Penn State Traffic Reports

[ErikLane]

Do any stations do traffic reports for PSU home games & if you do, how is it done?

Traffax, Harrisburg has done reports for us in Lewistown but they only do them up to 10am on Saturdays...whiich is okay for the day games, but it don't work for the night games.

One would think that with 150,000 coming to Happy Valley from all point beyond there would be someone who could offer traffic reports for stations wanting to use the service.

 

[ameyer]

Good luck with those 150,000 people coming to town...considering the stadium only holds a 110,000

I'll tell you what, go sit by 322 and let us know if the traffic gets backed up to Lewistown and if so we will try to move things along a little faster over here, but anybody who is anybody coming to a Penn State game knows that you come to town Thursday or you will be sitting in traffic for hours, it is a no brainer....

and getting out of town after the game whoa that is even worse then coming in, considering the people who came in on Thursday are leaving with the people who came in on Saturday

Bottom Line: If you don't need to come to State College on a football Saturday....STAY HOME, there is no need for a traffic report when every road around State College will be clogged, and the people who come to the games know this already. So why beat a dead horse?

So here is the traffic report you can just run over and over, all streets lead to Beaver Stadium, and they are bumper to bumper...now back to the music or whatever

 

[ErikLane]

Good luck with those 150,000 people coming to town...considering the stadium only holds a 110,000

I'll tell you what, go sit by 322 and let us know if the traffic gets backed up to Lewistown and if so we will try to move things along a little faster over here, but anybody who is anybody coming to a Penn State game knows that you come to town Thursday or you will be sitting in traffic for hours, it is a no brainer....

and getting out of town after the game whoa that is even worse then coming in, considering the people who came in on Thursday are leaving with the people who came in on Saturday

Bottom Line: If you don't need to come to State College on a football Saturday....STAY HOME, there is no need for a traffic report when every road around State College will be clogged, and the people who come to the games know this already. So why beat a dead horse?

So here is the traffic report you can just run over and over, all streets lead to Beaver Stadium, and they are bumper to bumper...now back to the music or whatever

It's pretty obvious that consulting isn't your bag.

No wonder there's little serious discussion on this board.

Thank you, anyway, Mr. Wisenheimer.

 

[mock3]

I thought it was a good question. And a lot of people never go into the stadium--they just sit outside and tailgate; therefore, your number might not be far off. Does the exact number really matter? No. Traffic is still a major issue and enough to warrant extra police presence sent up from Hollidaysburg. There are some (actually just 2) people on this board who can only argue about CHR radio. As visible from the lack of discussion, most other visitors have no interest in that sort of discussion. Thanks for attempting to get a variety of radio talk going again Erik.

I think that traffic reports would be a great idea. Perhaps in the future NavTeq or someone will install some sensors in the area highways. This data could be accessed online by the local radio stations and presented on-air. I still think it would be a good idea to have a couple part-timers outside in the traffic before and after the game, doing some drops. When they get paid minimum wage, it wouldn't break the bank. It would add great value to the local radio programming.

 

[ameyer]

OK I never said I was a consultant did I?

Second of all they do not bring in extra police from Hollidaysburg unless it is a big weekend..I.E Notre Dame, Homecoming, Michigan, Michigan State...ect...There was a big write up about it in the CDT a few weeks ago.

There is really no need for a traffic report, if you have been to one Penn State Football game you know very well that regardless of what you do there is going to be traffic...College Ave, Park Ave, 322, 220, Fox Follow Road, Porter Road, Atherton Street, University Drive are all going to be clogged...if you are from anywhere in Centre, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Clinton, Clearfield ect counties you know to stay away from State College and the stadium on a home football weekend...

If you sent part timers out to sit in the traffic and give reports they would just add to the mess that is already being created, the idea is mute...by the way I did morning and afternoon traffic for a major market station and we only mentioned to stay away from the stadium when there was a game going on, we didn't dwell on what streets were clogged...as most all the stations in State College do now....

Allow yourself a little extra time around the stadium today with the game and the extra traffic, that's all you need...

 

[Snafu]

Navteq only manages the information from the sensors, the state and federal government pay to install them. Since they require dedicated fiber optic lines and a central office to manage them the cost is insanely prohibitive. After the I-35W bridge collapse you won't see FHA writing those checks for a very long time, and especially in a market as small as State College.

The nearest traffic helicopters are in Pittsburgh and Philadephia and owned by the same company. Those would be very cost prohibitive for any State College radio station or the radio network to wet lease seven times a year. You would also have to sit down with the FAA and work out a deal on the aircraft maneuvering in the airspace around Beaver Stadium which is quite a large problem since it is controlled by New York Tracon.

The cost of outfitting a chopper or 172 and doing it yourself would be even higher.

 

[Hermes]

TRAFFIC REPORTS? GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE...WHAT MARKET DO YOU THINK WE'RE IN?

