I get so much from reading Seth Godin’s blog and running it through a weather lens. Today’s post struck a nerve. Severe weather coverage on TV, for all the good it has done, might have been a mistake. The foundational sin was that TV requires no dead air. That created the need for continuous comment…which wasn’t necessary. The side effects included saying things that probably didn’t need to be said (in order to fill the spaces). And making people mad by interrupting their programs. We’ve all heard, “Get off the TV, that storm is on the other side of the county! You just like to hear yourself ..read more

Wondering if we’ve taught people to forget? Feels like I’ve been repeating myself more lately. Someone will ask me a question about the forecast that was just answered. Could be me I supposed. Yesterday we voted early, and very early in the day. The poll worker asked how long the rain would last. I paused for a moment. Certainly he would have checked the forecast before he started his day? He might have just been making conversation. Back in the day you had to remember the forecast that you heard. The news wasn’t on at 2:00pm, and the daily newspaper had long since ended up on the bottom of t ..read more

In our previous post we talked about some of the weather features in the iOS 14 preview from Apple. The new operating system dropped this week along with a new Apple Watch and Tim Cook went from a shot across our bow to a direct hit. Less than three minutes into this week’s event video, and the first of several use cases for the Apple Watch, Tim said, “Before I go out in the morning I check the weather.” We know of course that the native weather app on the iPhone can’t do nearly what we can do to provide weather information. Of course…..they did recently buy Dark Sky. Hmmm… During the 10 year ..read more

We’ve talked before about push vs. pull. In short, when everyone can push things at you, everyone does. Too much noise. Your messages gets lost, tuned out, or worse, turned off. Messages that are pulled are more valuable because the user asked for it. At WWDC 2020 this week Apple gave us a leg up on figuring out the space in between push and pull. Widgets on the home screen are coming to iOS 14. Watch the Keynote here. In the attention economy the way to, well…..attention, is through habit. Back in the dark ages when I was on the radio there was a saying, “As goes the morning, so goes the day ..read more

Straight-line winds and a tornado blew through Bowie, TX the other day. Always try and visit the site of storm damage. It’s not the same as seeing it on TV. The perspective is different…and much more powerful. Talk to the people. Mr. Verner, who lives right across the street from that power pole, was mad at the sirens. Said they were too loud, he wanted to “hear the weather.” The perspective is different…and much more powerful. You’ll hear what people did during the storm. Ask what triggered them to take action. Ms. Tipton will tell you she was watching you on TV. That is pretty powerful. A ..read more

Clayton Christensen wrote, The Innovator’s Dilemma, in 1997. The basic premise is that large established organizations have trouble dealing with disruptive change. It doesn’t mention weather or broadcasting at all but when I read it, as we began the transition to digital, I kept wondering, “Where was this guy hiding, and spying on us, while writing this book?” Christensen died last week. You can read a really good profile of the man and his theories here. There have been a few benchmarks for me in weather communication. Most of them centered around putting yourself in the end users position ..read more

Drove from Wichita Falls to Fort Worth this morning to pick up some new suits. On the way down I asked Siri the temperature a couple times and she dutifully replied, and of course figured out where I was and looked for the closest temperature to my location. I ask Siri for the temperature pretty often. I always get a reply in the same general format…just the facts. On the way home, just passed Decatur, TX, about an hour from Wichita Falls, I asked the temperature again. Me: What is the current temperature in Wichita Falls, Texas? Siri: The current temperature is about 98 degrees. (slight pau ..read more