Meteorologists Face Social Media Storm For Trying To Balance Tornado Warnings, Final Four
Folks in the Memphis area were losing their minds on Saturday night as a local news station was caught in a rough spot, as Tornado warnings forced them to go on the air while the Final Four matchup between Auburn and Florida was ongoing.
WREG, a news station out of Memphis had to make some changes in how the Final Four was being broadcast on their network, while there was some wicked weather in the area. Meteorologist Tyler Eliasen and his broadcast partner were on the air during the highly-competitive Auburn versus Florida matchup, hoping to relay the news to viewers who were watching within their television radius.
This obviously did not sit well with the folks at home that were not in the tornado warning area, as the broadcast crew had the game muted, while they discussed the ongoing weather events in the vicinity. Now, there were folks complaining that the ongoing tornado events were occurring outside their coverage area, which is hard to manage, especially if you have a broad spectrum of viewers.
Clearly, the television station knew that there were folks hoping to hear the actual broadcast of the game, and not their voices. But, trying to come up with the best way to relay the news, while allowing viewers to watch the game, they had to come up with a solution.
"I know you can't hear it, we're giving you everything you can possibly have," Tyler Eliasen noted. "This is a life-threatining situation for our viewers in Tippa County, This is very reminiscent of what we have on Wednesday night, in terms of seriousness of situation…We're not on the air for Union County, it's not our county.
"But, because due to downstreaming the tornado warning to include southeastern Tippa County, that is our viewing area… So that is why we are on the air right now."
And, Tyler was clearly trying to explain the situation to Final Four viewers.
You can watch the meteorologists try to explain the situation below.
Memphis Area Viewers Were Losing Their Minds During Final Four
So, as the warnings started to spread out into areas outside their coverage zone, the crew worked on the fly to come up with a way for viewers at home to still keep up to date with the weather, while listening to the broadcast of Auburn and Florida.
Folks on social media were going insane over the whole ordeal, which sports usually drives us to do. The reactions were pouring in.
I'd say Chris Vernon was a tad upset. But, if other stations in the area were showing the ongoing weather coverage, I don't know if that's a good enough excuse to not keep viewers informed. But, that's just my opinion.
Trust me, as someone who grew up in Hurricane country, there have been times during sporting events that I've wanted to throw my remote control at the television because they were interrupting my viewing. But, it sounds like this competing meteorologist came with some facts, as it pertains to how they decide to cut-in on broadcasts, not matter what is ongoing.
As Geof Calkins posted on social media, WREG meteorologist did not hold back regarding the backlash.
"I don't want to hear one more comment on why we're covering up the volume of the game," the meteorologist reportedly said. "You can see the game. You're going to have to deal with my voice and then just deal with it again because we lost several people. Several people died on Wednesday night and potentially this is saving someone's life in Dumas right now.
"This is still not in that path, not there yet, I should say, but it is a significant tornado, a confirmed tornado and its was very violent going into New Albany, Mississippi. So we're going to track this. It is what it is. Send me some emails later and we can chat more but this is what is right now. Deal with it."
Obviously, this meteorologist was not in the mood to deal with folks complaining about what kind of coverage they were producing on Saturday night in the Memphis area.
As for our Memphis readers, don't worry, you didn’t miss much since Gus Johnson wasn't on the call.