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WTMJ 4.2 switches to AccuWeather

Started by mrschimpf, Tuesday Dec 22, 2009, 01:59:36 AM

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mrschimpf

It took WTMJ long enough (a year after) and after the old WeatherPlus subchannel now known as Storm Team 4 TV had become a joke without any programming besides the recorded forecast and uninformative conditions loop which is the only thing the local systems could ever provide, but 4.2 has switched from that zombie system to Local AccuWeather, which is also seen on subchannels for WLS in Chicago and WMTV in Madison.

Apparently it's still in testing; the AccuWeather system around the video rebooted back to an XP desktop a couple times. But it's certainly alot better than the old system and loop of the same six background songs you had to listen to every time you watched 4.2.

Now if they can only knock off this whole Time Warner exclusivity nonsense and get it onto Charter. I still prefer the locally-run weather subchannel from WBAY in Green Bay which is incredibly in-depth on anything you could ever ask for, but it's good that WTMJ finally has national weather programming again.

beeper

One thing is the same, it isn't accurate.

The "look ahead" daily high/low temperatures are shown on the wrong days, same as before. They are advanced one day.

For instance today's Ch 4 Milwaukee extended forecast is for a high of 38 Friday and 28 on Saturday.

The not so AccuWeather for Milwaukee, shows a high of 22 for Friday (Xmas) and 36 for Saturday, along with highs of as much as 41 for Waukesha on Saturday when it is forecast to be quite a bit colder.

A setback compared to the previous format is, they show the daily (by hour) temps at the same time as the "look ahead" for each city. If you have a TV with picture freeze, that can be used to allow enough time to study both. Otherwise, not enough time is allowed to absorb both items. The previous format had those items separated, allowing enough time.

Bebop

Those national weather services are never as accurate as the locals. I don't know why they didn't just pay local TV stations for their more accurate information?

I actually like the old format better. Is it just me or there are more ads?

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beeper

The actual extended forecast hi/lows are as accurate, but they are placed on the wrong days.
One day ahead of where they should be, or what Ch 4 (and others) show.

LoadStar

I don't get why NBC Universal doesn't provide NBC affiliates a version of The Weather Channel's "WeatherScan" service. It is pretty much the same thing as Weather Plus was, just using a specialized version of The Weather Channel's WeatherStar boxes.

Granted, WeatherScan is normally a cable-company hosted service, but I don't see why they couldn't offer it to affiliates on cable companies that don't currently host WeatherScan.

(Frankly, I'd be pushing The Weather Channel brand into as many places as possible. For example, "We turn now to John Malan in the TMJ4 Weather Channel Center..." And radio: "This is John Malan, with your TMJ4 forecast powered by The Weather Channel..." or something like that.)