Viewers Voice: Reaction to last week's severe weather coverage

Our extensive coverage of the severe weather that blew through the entire viewing area last week drew a lot of comments from our viewers. Some were happy and others weren't.

Let’s start with the complaints.    

One viewer called in to say, "I'm watching Jay Leno. You interrupted twice to show the weather.  You do this all the time. You interrupt prime time programming to do election results.  Knock it off with the interruptions."

Debbie Stover emailed, "Shame on you. 8:00 to 9:00 at night is part of prime time TV. I cannot believe the weather dominated most of the hour. All you need to do is run the captions at the bottom of the screen."

While Deborah Delaney added, “Get the weather off of the television and put the regularly scheduled programming back on. This is annoying."

And, finally we got this from Carson Wise: “Please do not interrupt Survivor tonight to tell us of weather problems. That's rude! Give a place people can go to get more info but DO NOT interrupt the other shows to give us unnecessary info. It affects like 3% of the viewers.”

WSLS responds: Thanks for all the comments. First off, we didn't interrupt Survivor as it airs on a different network. But we did interrupt our programming. It was a decision that wasn't made lightly, but it was the right decision. People's lives were at stake. This was the worst weather system to hit our area in years if not decades and it impacted the entire viewing areas... all 23 counties. In the end, these powerful storms destroyed buildings and homes and took at least four lives. It is our responsibility, and frankly the responsibility of all local broadcast stations, to keep everyone as informed as possible about the track and severity of storms this intense. Let me ask you, what's more important. a joke from Jay Leno or someone's life?

Other viewers had a different take on our coverage.

James Smith emailed, “Your weather staff performed admirably and should be given a pat on the back.  This was a vital public service.”

Danielle Carter posted this on our Facebook wall: “I live in Highland Co. and our satellite was out last night, therefore couldn't see the weather. The internet was the only way I could keep up with it all, but y'all did a great job keeping us updated!"

John Dalton of Draper emailed, "You know WDBJ7 is supposed to be the 'hometown station,' but last night you showed who cares about your viewers. I live in Draper and have survived one tornado so I took your advice this morning and survived another possible one. I can't thank you enough for what you do. We do appreciate you and the news station that is really on our side." (Johnny Dalton, Draper Fire Department)

While Tim Shelton emailed,. "I am sure lives were saved due to Jeff and the whole team at WSLS. My wife was traveling from Lynchburg to home in Halifax County and because of the detailed timing of when each storm would be in a certain area she was able to get home safe. (Tim Shelton)

Finally, we got this from Sarah Allen in Christiansburg: "I do feel that due to the coverage you provided and the detail of that coverage MANY people are alive today. I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate all the hard work you did last night. I am now a loyal Channel 10 news and weather watcher.”