How our Announcers Keep Your Weather Up to Date
Most stations run UnattendedWeather.Com software in the same
computer they use for production. It can run on
any Windows 2000 or XP computer in your station
that has an always-on Internet connection. (Windows Vista can
work but is
not recommended due to possible reliability issues unrelated
to our software.)
Many stations run our software in their digital system in an on-air or production studio.
Others run it on an ordinary office computer.
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Your UnattendedWeather.Com voices have pre-recorded virtually
every possible weather forecast, time and temperature.
Each voice uses 5 GB of hard drive space.
Then our software picks the right sentences based on
forecasts from Internet weather sources.
All recordings are CD quality uncompressed stereo from
high quality studios. We never use low quality MP3s or
telephone audio.
Click here to hear samples.
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Jingles or music beds can be added
if desired. The finished 'cast overwrites an older version
on the hard drive. Your digital system
handles all playback, commercial
insertions, sponsorship credits and logging. There's
no work needed, no second computers to enter
logs to schedule or bills to prepare for
weather sponsors.
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Our new technology means no wiring is needed and there's no equipment to buy.
Your weather airs through the same digital system
and sound card as your commercials so your sound is consistent.
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Another benefit
of UnattendedWeather.Com is that each of your stations can
follow its own policy, have different lengths, content guidelines
and air weather with different voices concurrently on every station in
your cluster.
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Several times each hour, and again minutes before every scheduled weathercast,
our software checks your closest
National Weather Service observations, plus any
(optional) temperature, wind and rain sensors you have at your
studios or sponsors.
If TV stations, amateur or school weather stations are on line in
your area and willing to permit your use of their data, your 'casts
can include their info.
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Make Extra Money from Weather Sponsors
Our authoritive
voices make your weathercasts attention-getting vehicles
to sell sponsorships at premium rates and long term
contracts.
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Many stations generate new revenue by selling
weather packages of current temperatures at advertiser locations.
Each 'cast
can pick a few locations from participating
sponsors. For example, your weather might end with "Now
it's 74 at the Northtown Food Market on the bypass
highway, 72 at Westway Ford on West Main Street, 75 at
the Bank of Gibralter on East Main Street, and 73 here
on the south bypass at WXXX."
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Be sure to have these weather sponsors display classy
signs or trophies that you provide with your logo
certifying them as "Official WXXX Weather Watch Stations."
Also, include weather data over a photo of the
sponsor's location on your station's
and the advertiser's websites.
For these locations, an optional
sensor with Internet connection is installed at each
location for temperature, rain and wind readings.
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Safe and Secure
A firewall or proxy server is a good idea
for all computers on
the Internet. However, UnattendedWeather.Com only pulls content
from our secure site, so the firewall software built into Windows Vista or XP
can be set up to block all incoming messages. That means it's all you'll need to block other addresses and any
incoming attempts to push spam or viruses to your computer. With several dozen sites, we've never had a virus
attack on any of our clients' weather computers.
Our service has several advantages over distant providers
because the audio is generated on the same computer that's
recording all your production. It can even run on the computer
that's on the air. For stations where Internet access isn't as
reliable as one would hope, for the small investment of $200 for
a computerized temperature/wind sensor, then the only reason we
even need Internet access is for forecast data. And we store
all that data so your stations always have the last available
and will still sound good even if Internet connectivity was lost
for 12-18 hours. Of course, the XML data feed can be read
just as well with dial-up Internet as something faster, so our
system works for clients who don't have broadband available
(such as some transmitter sites).
Even the forecast and current data is available from several
sources. Our software reads multiple XML data feeds after
entering a zip code. Setup is 99% automatic. Our knowledgeable
tech support people remotely do the other 1% of the setup for you.
For our new customers anxious to get started (and those of you who really research something before you commit)
click here to download the UnattendedWeather Operations Manual.
(Requires a free Adobe
Acrobat Reader.)
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Also, visit other Dave Scott Companies:
Radio Traffic.Com and
Uncompressed Music.Com.
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