Rip whoi

[CubbieBear]

Mattson gave/gives great local sports (especially HS) coverage. His constant head-bopping/movement during coverage is brutal and eye-gouging.

Agreed--I appreciate the work/time/coverage he provides for small schools in Central Illinois--better than ANY other station by FAR--but I also agree that he is brutal in other areas you mentioned--and his radio segment on 96.5 on Saturday mornings is just painful to listen to

[bert notorius]

Mike McClellan- now there's a weatherman. Jim Matteson is the hardest working man in sports, plus he has a large collection of orange ties. Now, if the digital dots would just go away so I can watch my stories.

[MacabreMob]

Mike McClellan- now there's a weatherman. Jim Matteson is the hardest working man in sports, plus he has a large collection of orange ties. Now, if the digital dots would just go away so I can watch my stories.

I knew there was something else I didn't like about him.

[Beninator]

Mike McClellan- now there's a weatherman. Jim Matteson is the hardest working man in sports, plus he has a large collection of orange ties. Now, if the digital dots would just go away so I can watch my stories.

I knew there was something else I didn't like about him.

well that just cinches it for me as well.

[Buesch N Chips]

his radio segment on 96.5 on Saturday mornings is just painful to listen to

That's just because no one calls in. I feel a little bad for him.

[ph]

Is it true that on weekends they do their broadcasts out of a studio in Indiana?

That's nothing in comparison to doing all TV station switchboard operations out of Ft. Wayne. Ever notice the increasing amount of WEEK's wrong sports or news highlights where the anchors have to keep asking, on-air, (to Ft.Wayne) to play the correct clip?

[Murph]

That's just because no one calls in. I feel a little bad for him.

Maybe they should combine his show and Knupps, then nobody would call either.

[BradleyWX]

I'm not so sure this common assumption plays in Peoria.

The overwhelming majority of weather reporters on TV stations nationally are not meteorologists, and it never makes any difference. Weather men on TV don't use any of their meteorological skills. All weather people get their weather information from one of a couple national weather reporting services, and those services provide virtually the same information to everyone.
You don't need a meterologist to obtain information and report it.
There is a reason Lee Ranson is the most popular weather man in Peoria, and the most popular this area has had since Bill Houlihan. And it is why they retained him over Rick Kearby of WHOI. He knows what people want to know, and he reports it in a way they understand.

By the way, I think Lee is more often accurate than any of the other guys, too.

I've heard people say similar things to this several times before. And while I'm sure this is so at many stations, I can't see being the case everywhere. Many people say they just call the Lincoln NWS, not true. If it was, than it would not explain the stark variations that would sometimes be between Ric, Chuck & Lee's forecasts. Believe me, they were not always exactly the same. I once spent 10 years comparing all 3 weather forecasts.

And there's more than 2 forecasting places. Most, if not all manufactures of the weather graphics systems that stations use (IE: WSI, Weather Central, Accu Weather, Barron, etc) also have their own groups of Meteorologists to automatically provide forecasts for their client stations who so choose. That's at least 4 forecasting choices. WEEK & WMBD both use Accu Weather, yet Chuck Collins was over a day sooner in predicting this current Snowstorm, Lee thought it was going to be a nice day. LOL WHOI used the superior WSI system, and still uses it in the mornings, until the sound barrier is in place at WEEK and the WHOI facility is shuts down.

Lee has been the most accurate this past few years only by luck and default. In severe weather situations, a Meteorologist can really shine. For some reason, which even baffles the national weather service, most predicted severe weather events have missed the Peoria area or even failed to materialize in recent years. Strange enough, this hasn't been the case in EVERY surrounding market . When something doesn't materialize, Chuck gets blamed for cry wolf, and Lee, who doesn't have the foresight to warn people ahead of time, looks like the expert. People forget that in years like 1998, WEEK missed the mark almost every time. I can still remember one day that spring, during the Noon newscast, we had plenty of heating and plenty of daylight left, and a huge blog of tornadic thunderstorms were headed right toward us from IOWA. There was no way they'd miss us. Well, Lee was on and failed to say anything about severe thunderstorms while the other 2 stations were warning of this event 2 days in advance. And of course, Central Illinois got hammered later that afternoon and evening! All the springs from 1995~1999 were extremely active. And as of last year, the weather patterns are starting to change once again. If we get get into another big severe wx year, let's see who's the better forecaster.

