This begs a question, I was reading the comment section over on Youtube, and I was wondering, do you guys prepared if anything like this ever happen? A lot of people in the city of Rockford does not know that the station is out in the middle of the country basically and the station could be lost my a tornado or heavy winds like this that hit the station? Do you have like back up system in place to get back on the air, like broadcast from Winnebago High School or such?
Ike: We have a severe weather protocol. Should a tornado threaten the WREX-TV studios, we would keep our radar on the air and evacuate to the basement. God forbid something that bad happen here, we would probably rely heavily on our news partners: Rockford Register Star and Maverick Media. This station was built in 1953 and hasn't been hit. Let's hope we stay here for another 55 years! -ERIC
There was a tornado about 3 years ago that hit directly across the street from WKOW's studios. There is a tape floating around somewhere (I still have not seen it, as much as I'd like to) where Bob Lindmeir and crew decided it was no longer safe to stay on the air and headed to the basement of 27 Weather Central...right before the station got knocked off the air because the power got knocked out when the tornado hit.
I mean, we have a procedure up here, too. The only problem is, I don't think our tornado shelter would actually do us much good. If a tornado were coming directly towards the station, I'd rather be in Weather Central's basement than our tornado shelter.
There is another station, wither WCIA or WAND, I remember seeing video of where the meteorologist was on the air when a tornado came close enough to the studio that you could hear the winds. I sadly cannot find it on youtube.
Eric has over twelve years of experience in broadcast Meteorology and is the only local Meteorologist who was born and raised in Rockford! In June 2008 he was given the prestigious Silver Dome Award for best TV weathercast from the Illinois Broadcasters Association. He attended St. Edwards Grade School and Boylan High School here in Rockford before heading to Northern Illinois University. After receiving his Bachelor of Science Degree in Meteorology, Eric worked at KTRE-TV in Lufkin, Texas and KLTV in Tyler, Texas. His parents live in Belvidere and are loyal viewers every night. He has an older brother who lives in the Chicagoland area and a sister who watches WREX on a fuzzy tv up in East Troy, Wisconsin. He's happy to share his Rockford home with an 8 year old black lab named Theo. Around the station Theo's been nicknamed the "13 Weather Lab."
6 comments:
amazing, that shows dedication of all the hard working weather persons!
This begs a question, I was reading the comment section over on Youtube, and I was wondering, do you guys prepared if anything like this ever happen? A lot of people in the city of Rockford does not know that the station is out in the middle of the country basically and the station could be lost my a tornado or heavy winds like this that hit the station? Do you have like back up system in place to get back on the air, like broadcast from Winnebago High School or such?
This just happened on tuesday.
Ike: We have a severe weather protocol. Should a tornado threaten the WREX-TV studios, we would keep our radar on the air and evacuate to the basement. God forbid something that bad happen here, we would probably rely heavily on our news partners: Rockford Register Star and Maverick Media. This station was built in 1953 and hasn't been hit. Let's hope we stay here for another 55 years! -ERIC
Yep, this did happen on tuesday as the cold front was sweeping thru illinois.
Yikes!!
There was a tornado about 3 years ago that hit directly across the street from WKOW's studios. There is a tape floating around somewhere (I still have not seen it, as much as I'd like to) where Bob Lindmeir and crew decided it was no longer safe to stay on the air and headed to the basement of 27 Weather Central...right before the station got knocked off the air because the power got knocked out when the tornado hit.
I mean, we have a procedure up here, too. The only problem is, I don't think our tornado shelter would actually do us much good. If a tornado were coming directly towards the station, I'd rather be in Weather Central's basement than our tornado shelter.
There is another station, wither WCIA or WAND, I remember seeing video of where the meteorologist was on the air when a tornado came close enough to the studio that you could hear the winds. I sadly cannot find it on youtube.
-Adam
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