Do You Remember...Old Severe Weather Announcement

[CydeOut]

My family and I are sitting around talking about severe weather we have been through as my kids get really nervous when they hear the NWS break in over the radio or the alert goes off on our phones.

This led to me remembering how freaked out I would get in the late 80s - early 90s when the local tv stations would break into live programming with the SCARIEST, MOST ANXIETY INDUCING music to alert viewers to severe weather.

Did anybody else have this experience? Does anybody have any clips or examples of these that I can show my kids?

Excuse me while I go take my next dose of anxiety meds in anticipation.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

My family and I are sitting around talking about severe weather we have been through as my kids get really nervous when they hear the NWS break in over the radio or the alert goes off on our phones.

This led to me remembering how freaked out I would get in the late 80s - early 90s when the local tv stations would break into live programming with the SCARIEST, MOST ANXIETY INDUCING music to alert viewers to severe weather.

Did anybody else have this experience? Does anybody have any clips or examples of these that I can show my kids?

Excuse me while I go take my next dose of anxiety meds in anticipation.

It is probably different for almost every location. But like you when I was very young, it did get your attention. Grew up in country and what would scare me the most was when the lightning became continuous during a storm in the middle of the night, mom and dad would wake us all up to gather around the television on channel 3 and see if it would turn white...which meant tornado close by. Back then stations would sign off at midnight so it was nothing but static. Every lightning stroke made it go white temporarily. It was the bright white we were waiting for. Scary stuff when you are young.

 

[jdcyclone19]

Similar but kind off topic. I think the new rule of sirens going off at 70mph is making people complacent and confused of why the outdoor sirens are going off. I get the reason why but pretty soon, people won’t be taking those sirens seriously because it’s “probably just high winds”. Those sirens use to scare the **** out of me.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

The old severe weather announcement music on KCCI when Connie McBurney was there always freaked me out. I've searched the internets quite a bit trying to get that sounder back just to hear it again.

 

[Gunnerclone]

That EBS warning on the radio is creepy. They need to change that to a more iPhone-like tone.

 

[AuH2O]

Totally remember this. I think it was WHO that had a severe weather alert that was creeped me out. I always got excited by severe weather, so it was a combo of fear and excitement.

 

[Gonzo]

My family and I are sitting around talking about severe weather we have been through as my kids get really nervous when they hear the NWS break in over the radio or the alert goes off on our phones.

This led to me remembering how freaked out I would get in the late 80s - early 90s when the local tv stations would break into live programming with the SCARIEST, MOST ANXIETY INDUCING music to alert viewers to severe weather.

Did anybody else have this experience? Does anybody have any clips or examples of these that I can show my kids?

Excuse me while I go take my next dose of anxiety meds in anticipation.

Yes, but my eyes immediately went to the rolling words at the bottom of the screen to see which counties were under tornado warning. If I saw "Linn" I'd sh!t my pants.

 

[Acylum]

I’m old enough to remember the Morse code thing that Conrad Johnson came up with to break into programming with. Followed by “This is Conrad Johnson of WMT.....”. He was always strangely calm, but when you heard the beep-beep-beep-beep........beep-beep-beep you knew **** was about to get real.

 

[CySmurf]

Conrad Johnson's radar was black and white and looked more like an air traffic control signal. As it spun around you'd see the big blotch of white, which to me as a kid, meant TORNADO. And WMT radio will still play that damn beep beep beep...beepidy beep during severe weather to this day.

 

[harimad]

If they want everyone to shelter in place, they need to replace all the tornado sirens with this. I guarantee the streets will be clear after one blast.

 

[SCyclone]

Now that our warning sirens are sounded during any bad weather in the county (no matter where), I'd guess 95% of townspeople simply pay it no mind. Which is not exactly optimal.

 

[Turn2]

I can also remember when weather reports used to show maps and movement of fronts and actual weather data. Now they've just dumbed it down to cartoonish animations of snow or rain dumps. Might as well add the JAWS theme.

 

[Rural]

I’m old enough to remember the Morse code thing that Conrad Johnson came up with to break into programming with. Followed by “This is Conrad Johnson of WMT.....”. He was always strangely calm, but when you heard the beep-beep-beep-beep........beep-beep-beep you knew **** was about to get real.

Always cutting in on Tait Cummiins time.

 

[JMA1125]

I’m old enough to remember the Morse code thing that Conrad Johnson came up with to break into programming with. Followed by “This is Conrad Johnson of WMT.....”. He was always strangely calm, but when you heard the beep-beep-beep-beep........beep-beep-beep you knew **** was about to get real.

I’d forgotten about those beeps. Thanks for the memory!

 

[madguy30]

Similar but kind off topic. I think the new rule of sirens going off at 70mph is making people complacent and confused of why the outdoor sirens are going off. I get the reason why but pretty soon, people won’t be taking those sirens seriously because it’s “probably just high winds”. Those sirens use to scare the **** out of me.

Likely some truth to this. When was the last time someone heard a car alarm go off, and responded differently than hoping someone shuts it off?

 

[wxman1]

I tried finding it last night but KCRGs "beeping" tone thing was terrifying. Damn I wish I could find it.

 

[Trice]

The old severe weather announcement music on KCCI when Connie McBurney was there always freaked me out. I've searched the internets quite a bit trying to get that sounder back just to hear it again.

I assume you're talking about from the mid-1980s or so? That music was positively terrifying to me as a kid at that time. I can mostly remember it, but I've also searched for it and never found it.

(Don't even get me started on the old Sesame Street I-beam video.)

 

[Trice]

Similar but kind off topic. I think the new rule of sirens going off at 70mph is making people complacent and confused of why the outdoor sirens are going off. I get the reason why but pretty soon, people won’t be taking those sirens seriously because it’s “probably just high winds”. Those sirens use to scare the **** out of me.

I agree 100%. It's a boy who cried wolf type of situation, and people are going to get hurt or killed someday when there's truly a deadly threat, because nobody takes these sirens seriously anymore.

They say it's for safety reasons of course, but the irony there is we all carry smartphones around now and are connected 24/7. It's never been easier to get specific information into people's hands in a timely manner, and yet somebody still thinks it's necessary to expand the use of these really crude tools to the point where it dilutes their meaning/importance completely.

 

[harimad]

It seems to me that it's always been that weird cranking sound (like the siren from Ghostbusters), followed by the long tones, and then the weather report. I was old enough in the 80s to remember if it was something else. Now I have to try and find out what this is you're talking about.

Edit: it hasn't always been this?

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I can now hear the sound KTIV in Sioux City used and I may not sleep for a couple of nights.

Seriously though, we were so much more "disconnected" in those days so when the warning came across the TV you knew **** was gonna get real.