Strongly Worded Letter #11

Mr. Rod Arquette
Program Director
KIRO Radio
1820 Eastlake Avenue East
Seattle, Wa

Dear Mr. Arquette,

     Please accept my suggestion in the spirit in which it is offered - a sincere effort to improve your on-air broadcast product.
     Many of your news anchors seem to misuse some common terms to describe the weather. Just this morning I heard someone in your newsroom glumly describing the  "partly cloudy" morning but perk up at the forecast that later today would improve to "partly sunny."
     Is he not hearing what he is saying? If it is only "partly cloudy" in the morning then it is actually mostly sunny. And his excitement over the "partly sunny" weather coming later should be tempered by an understanding that he means it will be mostly cloudy.    
     This bad media habit of sometimes saying the opposite of what is meant reminds me of the exasperating expression used to describe two airplanes that fly too closely to each other. The reporter often refers to this near hit as a "near miss."
     Old business: I wrote to your predecessor last year requesting that your news anchors stop referring to "warmer" and "colder" temperatures as well. Since a temperature is a number used to describe the weather, it can only be higher or lower. Weather can certainly be warmer or colder though and that certainly makes more sense. I'm revisiting the point in this letter because the error still occurs on 710 KIRO several times a day.
     Thank you for your time in reading this note and my best wishes to you and your staff,

Comments

[Tracy]

A fine letter but nothing "strongly worded" in it.

I definitely agree with "near miss". At work, we call safety incidents 'near miss' incidents , when in fact they are actually near hit. But what can we do. C'est la vie.

[Vic Rattler]

"The reporter often refers to this near hit as a "near miss." "

Just because George Carlin is dead doesn't mean you can start blatantly ripping him off. Plagiarism isn't cool Bean.

Please accept my criticism in the spirit in which it is offered - a sincere effort to improve your internet product.

[Lucky13]

Bean and anonymous, regarding "near miss". Maybe the saying is referring to two objects that "miss" each other and were very "near" each other when it happened. You both are reading it as near meaning "almost", but it could just mean the distance. I could see the saying being worded your way as "almost hit", but not in "close hit" as in "close miss".

[Ricardo Barba]

Hey Bean, XXXX YOU!

[stacey]

Oh my god, Uptight Bitch has taken over this blog and is now writing weakly worded letters to Seattle radio stations about over-used cliches! Apparently human names for pets weren't enough to fan the flames...

[brotherjohn]

I wish the talking heads would stop trying to equate the weather with emotions. Don't tell me its miserable outside because its raining, too cold, too hot, too foggy or too sunny. To a man on the way to the executioner or wedding chapel, sunshine does not translate into a beautiful day.
I'm with Sgt. Friday. I just want the facts. Give me temperature in numbers, precipitation in percentages. Don't hype the chance snow even though it helps ratings. Make up the difference by improving your content instead.

[EditThis]

This is exactly why I heart you, Bean.

[Johnny Socko]

You were way too easy on them. It can NEVER be "partly sunny", because the sun is always there; it just happens to be obscured by clouds occasionally. If it were ever truly "partly sunny", then we would have much bigger problems in our solar system than just the weather in your neck of the woods.

To Vic Rattler: Now that I think about it, BOTH of these topics were material for George Carlin!

[Anna]

Are you serious? Your time would be better spent doing something else. Go play with your belly button.

[Matt]

I listen to a morning broadcast in Los Angeles every morning and several of the personalities on that show have always said if you don't like or agree with what you hear you can always change the station.

[I AM WEATHER GUY ON TV]

We're not making this up as we go along...

In the world of weather, we break down sky coverage as Sunny, Mostly Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Partly Sunny, Mostly Cloudy, and Overcast. The approximate amount of sky coverage for each of these descriptors would be:

0/10 clear / sunny
1/10 fair (often saved for high wispy cirrus)
2/10 to 3/10 mostly sunny
4/10 to 6/10 partly cloudy
7/10 to 8/10 mostly cloudy
9/10 broken
10/10 cloudy / overcast

I'm in the boat with Lucky 13. I think one could have a near miss quite easily. On the way to work today, I missed several cars, hit no cars. None of my misses were near misses in the sense that no one encroached in the area surrounding my car.