Special: Tornado Crisis And Television

We are going to step away from NASCAR for one day and return on Thursday evening with a new column. Many Americans lost their lives on Wednesday night in an amazing tornado outbreak that stretched from Texas through Virginia.

As perhaps many of you did, I turned to the cable news networks for updates. I found O'Reilly on FOX, a show about greed on CNBC, Nancy Grace on Headline News, former Gov. Spitzer on CNN and some guy who wanted the last word on MSNBC. What I did not find was coverage of this national disaster.

It was only the hardworking men and women at The Weather Channel (TWC) who were holding up their end of the bargain and offering non-stop coverage of the storms. Radar, videos and pics were great tools to help people across the Southeast stay informed.

TWC had reporters in the field doing liveshots, several roaming with the storms. The network has a severe storm expert following the live radar and offering a tremendous amount of information to viewers. Finally, TWC was completely on top of the social media side with information, pictures and videos from Twitter and Facebook.

The outrage that FOX, CNN and the NBC cable news nets appeared not to care about the weather situation is well-deserved. Between President Obama's birth certificate, the royal wedding and Donald Trump's self-promotion there was plenty of juicy content for the various primetime programs.

These types of shows are called long-form branded content. Long because they are one hour in length and branded because they have a specific person, like O'Reilly or Nancy Grace, associated with them. It wasn't always this way, but it is what the current cable TV news networks have become.

TWC's severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes was no doubt a lifesaver to many Wednesday night. The tireless meteorologist was constantly updating a myriad of radar images on the fly and continually moving people out of the way of the storm.

His intensity made it even more ironic when a spin of the dial caught the cable news talking heads ranting on subjects that made little impact but let them make noise in the ratings.

Perhaps you can share with us your actions on seeking news about these Wednesday evening storms. What network or website did you wind-up turning to for the information you wanted? How did it work and what made sense to you the most?

I think it's time for the cable news networks, especially CNN and HLN to look in the mirror and return to program line-ups based on information from the real world. It used to be that the cable news nets filled an agenda of updating the stories of the day in primetime. Now, it's all about scripted drama, overstatements and agendas.

Leave us a note on your opinion of this topic by clicking the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

ESPN Riding Out A Bumpy Week

It was back in early February when NASCAR confirmed that there would be a TV network switch for the Nationwide Series race from Richmond, VA. Normally, all the races in that series appear on ESPN2 or another of the ESPN family of TV networks.

At the time, it seemed simple enough. ESPN2 was going to be smack dab in the middle of the second round of the NFL Draft on Friday night, April 29. The company's other two networks, ESPN and ABC, were also tied-up.

All eyes immediately turned to SPEED. The network would already be on-site providing the kind of "support programming" it has offered for years. In addition, the NASCAR on FOX team would already be there for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race.

SPEED has produced the Camping World Truck Series for years. In addition, the Gatorade Duels and the All-Star race air on SPEED with a hybrid team of announcers and production staff. One Nationwide Series race certainly would not be a problem.

After NASCAR made the switch to SPEED official, things quieted down rather quickly as the season got underway. Now as the race approaches, business is picking up where the topic is ESPN and the Nationwide Series coverage.

Click here for the Bob Pockrass column from Scenedaily.com. Here is an excerpt:

"But the switch (of networks) comes across as a sign that ESPN doesn’t care about the Nationwide Series and that other sports programming comes first."

This frustration is born out of the conflicts ESPN has been involved in with the Nationwide Series and other live programming for several years now. The biggest clash has been with college football. From September to November, the Nationwide races are stuck in a little afternoon timeslot between football games.

It's very interesting to see an entire company geared-up for college football come to a screaming halt for NASCAR racing. It appears to be an inconvenience and the topic has often been raised as to why those races just don't move to SPEED.

Back in October of 2007 this situation came to a head with the stand-alone Nationwide Series race in Memphis, TN. Click here to read "ESPN Pushes NASCAR to the Back Burner." It was a classic moment in NASCAR TV history. Here is an excerpt:

"The Busch Series has sometimes hopped between three ESPN networks in one single race. In Memphis the caps were off, the heads were bowed and the invocation was underway. Then, suddenly on ESPN Classic...NASCAR was no more. College football took to the air right in the middle of the NASCAR prayer. Does it get any worse than that? In the middle of the prayer and without Marty Reid saying a word."

"NASCAR fans quickly grabbed their remotes and switched back to ESPN2 only to see live college football. Switching to ESPN it was live horse racing. Ladies and gentleman, The NASCAR Busch Series had left the building, the network and the airwaves."

"NASCAR had been told where it stood very clearly. Only a nice tackle by a young man from the Iowa Hawkeyes ended the ESPN2 game a short time later and allowed NASCAR to return to the air. But, the point had been made clear."