One thing this area lacks is a "real" live Doppler radar. While at least 1 station in every surrounding market has one, Peoria does not have a real $500K "real" live Doppler radar. (WHOI's was not a "real" live Doppler radar, it was advertised as such because it's software program updated automatically without having to click the refresh button). Watch WQAD or WAND, who have Live Dopplar and you'll see a couple teams of Meteorologists really shine on their own.

In 2007, #1 rated WEEK went to the bowels of the bargain basement to buy the outdated Accu Weather Gallileo graphics system, the same model that WMBD bought in 2002 when it was all the rage. Not only was it laughable for ANY station in a market this big to buy the Galileo in 2007, it was also more pathetic knowing that most stations at that time were considering converting to HD graphics systems. Even the struggling WHOI bested them with their $125K WSI system a few months later..

Not to mention that WEEK has outsourced their weekend weather to Ft. Wayne and their AccuWX FirstWarn ScreenCrawler weather alert system is extremely unreliable. Pretty soon, this will likely be simulcast on WHOI when their facility closes.

For the ratings share that WEEK gets, they should be able to provide excellent weather, news AND sports. They should look more like KWQC & WICS. But instead, I'm not so sure they even match the caliber of Quincy's KHQA or WGEM stations.

I find it extremely unfair if they continue to hold on to the #1 spot. They're cutting so many corners it's pathetic. And I don't understand why so many people can't see this! WMBD deserves the #1 spot in this market. Now, with the addition of Donnie Tillman to function independently in the weekends, perhaps they will grow all around. You know your stations are horrible when your Nexstar station is your best station! LOL

Granite has never put quality back into any of the stations in the other markets where it has performed mergers. They're just content to keep the same inferior product because they know they can get enough viewers to generate a glut of revenue between 2+ stations to still make a handsome profit. Even their Ft. Wayne central operations hub is a crappy outfit with sub-par graphics. I suppose their weather team is ok though, but you can't get an accurate forecast when they're giving it for 15 other granite stations as well, and now, including 2 of ours! WMBD seems to be satisfactory all around. I've been a WMBD fan for years and I'll continue as long as they continue to put out a quality product. But knowing how Nexstar operates, that may not be forever. In that day, Peoria news will be die.

[Da Coach]

BradleyWX, you are obviously a little more sophisticated than the great majority of weather viewers. Most just want to know if they need to wear a sweater or a coat to work the next day, or if it's going to rain.

As I pointed out, Lee is not a meterologist, but neither was Bill Houlihan, and they are (were) extremely popular. I know people who prefer to watch WMBD and Bob Larson for the news, but then switch over to Lee for the weather. Overall, I think we have multiple good options here in Peoria for news, weather, and sports. But times change, and the TV (as well as radio and newspapers) just can't compete with the internet for speed, variety, and thoroughness of news, weather, and sports.
I expect more cutbacks in the future, as us "older" folks are replaced more and more by those who are internet savvy.

[Buesch N Chips]

Ever since I bought into Lee's "Peoria Split" concept of systems from the west, I have been uncannily accurate at predicting the weather myself.

[BU_EMT128]

One thing this area lacks is live Doppler radar. While at least 1 station in every surrounding market has one, Peoria does not have a real $500K "real" live Doppler radar. (WHOI's was not a "real" live dopplar radar, it was advertised as such because it's software program updated automatically without having to click the refresh button). Watch WQAD or WAND who have Live Dopplar and you'll see a couple teams of Meteorologists really shine on their own.

I agree. Being from Decatur, Hometown of WAND, I grew up with the live dopplar. During tornado warnings, a meteorologist is on screen analyzing the radar explaining the situation. Very informative and accurate. Peoria needs to fill this hole.

[ph]

I find it extremely unfair if they continue to hold on to the #1 spot. They're cutting so many corners it's pathetic. And I don't understand why so many people can't see this! WMBD deserves the # spot in this market. Now, with the addition of Donnie Tillman to function independently in the weekends, perhaps they will grow all around. You know your stations are horrible when your Nexstar stations is your best station! LOL

Granite has never put quality back into any of the stations in the other markets where it has performed mergers. They put hope they can get enough viewers with the same inferior product.

