WeatherMaster - Broadcast Service - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Broadcast Service FAQ's

What is WeatherMaster ?

A comprehensive site featuring weather data from the continental United States. Reports are available from the National Weather Service offices from around the country. Latest radar images, satellite photos, and other graphic images of weather products that might affect you. We can transmit weather alerts or data, directly to your e-mail box, text pager, text-enabled cell phone, web-enabled PDA, or text-enabled Blackberry device. We are the ONLY service of its kind to offer such a wide range of products, to a wide range of devices. We also provide high quality weather forecast voice services from our state-of-the art studios.

Can my company "test drive" the service ?

Sure ! You wouldn't buy a car without the test drive, would you ? Just contact us here, and you can be on your way to a FREE 60 day, no obligation and no contract "test drive" of WeatherMaster.

Is there a certain way that we promote your services to our listeners/viewers ?

Absolutely not. You know your market better than we do. You promote it, as you see fit. Stations that use our services, can use our logo's on their web pages, for promotional purposes. The only thing we ask, is the same in return.

We are a very small station, in a very small market. We would like to use WeatherMaster to voice our weather forecasts. Does WeatherMaster offer such a service ?

Yes we do. In today's broadcasting world, the small stations MUST keep up with the larger cities in order to survive. If you travel to the big cities, they have quality weather broadcasts from their own dedicated staff. WeatherMaster can provide your station the same high quality weather broadcast the big cities have at a much lower costs and on a schedule that YOU can control. WeatherMaster has certified professionals who's only job is predicting the weather, and a strong background in broadcasting (in other words, real strong "pipes" for radio broadcasting). For about the price of a large cup of coffee (from your favorite diner) per day, you can sound just like the big cities and at a much lower cost than the big cities. Here are sample weather broadcasts for New York, Missouri and South Dakota.

Are we limited to what your broadcasts contain ?

No. You can tell us what "image" you want us to project. We provide the voice talent & weather information, you can provide the "image statements" that are unique to your area. Weather forecasts can be made dry or with our music beds. We are flexible to YOUR needs !

So, if the number of listeners that use your service goes up, do the rates go up ?

NO. It matters not if you have 500 or 500,000 listeners using the service. You are purchasing the amount of services that we provide, not the number of people who use it. All of our rates are VERY low, compared to others. Our rate schedules can been seen here.

Can we use a sign up page of our own choosing ?

In some areas, we would prefer that you use one of WeatherMaster's signup page. Our signup page can be custom-designed to reflect your sponsor(s). However, if you choose to use a signup page of your own, it must conform to our system and terms of service.

Do you provide detailed graphics ?

In some cases, yes. We can provide the latest radar images from the National Weather Service as well as other satellite images and a custom watch/warning graphic for a broadcast area. As for custom graphics for weather forecasts, we are not equipped to handle such as this would place our servers under a very heavy load.

We are a small station, and can't afford to purchase a system, and/or hire people to handle such an operation. We would like to contract WeatherMaster to handle our severe alert system. Can you do this ?

Yes. We are currently contracted with several media outlets, who have a similar problem. For as little as $50/month, we can provide your listeners/viewers with up to the minute weather information. We provide the infrastructure, personnel, and logistics for your entire operation. Depending on the market size, its still cheaper to use our service, than to hire someone for your station, or purchase equipment to handle it. Case in point, a 20-station chain in the midwest uses our services, and it only costs them $95/month. At some big market stations, this service runs from $2,000-$5,000/month, depending on market, number of potential listeners/viewers, and what will be required of the service. We can setup your system within 24 hours, and all you have to do is e-mail us here, and we'll start from there.

Our stations utilize the new EAS (Emergency Alert System) for our weather warnings. How is your service different from the EAS ?

This is most asked question of them all. In some states (depending on who is the primary control point for EAS), the reliability of EAS is only "fair" at best. Several factors in how effective EAS is, can be numerous. Such as technical or atmospheric limitations, the rural nature of some stations in relation to a nearby transmitter, and proper programming of the EAS. In some areas, WeatherMaster is FASTER than the EAS because of the delay times of the actual broadcast of a warning (or a watch) on the EAS. With WeatherMaster, the notification to their intended targets is INSTANT. Meaning that when we receive an alert from the National Weather Service, the turnaround is INSTANT, and received by their intended recipients within SECONDS of issuance. The EAS has been known to delay its broadcast at least 1-4 minutes, depending on the area. In severe weather, seconds can mean saved lives !

We use the Associated Press for our weather information. How is your service different from the AP ?

The Associated Press has been in the news business for the last 125+ years. The AP is excellent at the news business but their weather services may or may not be enough for your purposes. Our services are dedicated weather services. Meaning that our services don't have to transmit news information to its users. You get the information that you want, at the moment its issued... straight to your e-mail, text pager, cell phone and/or Blackberry, without having to sift through useless data to find what you need. In most areas, our services are faster than the AP or the EAS (Emergency Alert System) broadcasts. This means you can get the information to your listeners (and into YOUR hands) faster !

We are a group of 6 stations in the Midwest, and want to use your services. Do you charge by the station ?

Not quite. Stations that are owned by a "media group", can get a flat rate, in many different markets. Depending on the markets served, this cost can be VERY low. Rates from 2-1000 stations can be quoted. The only information we need, is the markets that are served by your stations. They can be all big markets, medium markets, small markets, or a combination of them all. Of course, to obtain a quote, all you have to do is ask.

Do you sell your services to anyone else in a particular city ?

