KGW Weather Department Needs Hype Refresher Course

One thing I've never accused the local TV people of is understatement when it comes to the weather. They usually have someone out doing a live remote, screaming when a snowflake lands. That is why I am so mystified about the record for the rainiest November in the history of Portland. I just went to the KGW weather blogs but they were too busy pimping their 2007 Weather Calendars. We've got a record here, people. It might have already happened - judging by the rain I heard last night but if not, let's get busy hyping this.

The current weather blogs at KGW have a bunch of pictures of the new calendar, including Matt Zaffino autographing one for some children. I'm sure that'll cover their college tuition when it hits eBay 15 years from now.

Bruce Sussman had the right idea, but it was a few days ago. Here's the last breathless post from him back on November 22nd: "Record Rain"
"We did it. Last night, we broke into the top 5. But this is no Billboard or Box Office list. If this were an awards show, we might call it the 'rainies'. Of course, I don't think that's really a word, but it probably works anyway...in this case."

Now that's the right spirit. Rain so big it deserves an award! Careful, Bruce, or you'll pull a hype muscle! That is what the news people call a tease, isn't it? So where's the follow-up? Where's the big pay-off?

Here's the promo KGW should have been running 4 times every hour this past week. Imagine that announcer who does the movie trailers:

"Somewhere thousands of feet above our city, a raindrop is forming. This is not just any raindrop for this raindrop will fall with the weight of history. It will drop through the clouds until the Rose City comes in view. It will hit with devastating accuracy and bullet-like precision, striking its prey - the KGW rain gauge. Be there! This week we don't just bring you the weather. This week we bring you history!"

See how it's done? Work with me, people. This could have been huge. You could have coasted on the numbers for weeks. Why wait till someone gets hit by a snowflake? Grab everyone's attention now with this, and THEN you try and move the calendars.