Date of Recording: 10.31.91
Station: 101.1 WCBS-FM New York, NY, USA
Featured Air Talent: John Zacherle (09.26.1918 – 10.27.2016) (WCAU-TV, WABC-TV, WOR-TV, WPIX-TV, WNJU-TV, WNEW-FM, WXRK-FM, WCBS-FM). Elected into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia in 2010. Died on 10.27.2016 at age 98.
Contributor: Ray Bozzanca
Airchexx Entry: 433 (Repost at entry 1,450) (What does this mean? (1))
We interrupt this program because of a local weather emergency. This is NOT a test!
Comments:
With that statement and EBS tones, (at 38 minutes in) the whole tone of this FRIGHTFULLY GREAT aircheck is set in stone!
This has to be the best Haloween special I’ve ever heard. WCBS-FM really did it up right, letting John Zacherle take over the hosting duties for a night of scary fun. Contributor Ray Bozzanca sent this in, in pieces (and unscoped for future use by us if we ever are financially able to pay royalties…) which your webmaster lovingly scoped down to something acceptable to the powers that be.
The music is scoped out, but anything not subject to royalties is left over, which is most of this 3 hour show. Zacherle has a wierd sense of humor, but so appropriate as he picks just the right music for a Howlin’ good time!
Adding to the frightening nature of this aircheck, about halfway through, WCBS-AM Newsradio 880 Meteorologist Craig Allen cuts in with the old EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) alert sounder to give a weather emergency. A word about this… the old two-tone alert and the way the announcement was made really gave a sense of urgency to the situation. In your webmaster’s opinion, the current EAS alert, which is a series of computer tones to trigger an automated message, doesn’t do much of anything to scare the pants off listeners – but that’s what its SUPPOSED TO DO! The old system DID wake up listeners. I know, I used to drop what I was doing to listen to it. Editorial finished.
This runs 1 hour, 15 minutes, scoped.
The 38 minute mark is where the EBS is.
Actually, it was newsman Jeff Allen with the emergency alert at 38 minutes in as opposed to meteorologist Craig Allen.
I have no idea what Craig Allen was doing in radio at that point in time, but trust me on this one. Craig Allen has been a meteorologist for over 30 years and while I don’t know exactly how many of those he’s been doing morning drive weather on WCBS 880, but he’s been there since I moved to Connecticut in 2007. I know Craig Allen’s voice. I hear it every morning and sometimes even afternoons, as I’m a WCBS 880 junkie, unfortunately. It would also make PERFECT sense for their star Meteorologist on the AM side just down the hallway to walk over and do a weather emergency weathercast on the FM side. Now, what I THINK we heard here, instead of the ‘local’ weather guy reading an EBS alert, is Craig Allen being heard on the entire EBS audio chain. I’d be willing to bet it was his voice that listeners in the entire warned region heard, regardless of what station they heard it on. That’s how EBS, and today’s EAS works. Everyone gets the same info from the same source.
I’m right on this one I know Craig Allen’s voice like the back of my hand. He and Jim Cantore from TWC are my heroes. The two guys have the job I want someday, if I ever grow up.