KTRH Scolded By Former Listener

[Drucifer]

"We're gonna go .... and take over those rock and rollers if things get much worse" is the phrase I heard during hurricane Alicia coverage. A few years later, I flip over from KLOL to find out what exploded to the East of me and quickly decided not to take 225 in to work. Syndicated political interest programs provide nothing for the community. After a disaster is long over and the threat has passed, we can watch the video on TV which negates the whole intent and purpose of radio.

Excellent points. If I want syndicated crap, I can download it on my ipod.

[notmenoti]

"We're gonna go .... and take over those rock and rollers if things get much worse" is the phrase I heard during hurricane Alicia coverage. A few years later, I flip over from KLOL to find out what exploded to the East of me and quickly decided not to take 225 in to work. Syndicated political interest programs provide nothing for the community. After a disaster is long over and the threat has passed, we can watch the video on TV which negates the whole intent and purpose of radio.

Excellent points. If I want syndicated crap, I can download it on my ipod.

Agreed.  I also agree with the former listener's scolding of KTRH.  I used to enjoy that station, but will now only listen to them during an emergency, as long as they are the official emergency station for the greater Houston area.  I'd love an all-news station.  I can live without rant radio, which is what KTRH has become.

[stan]

It's doubtful that you'll get any news from KTRH in an emergency because they'll be too busy yukking it up with their wingnut hosts.

[aunti-terrestrial]

Sort of like that big five-alarm fire. Even giving money hand-over-fist in the form of advertising doesn't guarantee that your fire will be deemed important enough to break in to syndication.

Remember Ike? Sure you do. By the time we got back on the power grid to see the storm footage, the rest of the country had been over it for almost two weeks. KTRH coverage of that was pretty good, but who's left to do it, if/when we get hit again?

[mrbeasley]

During Rita and Ike, I believe we actually got better information from the local TV news operations.  As I remember KTRH's coverage, leading up to landfall, it largely consisted of telephone interviews with area emergency managers and city officials telling people to get out of town but, they couldn't tell them how.  During the lead-up to Rita, this created the runaway scrape that clogged Texas highways for hundreds of miles in every direction.  Most didn't buy into that panic during Ike.  Sadly, some should have paid better attention, though.   

Then you had the occassional weather person calling in to tell us a hurricane was coming.  Really? 

Once the storms were actually on the doorstep and gone; TV was the best bet for up-to-date information.

[aunti-terrestrial]

Sure, assuming there was power. We were out for about 18 days. I haven't seen a battery-operated television in years. Our cell phone batteries died and stayed dead for several days. We were conserving our gasoline (not that the streets were clear enough to drive anywhere) and the first television coverage we saw happened about 16 days after Ike hit. Radio really was the only viable source of information during that time. Your mileage, of course, may have varied.

[johndavis]

Sure, assuming there was power. We were out for about 18 days. I haven't seen a battery-operated television in years. Our cell phone batteries died and stayed dead for several days. We were conserving our gasoline (not that the streets were clear enough to drive anywhere) and the first television coverage we saw happened about 16 days after Ike hit. Radio really was the only viable source of information during that time. Your mileage, of course, may have varied.

KTRH absolutely infuriated me when they had JD interview Michael Chertoff in the days after Ike, pitching softball question after softball question to rewrite history about FEMA's botched response to Katrina. Fox News would have been proud. I have refused to listen to them since.

I now have a battery powered digital TV and some alternate power sources. Between that and other radio stations who don't have a partisan identity, I expect to be well informed without KTRH.

Give me the freaking news. Don't tell me what to think about it. I can think for myself.