KAUZ-KSWO Guilty Of First-Alert Weather Coverage

KAUZ’s marketing director, Rob Thomas, shared a recent promo that I think makes great use of on-air examples as evidence to back up claims of being the first alert station. KAUZ is the CBS affiliate in Wichita Falls, Texas, owned by American Spirit, and KSWO is the ABC affiliate in Lawton, Oklahoma, owned by Gray, which operates KAUZ through a shared services agreement.

I believe that sometimes TV station creative services ought to think of themselves as lawyers in front of a jury, trying to convince them that your station is guilty of great coverage. Show me the evidence.

Here’s Rob Thomas version of how the spot came about.

“Tuesday of this week, we were in wall-to-wall tornado coverage.  One of our meteorologists along with the photographer were chasing a storm which turned into a tornado right before our eyes on live television.

“In looking at that coverage, as I usually do after a big weather event, I also looked back at the previous week. Often times there are good moments from our weather team that set the stage that something big will happen. I remembered from the week before they had predicted this could be a rough week with several days’ worth of severe weather. So before the airchecks disappeared I went and clipped some of those moments off. I felt like there was a story to tell about how we made sure people truly did get the first alert, which is our weather brand. But to tell that story correctly I felt like the most compelling thing we had was the tornado so I had to start with that and then work backwards. The music was important in telling that story and also the voiceover. Simple lines delivered by someone who I love working with by the name of Natalie Roers.”

“You could say this is a proof of brand or proof of performance promo. I tend to think this is more of a brand promo which has a longer shelf life. People in Wichita Falls Texas and in Lawton Oklahoma should see this for several weeks to come. James Warner, our news director, orchestrated the coverage for both stations that is how we were able to win that day.”