[BC] Traffic reports

[Mark W. Croom]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Fybush" <scott at fybush.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 4:27 PM
Subject: RE: [BC] Traffic reports


>> When I first go to Las Vegas, I'd hear traffic reports talking about
>> the Rainbow Curve and the Spaghetti Bowl, with no idea where they were or
>> what road they were on.  Now it's second nature, but for the newcomers 
>> and
>> visitors it is a real disservice.
>
> Chicago is notoriously bad for this, and the rapid-fire delivery of the
> traffic reports there doesn't help any. What's more, the Chicago traffic
> reports are all delivered with driving times, which is great if you know
> what you're doing - but otherwise "52 from O'Hare to the junction"
> probably won't mean much.
>
> I admit to being guilty of occasionally referencing the "Can of Worms"
> when doing traffic here in Rochester. That's the long-gone name of the
> nasty old interchange at I-490 and 590 on the east side of the city, and
> even though the interchange itself was rebuilt many years ago, the locals
> still use the name.
>

I agree about Chicago--the reports are as good as useless to me as an 
outsider. Maybe because I am a little more familiar with the Twin Cities 
(though I've never lived there), I can follow those a bit better when I'm 
listening to 'CCO in the morning. I also count my blessings daily as I 
cruise my 12 miles to work with only two stop signs at the beginning and one 
traffic light and one stop sign at the other end. We joke around here that 
if you can count a half-dozen cars visible at the same time on the highway, 
that it's heavy traffic. In town, a dozen going the same direction is almost 
a traffic jam.

Reminds me of the cartoon that was circulating a while back with the 
small-market radio guy doing traffic by reporting (after watching the 
intersection with his binocs) that the light was going green...

Can't help wondering whether there's not some method to the madness in using 
all that local "slang" in traffic reporting--stations don't really have much 
motivation to care about people who are just passing through. Diaries are 
filled out by locals. The vast majority of any major market station's 
listenership is locals (maybe not Las Vegas, but even that would be 
questionable in my mind). To locals, the station wants to sound like they 
live in the market. So using those localisms makes the station sound hip and 
now, with it and wow, to the people whose diary entries make the most 
difference. Locals. Though I've never heard a consultant specifically 
advocate this, somehow it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they aren't 
telling those traffic guys to be as "local" as they can and not worry about 
those who aren't "in the know".

Mark
on the I-90 corridor in Southern MN