As a way for stations try to distinguish themselves from each other and establish their local brands, the concept of traffic reports on television is a relatively recent phenomenon.
After all, if you're driving, how could something on TV possibly help you? It's like the idea of having braille readers on drive-thru ATMs. Doesn't make any sense, but don't tell that to local TV station, which keeping putting resources into traffic coverage.
On Nov. 2, Fox41 will debut a new traffic coverage system. It is partnering with a national company to present viewers with what it says is the latest, greatest traffic reporting system in the industry.
According to a news release, the Beat the Traffic system is first in the market with "real-time, data-driven traffic reports each week day morning."
The system is used by KIRO-TV in Seattle. The cool thing about the system seems to be the ability to view real-time traffic from multiple locations in the city. You just click on those little cameras on the map, and up pops a live picture. And it provides driving time estimates for common routes.
So if you're one of those people who really scouts out traffic patterns on the Internet before you leave home, this is for you!
The move could be a big ratings winner for the station, the only one in the market with local news from 7-9 a.m. (other local stations go to national programming at 7). That is, if traffic is that important to television viewers.
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Gumbo in progress
As a way for stations try to distinguish themselves from each other and establish their local brands, the concept of traffic reports on television is a relatively recent phenomenon.
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