September 23–30, 1999

on media

Snow Job

If you grew up in the Philadelphia area, chances are you have fond memories ofhuddling around a radio on snowy mornings anxious to hear your school closing number above the noise of the KYWNewsradio ticker. For about a decade, KYW has been the only outlet offering the service.

But with the recent announcement of NBC-10’s new Internet/TV school closing system, which will be up and runningthis winter, memories of the ticker may be replaced by the scratchy sound of the modem.

NBC-10 will provide school closing and delay information via its Web site and during its morning newscasts. It willuse names rather than numbers.

The numbers system was created two decades ago, when the City of Philadelphia compiled the information. Numbers werequicker to read, and less confusing.

Steve Schwaid, NBC-10’s vice president of news, insists numbers are outmoded.

By broadcasting school closings on TV, he says, viewers can watch two parts of the screen at one time. With radio,says Schwaid, "you can’t say your left ear’s going to hear school closings, and your right ear’sgoing to hear weather."

KYW’s not intimidated by the new competition.

"We have confidence in our system," says Maria Corsaro, who has coordinated KYW’s school closingsystem for the past eight years. "We’ve been doing it so long, they know where to turn."

Still, she acknowledges, "when there’s competition, you always perk up."

Starting this winter, KYW Channel 3 will run a scroll of school closings on the bottom of the TV screen. KYW willalso provide school closing information on its Web site, and has set up a 900-number — at 95 cents a call —for those who don’t have time to wait next to the radio.

About 30 years ago, the city compiled school closing information and disseminated it free to local media. Theinformation was originally announced as names, according to Corsaro, but eventually changed. After KYW took over theservice in 1989, the radio station began charging other media outlets to run the information, or free if KYW received acredit.

NBC-10 is by no means a monopoly-busting pioneer. Fox News has had a TV school closing service for two years.According to news director John Mussoni, his station currently covers about 1,000 schools; KYW has 1,300. Mussonihasn’t decided if Fox will launch its service on the Web.

"Part of it is that we would like to get viewers to watch the TV station," he says.

In the radio realm, FM radio station B101 tried to launch a system about two years ago that used numbers. The systemwas created by Democratic political consultant Larry Ceisler.

—Jen Darr