I'm not sure when you were watching, but while I was watching the game (a die-hard Lakers fan) the warnings and radar were on the screen throughout the night. And, I saw Taft plenty of times during commercial breaks as well. The reason Taft didn't break into the basketball game was because there were no tornado warnings.

I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas and KTUL has been the station I turn to for over 25 years for my severe weather coverage. From Don to Travis to Frank, KTUL is the best when it comes to weather coverage. My only complant would be they're coverage seems to not be as intense once storms move East or Southeast of the Tulsa Metro.

All I can say is keep up the GREAT work KTUL and the weather team! Frank you might just have to do what Travis did several years ago when Travis was having to cut in over the day time soap operas. Travis said on the air, "This is life and death and more important than soap operas, if you don't like it change the channel."

Karl Schneider Wagoner

krs@valornet.com

Seems to me saving ONE life is more important than keeping many others happy to be sitting on their couches watching a TV show, most of which on ABC are available free online. Maybe you think the scroller at the bottom is enough, but I know most of us who live outside the city really appreciate being able to watch live action and know whether or not we are going to be in danger. Ten, 15 years ago, it wasn't possible to narrow a path down so much.

If a TV station was ignoring the cries of most of its viewers, it wouldn't be on the air. Apparently, those who appreciate the coverage are the majority, and those who worry only about Lost! are in the minority. That's a good thing, because if our world was full of people who don't care about others, it would be terrible.

And for the person below who said to get the dates right, the blogger WAS right. YOU, my friend, are wrong. This was posted LAST Friday .. May 2. Saturday, May 3, WAS right.

While some of the warnings can seem a little bit erronious to some poeple, I would rather know what is heading in rather than what just went by causing injury and death that may have been prevented.

AGAIN, we moved to Oklahoma (and are very happy to be here), to escape the bull this "SoCal", self promoting CRAP.

The Ticker works FINE. Tornadoes are MINOR natural disasters compared to EARTHQUAKES, MILLION ACRE FIRES.....and the other assorted problems the 16 MILLION people of SoCal endure regularly.

Get over yourself. Your coverage is excellent with the tickers and the commercial interuptions. NOTHING else is needed (unless you actually have an F5 in downtown Tulsa!!!).

IF YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND? ASK THE VIEWERS. (a new thought?). See what the majority says. YES! Think about what the PEOPLE actually WANT and NEED.

AND, as noted in the many messages below.........when the storms start up......I am now programming my DVR for CABLE channels. Knowing that the network shows are GONE. (was it your intent to HURT the Major Networks even more than they are already doing to themselves?).

Sincerely,

Richard A. Smith, Pres. Progressive Engineering Corp. Hydrology/Hydraulic Subdivision Consulting Civil Engineers 918-396-3899

And then consider yourself lucky that when a tornado is getting ready to blow your house to smitherines that Frank Mitchell & Co. will be there standing by to give you the latest information with their big fancy radar so you'll know to take cover. And then, while you're huddled in the basement or the bathroom, remember to think of all the rest of us in the 99% of the viewing area that isn't affected at all by the tornado, yet we're missing our shows. Or, if you wish, just continue to think of yourself.

Really, though, the FCC mandates that all television stations broadcasting over America's airwaves must act "in the public interest." If the FCC deems they aren't, they can lose their license. No, they don't have to break into programming all the time, and yes the crawls do present a lot of information to minimize the cut-ins, but really, you can only shove so much information into a little picture in the corner of the screen. When viewers in harms way are taking cover, they can't always take their television with them, but they can turn up the volume and listen to what the weathermen are saying.

So, really. Get over yourself and your television show, and get a clue that we as a civilization are probably using about the most effective means of communication we have to save peoples lives.

We had a very unfortunate occurence with the death of a girl this morning from the storm in Siloam Springs. But when was the last time you heard of someone dying from a tornado in this area lately? It's been a while. And I think that says something about the way we do things.

YOU ARE DOING A DISSERVICE TO YOUR VIEWERS.

Well, what if we don't stay up past 10:30 on Saturday nights? What if some of us go to Church early on Sunday and what if some of us do not have TIVO etc?

I still don't buy your above explanation. You can still have someone from the weather team come on during the commercials AND run a ticker across the bottom. That would cover just about everyone.

From now on I will watch any other channel if a weather bulletin takes over 10 minutes.

We currently have a 24/7 weather channel. But, it is currently available through our Digital Channel 8.2 or on Cox Cable. Most people outside of Tulsa do not have Cox Cable and until February of 2009, digital will not be available to all customers.

The second I find out the airing times I will post it prominently on our home page.

Thanks Kevin