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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,678,989 times
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There is no scrolling tape. Crawls are accomplished with an electronic character generator. This alerts the deaf as well as ordinary viewers who are not disabled. Many local stations have audio sub channels which are used by the blind & that is where their alert would be.
The FCC requires that a station serve the community. That means the whole market. How this is accomplished varies with the size of the market. The larger the market, the more money the stations get for commercials which determines what equipment is affordable to them to do the alerts.
I've seen local programming interrupted to cover storms travelling through Rutherford County to northern Cleveland, having an effect on Burke, Lincoln, Catawba & Iredell counties. Even if there is no effect on Charlotte, (or most of the viewing public) it is still serving the viewing area. If they do not do that, people in those areas are free to write complaints to the FCC & to write complaints to the station. The station is required by law to keep a file of complaints which is reviewed when their license is up for renewal. Companies have lost licenses for failure to serve the community.
The master control operator is required by law to log all changes of what actually airs & to sign off each page of the log. The minute that a page is done & signed it becomes a legal document & must be kept for 5 years. I have participated in local storm coverage that went all day & even into prime time with only an occasional break of 30 minutes to an hour of scheduled programming to give crews a break, when the situation allowed.
If something of extreme urgency happens during a sporting event, if there is a studio crew available, a crawl &/or an inserted box will be used.
There is no scrolling tape. Crawls are accomplished with an electronic character generator. This alerts the deaf as well as ordinary viewers who are not disabled. Many local stations have audio sub channels which are used by the blind & that is where their alert would be.
Of course we were using the term "tape" metaphorically. I'm not aware that any of the stations have blind alerts on sub-channels. Do you know anything specifically having to with Charlotte's stations?
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,678,989 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by frewroad
Of course we were using the term "tape" metaphorically. I'm not aware that any of the stations have blind alerts on sub-channels. Do you know anything specifically having to with Charlotte's stations?
I worked for PBS out of the Baltimore market (national coverage) & locally out of the Philadelphia market. FCC laws are national, not localized & I did not say that the Charlotte stations have the audio subchannels (not something that most people would be aware of, even if they did.)
The OP & questions by others were questions that are best answered by awareness of FCC laws that are national. It wouldn't matter is I worked in Biloxi or NYC. I explained how it works & why stations might pre-empt programming that does not have any effect on the majority of the viewing area. What's your problem with that?
Metaphoric or not, these posts are archived & to leave an inaccuracy uncorrected is not something that should be done, but I did not address you directly. I would expectant you to correct an inaccuracy in your former field. (not something that you had a peripheral dealing with, but your specific field. . .) I dealt with this topic for a living & was paid to know the laws & how things work & why.
Stations are obliged to cover weather emergencies, whether it's a problem in your neighborhood or not, if they have the personnel on their staff to do it.
OK, my commentary about interruptions had to do with the specifics of the local Charlotte stations. If you know of any actual requirements, beyond that of the emergency broadcast system mentioned above, then like I said above, I'd be interested in seeing the requirement. IMO, everything else being discussed here, aside from the EBS is at the option of the station. This is why they are fine with no news when sports is on.
I pulled a copy of the datastream from one of the local station's news that my DVR picked up this morning and analyzed it on a PC. Beyond the video, there was a English audio sub track, Spanish sub track, and a single CC text stream. No sub-channel alerting or anything that you previously suggested that might be useful for the blind in case they decided to display a tape across the bottom.
I don't pay much mind to personal accolades. Either an argument stands or it doesn't. I offered up an opinion of what the stations might or might do during sports programming and you felt that it was your place to correct what I had to say. This is fine, I'm willing to be educated, but lets stick to the specifics of Charlotte and not generalities.
OK, my commentary about interruptions had to do with the specifics of the local Charlotte stations. If you know of any actual requirements, beyond that of the emergency broadcast system mentioned above, then like I said above, I'd be interested in seeing the requirement. IMO, everything else being discussed here, aside from the EBS is at the option of the station. This is why they are fine with no news when sports is on.