I agree with a lot of what you say regarding lack of quality.
As far as the reason why, I believe I have heard that a local station's newsroom will receive the most calls whenever an anchor gets a new hair style or wears a bad outfit. With viewers like those, why invest in quality

At least several local stations were able to pool resources to get Roberts shot on sportscenter: http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArt...ATCLID=3700385

[Guinness]

W
g
n

[Murph]

Not to mention that WEEK has outsourced their weekend weather to Ft. Wayne and their AccuWX FirstWarn ScreenCrawler weather alert system is extremely unreliable. Pretty soon, this will likely be simulcast on WHOI when their facility closes.

It's really sad my former favorite station WEEK has sunk to this level, the guy doing the weekend weather is actually trying to make people believe it's coming out of Peoria instead of somewhere in Indiana by saying things like "our" weather instead of "your" weather.


From now on it's WMBD for me though I do miss that cute little Amy Paul.

[BradleyWX]

I agree with a lot of what you say regarding lack of quality.
As far as the reason why, I believe I have heard that a local station's newsroom will receive the most calls whenever an anchor gets a new hair style or wears a bad outfit. With viewers like those, why invest in quality

At least several local stations were able to pool resources to get Roberts shot on sportscenter: http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArt...ATCLID=3700385

I see your point here. Unfortunately, this is so true. Many viewers tend to be superficial or just plain dumb, for lack of a better word. LOL

BradleyWX, you are obviously a little more sophisticated than the great majority of weather viewers. Most just want to know if they need to wear a sweater or a coat to work the next day, or if it's going to rain.

As I pointed out, Lee is not a meterologist, but neither was Bill Houlihan, and they are (were) extremely popular. I know people who prefer to watch WMBD and Bob Larson for the news, but then switch over to Lee for the weather. Overall, I think we have multiple good options here in Peoria for news, weather, and sports. But times change, and the TV (as well as radio and newspapers) just can't compete with the internet for speed, variety, and thoroughness of news, weather, and sports.
I expect more cutbacks in the future, as us "older" folks are replaced more and more by those who are internet savvy.

Thanks. I've always liked weather, but really got into it in 1986 when I was just 9 years old. I saw some of this areas best lightening displays ever that year in my town of Glasford, back than, our choice was WEEK our for everything including WX w/ Houlli (1923~1994). Where Lee Ranson was the most optimistic of the 3, Bill Houlihan was the most aggressive. I like how he used to spend the entire duration of the severe weather event covering the storms continuously like some of our neighboring stations still do to this day. I pretty-much ignored WMBD until about 1991, when I started watching them because of their superior audio (stereo). As far as newscasts go, WMBD didn't have much over the other stations until 1993 when they began to make the first in a series of aggressive upgrades - both in weather as well as in other areas. It was that same year that Mike McClellen replaced Rollie Kieth and became our first Meteorologist. Mike was almost as aggressive as Houli, and probably even more so than Chuck, who's undoubtedly our area's most aggressive nowadays.

Honestly, I can't say as I really have a beef against any of our local personalities. I've had the opportunity to talk to several, including all the aforementioned except for Bill Houlihan, who died before I got directly involved with stations. I've also talked to some of the local sports and news legends. They all seem very friendly and nice. A couple of them even remembered me later. LOL But since WEEK technically has no weekend weather guy, they could have kept Ric Kearby for weekends. Lee is 68 and could either retire soon, or god forbid, his health could fail and he could be forced to go. Ric Kearby, who's 15 years younger and was still somewhat popular, would have made for the better choice. Familiar faces are what attracts the most viewers. After Lee, will they be able to put a familiar face in Lee's place? Will they be able to coax Ric in to take his place? Frankly, I think they should have kept both, they could have afforded to. For now, Ric seems content just to provide weather on a radio station. That said, I wonder if he'd be open to the idea of becoming a weekend or morning meteorologist on WMBD? Of course, one of those jobs will become open once again in a year or 2. WMBD's only weaknesses are not being able to retain the personalities on their secondary newscasts for very long and the occasional technical error including that annoying cutout of the digital audio.

