For this assignment, I looked at the flooding and tornadoes in Texas. The radio station that I looked at was the Texas local radio station KLBJ (99.7FM) and for the video, I looked at CBS News. The news for both of the stations were the same. They both said similar things for the basic facts. However, there were differences in how the news was presented for each station.
One thing that was different was that CBS was showing weather updates on radar and showing video footage from a survivor that had survived getting his car swept away by the flooded river by climbing a tree and staying there for 5 hours. I feel that this enhanced the news a little bit from what I heard on the radio. They could describe what was going on on the radio, but seeing the maps and the footage of the flooding really made it more real for me. Interviews were also enhanced because I got to see the interviewees’ faces as they were being interviewed. Hearing the interviewees speak on camera was not enough to get a feel for what they were feeling. It was better to see the emotions on their faces.
Another thing that was different between the local radio station and CBS was the focus. CBS had some coverage of the floods, but they were not the focus of the website. Since KLBJ is a local radio station in Texas, it was reversed. Most of the focus of the broadcasts were on the flooding and how the survivors can use FEMA for compensation for damages or how they can sign up to help each other. There was a little bit of national news as well. There was a downside, though. KLBJ was a news station, but it shared airtime with some other radio shows such as Coast to Coast AM, a paranormal news/ talk radio show. The shows were interrupted sometimes to talk about news, which included the floods.
I picked CBS and KLBJ because I wanted to see not just what the differences would be from radio and TV coverage, but what the differences would be between a local news station in the state being affected and a national news organization. Since I have only ever heard news on the radio from WTOP news, I was curious to see another local news station and how they handled the news. One difference that I noticed were the radio shows that happened along with the news broadcasts. I did not think that the news station and the shows would share the same radio station. I was surprised that Coast to Coast AM was being broadcast at KLBJ. I am familiar with that radio show, but I did not realize that it was filmed in Texas.
Overall, I liked TV better, because I liked how the visual information enhanced what I was listening to. Radio was good for listening while doing something else, but the visual component was what gave the most important information.
alysonkay 