head of the MBTA resigned.
“WCVB news management has done an excellent job chronicling the failings of the transportation system, using our 5 Investigates unit to determine if anything beyond a lot of snow was responsible. They uncovered a $3-billion dollar maintenance backlog.”
WCVB’s creative services staff produced the traditional snow coverage POP (Proof of Performance), but in addition, went for a separate POP showing as the city digs out, WCVB digs for answers.
“It’s a more evolved way to cover the same old snow story, albeit historic snow story,” says Nelligan,
“Certainly has seemed to pay off with more viewers.”
WCVB dominated the ratings in all key time periods on Monday.
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