I'm only 32 years old, but I do believe there's a lot of value in a free & local network station. Having news bureaus in every market, they can cover local events faster and in many ways internet and national cable networks can't. Also, it's free to the viewer and is about the most accessible way to obtain emergency information. With CBS & ABC considering going cable-only, there's no doubt that many local stationary re about to go dark. If this does happen, than it is my fervent hope that at least one station in each market is allowed to survive, if just for means of emergency local broadcasting. A weather radio with an alert feature is currently the best line of defense. I've had one since 1999.

Many people still can't afford Cable/Sat/Internet and I'm about fed up with the cutthroat service and deceptive marketing of DirecTV. Despite the fact that are area is really sprawling, cable still won't run a line to our away. Many people have no business paying the skyrocketing rates for cable/sat because many of them can't even afford their own house payments. In 1984, it was said that cable was to be regulated once it reached 70% of the US market, I do believe that time is now! Kudos to Nextsar for charging retransmission fees for cable companies to carry their HD signals. This alone, has somewhat leveled the playing field.

Ever since I bought into Lee's "Peoria Split" concept of systems from the west, I have been uncannily accurate at predicting the weather myself.

And Chuck has always referred to Peoria as having the urban heat dome effect. I understand why this can break storms apart, but nobody knows exactly why some cities are effected by this and others, not so much. It wasn't like this decades ago, and it may change again someday.

I agree. Being from Decatur, Hometown of WAND, I grew up with the live dopplar. During tornado warnings, a meteorologist is on screen analyzing the radar explaining the situation. Very informative and accurate. Peoria needs to fill this hole.

Yes, they installed their live Dopplar radar in 1993. During severe weather situations, they will oftentimes have not one, but 2 members of their weather team involved in the coverage. With the live Doppler radar, you can actually see tornadoes form right before your eyes! Not to knock the NWS nextrad, but they are much bigger, older, and they keep track of much more than just the weather hence it takes 7 minutes for them to make a complete scan. Than add another 2+ minutes for Accuweather, WSI, WX Central, etc to capture, compress and send the results to the stations for a total of about 10 minutes. Tornadoes will often form and dissipate in this amount of time. A true live dopplar radar will update every 30 seconds. And since it's hooked directly to the station's equipment, I believe the delivery time is almost instant? When they see a tornado, I've heard of them alerting a local NWS.

The key to an strong local presence is to have advantages that the Weather Channel, ESPN or the internet news can't provide. When you got weaker stations such as the Peoria stations, many people stop taking them seriously. Live Dopplar is what can make a station, and yes, Peoria does need to fill the void.

Even though Rockford is now Illinois's 3rd-largest city in comparison to Peoria being the 6th, they are still considered a slightly smaller TV market. We're now #116 while their #132! Yet they have 2 stations that have invested in Live Doppler radar. I've seen a market down in Florida where all of the stations pitched in and share the same one. It would be perfect if ours would do the same, but I can't see that happening. It is likely that WMBD will have to make the first move. And if for some strange reason, WEEK/WHOI beats them to the punch, I'd imagine that WMBD will fire right back with one of their own pretty quickly.

Until than, WMBD is the best weather choice we have. For one, they have to be about due for a graphics upgrade. And when they get something new, they always do it right by getting something creme de la creme that blows the competition away. Their "24/7" weather team works as advertised. This past year, they are the station that was the most consistent at providing emergency cut-ins at odd times such as overnight and weekday mornings. WHOI was second and WEEK was distant last. Their team of 3 actual meteorologists is a step above many other stations in a market this size, where they usually have just 2 and a regular weather caster for the third and/or fourth spot. And they're the only morning news team with 3 dedicated on-air personnel! BTW, Marcus Bailey is probably the area's most sports-minded meteorologist. However, it's hard to beat Sandy in the mornings. I'm just hoping that WEEK never outsources her job to Ft. Wayne.

Meteorologists have caught on big time in Springfield and the QC. Peoria is about 15 years behind. Since WMBD doesn't do, in my opinion, a sufficient job of promoting this, it's up to people like me to help educate this area. And I'll continue to drive the subject of true live Doppler in other blogs until it it reaches the right set of ears.