Antenna TV cable

Sure, WTOP is hard to listen to these days with there "read straight from a PR release" stories, annoying chatter, and even more annoying laughter. Nevertheless, its saving grace is the traffic report on the 8's that I always catch. While driving along Canal Road on Thursday morning, I came upon a broken down car in the left lane. Being the considerate rush hour driver that I am (unless you cut me off when I didn't leave you enough space), I called WTOP's traffic line and reported the quickly building delay. Five minutes later, everyone in the DC metro area knew of my call. You're welcome.


Then, proving that I'm not a 2006 one-hit wonder (as I've called a few times in the past), I called again today after learning about a stalled car on Canal Road just after the Chain Bridge. When I got to the site, the car had been moved to the left so I did my patriotic duty and called the traffic line again and spoke with one of Lisa Baden's peeps and got my message across. She and the morning anchors are way too bubbly and easily amused for my taste, but at least I get the traffic report. If I had my way, I'd have Bob Marbourg (though anyone but Lisa works for me) report traffic in the morning as well as his afternoon slot. He doesn't deal with the dumb-downed anchor talk and gets right to business. While I was around the city this weekend, it was nice listening to 1010 WINS' longer traffic reports that were all business.


I recognize feeling giddy when a call of mine is reported is sad on lots of levels, but I have my reasons. You may ask, who actually calls the traffic line with traffic tips? If I'm already stuck for taking the wrong road, why should the next guy get the help I didn't? Well, I guess this just means I'm a good and courteous driver afterall...riiiiiiight.

It's all about the pay it forward (never saw the movie, but I think I got the idea), you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours (after you wax that hair) way of thinking. Many of WTOP's best traffic tips come from the drivers who are, hello, stuck in traffic. The tips I hear are usually from others who have made the cell phone minute sacrifice to let me know, so I'm just trying to keep the circle of life/traffic flow intact.


Even after I pathetically call, I get all excited (no, not down there) knowing it'll be on the next report. It's kind of like being an anonymous tipster who knows what'll be reported before the general public. You know, like those government people who leak stuff to the press and know what the Post will lead with tomorrow. I should have outgrown this feeling after a few years of hearing my writing read on TV news, but I haven't. I'm just trying to get my discredited 15 minutes of fame. That's why most of us blog anyway.

Among the things I can count on each morning is at least one story on WTOP that is ridiculous and has zero substance that makes me waste 30 seconds of my life. Many times, these stories derive from a lobby group or the latest medical study to suggest that food abc is good for you and food xyz will kill you. Of course, since there's no time for a complete story, we never hear the other side of the study to argue holes in its logic or why respected parts of the medical community completely dismissed it. Nevertheless, WTOP seems to always run dry on stories so everything is reported in the hopes that something will stick.


At 6:43 this morning, WTOP managed to talk about health news and get on its knees to spew some more lobbyist garbage speak. Instead of giving any context like background information, opposing viewpoints, or even how it was determined, WTOP reported that you'll get sicker by visiting a hospital. That's right, don't go to the hospital when you're feeling sick. Of course, they teased this story to no end. Nothing compares to creating a frenzy among your listeners by making them think they can't go to the hospital for help. What is this, the local Fox Radio affiliate now?


WTOP quoted some research (from a Denver Post column) that said, "100,000 Americans die each year from hospital-acquired diseases." And just what respected medical association/university put this together? The Service Employees International Union did. There's nothing like quoting a fact sheet distributed by a union with clear intentions. That's not to say facts should be ignored, but their source should be greatly considered. Nevermind that 100,000 (however they compiled that number and chose what categories to include is beyond the report's depth) is an incredibly low percentage of patients seen each year. I'd like to think the average listener can see the big picture of total patients, but I doubt it. If you can't see what I mean, I found a random hospital, the White Plains Hospital Center, and found in 2004, it alone had over 100,000 patients visit its radiology department.


What did WTOP expect its listeners to think after hearing this information? Thanks for this great reporting. Now when I need an emergency appendectomy, I'll ask the ambulance to take me to the nearest CVS to get medical supplies and do the work at home. I mean, I wouldn't want to go to a hospital where, according to WTOP, I'd get sicker and die because it's not like this area doesn't have a handful of world renown hospitals. All I'm asking is if you're actually going to report something as drastically stupid as this, at least give some background to it. It's hard to think any editor would give the okay to a story that simply says, "don't visit hospitals, because you'll just get sicker and even die," but then again, this is WTOP.