Rich - I've got the scoop on traffic reporting and other "breaking news" items on
broadcasting....in many cases, they're bogus.

Traffic reporting, as I've seen, experienced and even participated in, is often so
old that if you take the advice to avoid a backup, you'll often end up just adding
time and distance to your trip, since the cause of the backup and most of the backup
itself is already gone by the time you hear the report on the radio. The whole
reason why traffic reports exist on radio is to make it seem that you're getting
up-to-the-minute reports, and since the majority of the roads covered aren't used by
a specific commuter (how could it be otherwise) there's no way that individual
listeners can check on how accurate the reports really are, and when the alleged
backup on the road travlled seems to have evaporated, said listener simply thinks
they got lucky that time.

"Breaking news" is often as much as 6 hours old, with the major actor(s) already
apprehended or otherwise dealt with. And, as often as not, the newspaper story the
next day will have the actual story, whereas the field reporter, being so far from
reliable sources of information, will have gotten it wrong in the live shot,
breathlessly intro'ed by the blowdried anchor whose closest encounter with a real
news event was the time he was at the Orlando airport when a plane went down....in
Europe.

Yeah, I'm being snide. But these days, with localism all but gone in American radio,
it really is mostly smoke and mirrors. I'll admit that with the trafficams going up
in various major cities it may be easier for the information to be accurate and
timely, but without these tools, you might just as well have a field reporter (or DJ
aspirant...it seems the job of traffic reporter is often filled by failed jocks) call
in to the station while the sound effect of a helicopter plays in the background.
(And I hope I haven't revealed any trade secrets!)
--
For direct replies, take out the contents between the hyphens. -Really!-



"Rich Wood" wrote in message
...
On 1 Jan 2004 17:30:42 GMT, "Steve Stone"
wrote:

I'm sure satellite radio is great for tunes on the road but once locked into
Sirius or equiv how are you warned
that the road ahead is blocked by an overturned sewerage sludge carrier ?

Don't you have a sense of smell? I don't think there's a way to be
absolutely accurate in traffic reporting. I can't count the number of
times I've been returning to New York from a camping trip listening to
one of the all news stations and being told it's backed up for miles
as I breeze along at 65 (being passed by everyone else).

The converse has often been true. Everything is reported as clear as
we sit in bumper to bumper traffic long enough to wish we hadn't had
those last 3 cups of coffee or took the advice of that lady whose
husband is constipated.

Another traffic problem indicator is thick black smoke ahead. You can
assume you be communing with your car for an extended period. Yet
another nighttime clue is miles and miles of red lights ahead of you
that don't seem to be moving forward.

I now live in Western Massachusetts and have no hope during the day of
being told there's a flaming tanker truck heading my way. There's no
all news station and no one dares break away from Rush Limbaugh except
to run a few drug commercials.

I've found the absolute best traffic info comes from Ham Radio
operators chatting on repeaters as they watch their cars boil over.
Get a simple scanner and program the local 2 meter repeaters into it.
Most of the usual conversation is about gout and medical problems
until traffic takes over. It hasn't failed me, yet. As a Ham myself it
has the added advantage of providing me with local directions. Hams
are great people always willing to help even with something as simple
as finding the local carbohydrate palace.

Listen to channel 19 on the old CB radio ??? lol

Won't work. You'd be disrupting the search for hookers at truck stops.

Rich
KF2JO