Just this week, the double top secret NASCAR Fan Council survey was focused on one topic. That was questions about each of the NASCAR on ESPN announcers. Fans were asked, in confidence of course, to detail the likes and dislikes about the members of the TV team that provides the coverage of these very Nationwide Series events. The survey pulled no punches.

Making hay while the sun shines is a phrase that the folks at SPEED know all too well this week. Since there is no truck series race, SPEED's focus has been on getting as much publicity as possible for the Nationwide Series telecast.

There is perhaps no better way to get tongues wagging and keyboards typing than to announce that it will be a double-barreled Waltrip attack for the Richmond coverage. Darrell and Michael will be teamed with truck series announcer Rick Allen for this special event.

Tuesday, word leaked-out that SPEED had added yet another wrinkle. The popular online RaceBuddy application will be used for the Richmond Nationwide Series race. Fans love gizmo's and this allows for four additional camera views, social media live chat and no TV commercials. It can be accessed for free and without any sign-up at NASCAR.com on Friday.

So, the ESPN Infield Pit Studio and Tech Garage are both parked this weekend. Instead, SPEED will offer over twelve live hours of programming from RIR beginning at 10:30AM ET.

Ironically, it will be the Nationwide Series cars taking to the track at that time for practice. ESPN2 will be showing Skip Bayless holding Court on First Take while ESPN will be offering yet another hour of SportsCenter.

When the dust settles after Friday night, it will be interesting to gauge the fan reaction to this SPEED telecast vs. the regular NASCAR on ESPN TV team. Maybe, the NASCAR Fan Council just wanted a jump on this topic.

We invite your views on this subject. To add your opinion, just click on the comments butto below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Tuesday TV/Media Notes

This is a little bit of a different week in NASCAR TV land, so here are the latest updates as the circus heads to suburban Richmond, VA.

Friday night ESPN2 will be covering the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft from New York City. The network will have no event production presence at RIR and SPEED will produce the Nationwide Series practice, qualifying and race.

Lead Reporter Marty Smith and reporter Shannon Spake will be in Richmond to provide news coverage for ESPN's networks. Nicole Briscoe will be hosting NASCAR Now on ESPN2 at 5PM ET Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday's show is at 10PM Pacific, 1AM Eastern Friday morning. The one-hour Sprint Cup Series preview show will be at noon ET on Saturday.

Rick Allen, SPEED's play-by-play announcer from the truck series, got the call to work the Nationwide race on Friday night. That was the good news. The other shoe dropped when SPEED announced that it would be Michael and Darrell Waltrip joining Allen in the TV booth. Allen may have his work cut out for him keeping the telecast on track with all that Waltrip family enthusiasm in the booth.

SPEED tapped Krista Voda, Hermie Sadler and Ray Dunlap to cover pit road and handle the reporting duties for qualifying and practice. SPEED's solid coverage of the truck series should serve as a great foundation for this weekend's Nationwide production.

Before the SPEED folks head to Richmond, there is a full week of Race Hub shows at 7PM ET. Tuesday features Nationwide hot shoe Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as the in-studio guest, but Wednesday packs a surprise. Kyle Busch is stopping by the studio to chat with host Steve Byrnes. Certainly, SPEED would like nothing more than to get Busch comfortable with the concept of "just dropping by."

Thursday night at 8PM ET SPEED is going to cover Denny Hamlin's late model showdown from RIR live. A diverse group of drivers is going to participate in this charity event. Formerly held at Southside Speedway, the closing of that track this season put RIR in play and SPEED just happened to be there with all the TV equipment.

Mike Joy is going to host the telecast with Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader in the TV booth. Both of the Kenny's have a long history of late model racing and should make it fun. Bob Dillner and Dick Berggren will handle the reporting duties.

On Friday from Richmond SPEED will produce two new Trackside shows. Matt Kenseth will be the guest for the live show at 7PM ET before the Nationwide Series race. At 10:30PM, David Gilliland will be the featured interview in another thirty minute show. Regardless of Darrell Waltrip's desire to be featured on endless SPEED TV shows this season, Trackside is just not the same without Larry McReynolds.

SPEED continues to record the Victory Lane show after the Sprint Cup Series races that happen on Saturday nights and hold it for airing on Sundays at 8PM ET. This is the schedule for this weekend. Even if the race ends at midnight ET, there are certainly fans who would like to see an hour of interviews, comments and highlights. Especially the ones in the Central and Pacific time zones.

Click here for a peek at the new Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame website. It's a nice group of TV veterans from different sides of the business. In addition to having voting representatives, NASCAR also has the likes of the late Jim McKay, Keith Jackson and George Wensel who directly affected the early TV days of the sport.

We invite your comments on these topics. To add your opinion, just click the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.