I pulled a copy of the datastream from one of the local station's news that my DVR picked up this morning and analyzed it on a PC. Beyond the video, there was a English audio sub track, Spanish sub track, and a single CC text stream. No sub-channel alerting or anything that you previously suggested that might be useful for the blind in case they decided to display a tape across the bottom.
I don't pay much mind to personal accolades. Either an argument stands or it doesn't. I offered up an opinion of what the stations might or might do during sports programming and you felt that it was your place to correct what I had to say. This is fine, I'm willing to be educated, but lets stick to the specifics of Charlotte and not generalities.
Well I think it's a state wide thing though stations apparently have some discretion. It appears to me that for the deaf they can see the crawler. For the blind there doesn't appear to be anything for them in NC. It would appear that the radio is for blind people and I'm sure EAS (no longer EBS) radios are used so they don't have to constantly have commercial radio on.
This appears to be the controlling document for the state and is on file with the FCC:
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,678,989 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by frewroad
OK, my commentary about interruptions had to do with the specifics of the local Charlotte stations. If you know of any actual requirements, beyond that of the emergency broadcast system mentioned above, then like I said above, I'd be interested in seeing the requirement. IMO, everything else being discussed here, aside from the EBS is at the option of the station. This is why they are fine with no news when sports is on.
I pulled a copy of the datastream from one of the local station's news that my DVR picked up this morning and analyzed it on a PC. Beyond the video, there was a English audio sub track, Spanish sub track, and a single CC text stream. No sub-channel alerting or anything that you previously suggested that might be useful for the blind in case they decided to display a tape across the bottom.
I don't pay much mind to personal accolades. Either an argument stands or it doesn't. I offered up an opinion of what the stations might or might do during sports programming and you felt that it was your place to correct what I had to say. This is fine, I'm willing to be educated, but lets stick to the specifics of Charlotte and not generalities.
The topic is weather pre-emptions, not whether stations interrupt sports to run a newscast. Find a station that does that. That is network programming that is bringing them higher than normal ratings, & therefore more money for commercial spots than normal. Anyone that did that would be fired on the spot.
I simply tried to answer questions based on knowledge & experience. You challenged my background so I gave it without detail. That's hardly a search for accolades. I've answered the questions & your challenge & don't intend to post on this again unless someone else has a question. If you pursue this further I will consider it to be harassment.
The topic is weather pre-emptions, not whether stations interrupt sports to run a newscast. Find a station that does that. That is network programming that is bringing them higher than normal ratings, & therefore more money for commercial spots than normal. Anyone that did that would be fired on the spot....
So do you have anything to say about the specific policies and practices of the Charlotte TV stations and how it relates to the severe weather in Charlotte? These are the only questions I have. I promise you that I absolutely don't care about your personal details and I had no desire to imply anything about it.
If you don't wish to discuss the specific policies and details of the Charlotte stations, then there really isn't any reason for us to continue this discussion. I'll go to one of the general forums if I need to know something about the FCC.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,678,989 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by frewroad
So do you have anything to say about the specific policies and practices of the Charlotte TV stations and how it relates to the severe weather in Charlotte? These are the only questions I have. I promise you that I absolutely don't care about your personal details and I had no desire to imply anything about it.
If you don't wish to discuss the specific policies and details of the Charlotte stations, then there really isn't any reason for us to continue this discussion. I'll go to one of the general forums if I need to know something about the FCC.
The Charlotte stations handle local weather situations the same way as the Philly stations, It's an upcoming market & the stations here have personnel ties to Philadelphia.
The Charlotte stations handle local weather situations the same way as the Philly stations, It's an upcoming market & the stations here have personnel ties to Philadelphia.
What does this mean?
The 4 Charlotte stations that produce local news are own by COX, Raycom, Belo and Bahakel. According to Wiki, none of them own any TV stations in the Philly area. Cox, Raycom & Belo, (WSOC, WBTV, and WCNC respectively) are holding companies and own a lot of stations. Bahakel, (WCCB - FoxCharlotte) is locally owned and only have a few other Southern stations. I assume the news directors report up the management chain to their respective corporate parents. So I don't see a Philly connection.
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