April 21st Severe Weather
I have a special, personal connection to the 21st of April - in this market, that’s The Day The Tornado Hit in 1996. 8 years later, some effort was being put into planning anniversary stories and packages to look back at that event, but they never got to air, because on April 21st, 2004, a major severe storm system blasted through eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, spitting tornadoes and funnel clouds at what seemed like every opportunity. Normally, POP (proof-of-performance) spots are left up to the day shift, and specifically the promotions manager, but he was out that week, and so it was up to me to cough up some kind of a POP spot in his absence. The voice for our weather POPs tended to be drawn from several fairly nonspecific scripts voiced by Eric Gordon, and this one was no exception, so it comes out a little bit generic. But it sells the benefits of our coverage to the viewer: the severe weather event was predicted over a day in advance, and when it finally hit the station was all over it.