We can be a "market-exclusive" service. The cost is slightly higher, but well below other services.

Other services utilize "telephone notification systems" to alert their customers. Do you ?

For the first time in 2006, cell phones and e-mail addresses outnumbered traditional "landline telephones". This trend has continued to this day. WeatherMaster has adopted a policy considering the "landline telephone" as "obsolete". The reason for this policy is simple, it takes too long to notify 1,000-2,000 people by a telephone system that has limitations. Busy signals, no answers, etc are just a few of them. With text messaging to a cell phone, its immediate and much quicker than the traditional telephone. Case in point, a community in Colorado that has a "telephone notification system" failed recently because the 16,000 residents could not be contacted in a timely fashion about an impending tornado. The system was not activated quickly enough and NOBODY was notified of the approaching tornado. Thankfully, nobody in the Colorado town was hurt or killed. WeatherMaster has no such limitations ! Our system is on guard 24/7/365.

If we purchase your service, we would like some of our staff to use it as well. Is there an additional cost to this ?

NO. Your staff will have unlimited use of the service. If a severe weather outbreak occurs, you'll want the same watches & warnings to go to your staff, therefore saving YOU time in notifying your staff because our system will have already done that for you. As an added bonus, your stations will be able to received a wealth of information that is available through the National Weather Service that wouldn't be available to the general public. We will cover this subject further down the this page.

What is your definition of "unlimited service" ?

With other services, this can be confusing... With WeatherMaster its simple. Most services are based on the amount of data transmitted to you. WeatherMaster will send you the data you need at a flat rate. Whether its 10 reports a day or 10,000 a day, the cost is a flat rate.

OK...You say you're service is fast. Just how fast is it ?

Most cell phone users (under normal conditions), can get their alerts within SECONDS (1-5 seconds) of issuance (from the National Weather Service). When an alert is received by our servers, the turnaround of the alerts, to the mail servers is IMMEDIATE ! The only delay is in your carrier (or ISP). All alerts are computer controlled at the Network Operations Centre (NOC) and DOES NOT require human intervention. WeatherMaster is the FASTEST service around.

I'm having trouble getting my alerts. How can I get help ?

Very simple. Just e-mail the problem here, and a technician from our Network Operations Centre will respond to your problem. We are the ONLY service, that is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Depending on the workload, it might take a few hours to answer your question, but we will respond to it.

I used to receive e-mail notification of severe weather in my area, but it stopped notifying me...What has happened ?

Several things could have happened...Here are a few.

First, one of our servers might be down. This does happen from time to time, but it usually lasts for only a few minutes, but no more than a couple of hours. When our service is restored, then you should start receiving e-mail from us. One thing to note, we NEVER perform maintenance on our servers when the potential of severe weather is great.

Second, If your e-mail box has reached capacity, then messages transmitted to you, are being returned.

Third, if your "POP" server is behind a firewall, and is filtered by your network administrator, you will need to contact him/her to un-filter the messages. If this is the case, then messages transmitted to you, may be returning to us. In which case, you will be deleted from the database. If your company/ISP is using a "spam monitoring vendor/service", or something similar, messages MAY NOT be returning to us...they may be getting "filtered" by your service, and are being deleted. A mis-configured spam filter (server side) can also reject our alerts, in which case your network administrator will need to "whitelist" our domain. In any event, you need to contact your vendor/service to remedy this situation. Keep in mind if 10 messages/month are rejected from a user (for whatever reason), that e-mail address (or like device) is deleted from our database. This number DOES NOT include auto-responder replies.

Fourth, the e-mail address that you have sent us is incorrect. in which case it will be deleted from the database.

How many different reports can I receive from WeatherMaster ?

Reports that are currently available...

CEM - Civil Emergency Message*

FFA - Flash Flood Advisory (Watch)**

FFW - Flash Flood Warning**

HIP - Hurricane Information Package*

HWO - Hazardous Weather Outlook*

FFS - Flash Flood Statement*

FWF - Fire Weather Forecast*

NOW - Short Term Forecasts (NOWCASTS)*

PNS - Public Information Statement*

RFW - Red Flag Warning**

SVR - Severe Thunderstorm Warning**

SVS - Severe Weather Statement*

TOR - Tornado Warning**

WSW - Winter Storm Warning**

ZFP - Zone Forecast Product*

RWR - Regional Weather Roundup*

SFP - State Forecast*

LSR - Local Storm Report*

NPW - Non-Precipitation Warning**

RER - Record Event Report*

RWS - Regional Weather Summary*

WOU - Watch Outline Update (Tornado/Severe Thunderstorm Watches)**

*= Available in e-mail (PC) format, not available in text messaging for cell phones or pagers

**= Available in all formats

Count 'em...Twenty-two (22) in all. This doesn't include the many "off-line" offerings. Remember, no software to download and install. Just the VERY BEST service on the internet. Broadcast stations that use our service are not limited to this list. There are many "off-line" products that are available. Since each market is different, your needs may be different. Just tell us what you need, and how to transmit it to you, and we do the rest.

Some of the "off-line" offerings are...

Color coded watch/warning maps for your web site.

Latest radar images

Satellite images

And other products not normally available through the web site. Products such as...

River forecasts/flood stage information

Detailed hurricane information (where applicable)

Great Lakes forecasts & reports (where applicable)

Storm damage reports

Severe Storm Outlook (Storm outlook for the next 72 hours)

Daily Climate Report (for selected cities)

And many more that are NOT listed here... As they say, "if you don't see it, ask for it".

How do I contact WeatherMaster ?

The quickest way is here