Arbitron has announced it is adding Wenatchee, Wash., to the fall 2007 radio ratings survey as part of its Qualitative Diary Service, ranking it as market 177 for the period with an estimated 220,700 persons age 12 and older.

THIS ISN'T WENATCHEE...BUT MAYBE ONE DAY

 

[wiifm]

A valuable resource might be reports on the status of stadium lots. Which lots are full, half-full, etc. so that people driving in for the game could find a spot efficiently. That, in and of itself, would alleviate a little bit of congestion around the stadium. I believe WKPS did this at least once. It was about 10 years ago, when the Michigan game was played about two days after a major blizzard and some lots around the stadium were not usable.

WMAJ and what was then B103 once considered adding a traffic report on gameday. This, again, was in the technological dark ages, probably 10 or 12 years ago. As I recall the cost was prohibitive.

 

[ErikLane]

A valuable resource might be reports on the status of stadium lots. Which lots are full, half-full, etc. so that people driving in for the game could find a spot efficiently. That, in and of itself, would alleviate a little bit of congestion around the stadium. I believe WKPS did this at least once. It was about 10 years ago, when the Michigan game was played about two days after a major blizzard and some lots around the stadium were not usable.

This is actually a pretty practical idea. And I know most of the fans have an idea of what to expect traffic-wise when they come into town on gameday. I guess just being able to listen to a report saying there is going to be a delay of "such-and-such" minutes for motorists arriving at the stadium would help give arriving fans some perspective.

I know I've heard similar-type reports in major markets like Pittsburgh for fans arriving at the ballpark.

 

[theengineer]

We did this when I worked at MERF about 10 years ago .. along with playing PSU songs and selling tickets (really hot on the bad weather or non-conference (except Northwestern) games). Several of us would go out with Martis on 322/22 at Mifflintown, and 322, Reedsville -- this was before the Milroy bypass -- and do traffic & give stuff away to people stuck in traffic. Our news guy at the time had a friend who was a pilot so we did some airborne traffic for a year to two .. Most of the time it was just letting PSU fans show their spirit. It was lots of fun and while it did not really impact the primary listeners unless they were going to the game it was great radio ..

 

[ameyer]

A valuable resource might be reports on the status of stadium lots. Which lots are full, half-full, etc. so that people driving in for the game could find a spot efficiently. That, in and of itself, would alleviate a little bit of congestion around the stadium. I believe WKPS did this at least once. It was about 10 years ago, when the Michigan game was played about two days after a major blizzard and some lots around the stadium were not usable.

WMAJ and what was then B103 once considered adding a traffic report on gameday. This, again, was in the technological dark ages, probably 10 or 12 years ago. As I recall the cost was prohibitive.

Would make sense if you were allowed to park where you wanted, they have designated parking places now...

 

[Snafu]

We're you using a Marti in the aircraft??!!!

 

[shilton]

Hate to tell you, but this has been tried. In the early 90's, John Frederickson the GM of B103/WMAJ came up with the idea. Somehow he even lined up a helicopter. Only problem was for us jocks when we were up in the air, all the roads looked the same. Had no idea if we were looking at I-80, 322, 26, etc. so all we could say was "the roads are jammed everywhere you go" and that was pretty much the truth anyway.
Perhaps AJ did not say it as eloguently as he could have but he is right. There is just no point to a "game day traffic report". The purpose of a traffic report is to keep traffic moving and to help commuters route around congested areas to get on their way. Any of us who have ever been here for 1 football game know all roads are congested. Anytime you take the roads in a small town and toss like 100,000 people (or more) onto them, its gonna happen.
Point is, football Saturdays are very busy indeed no matter what road you are driving on. Our "sky watch" only flew for 1 football game and we hung it up. Was a total waste of time and money.
And yes, we too DID use a Marti in the aircraft. Actually works really well. You can get all sorts of distance on those things when you are flying high in the sky ;D Probably quite illegal, or at least not very smart, but it works great

 

[Becker]

I'm going to have to go with ameyer and shilton on this one. The most impractical traffic report to do is a game day report. If there is going to be any traffic reporting at all, it should be during the regular Monday through Friday mornings. Has anyone reported that there is construction going on at the Valley Vista/North Atherton intersection? The exit from the bypass is clogged. So is Valley Vista and North Atherton Street.

Reporting an accident on the bypass makes sense just in case people need to find alternative routes. Heck, reporting accidents anywhere in and around town makes sense.

Did anyone report the car on FIRE last night right a 5 o'clock on College Avenue? It was right across the street from the dorms that are across the street from McDonalds. I could see the smoke as I was driving down College Avenue just as I passed by Hooters. Myself and others began turning off onto the side streets. That clogged up Calder Alley AND College Avenue.

During the winter months, WRSC's morning show reports snow closings, accidents and any congestion coming over Skytop because of accidents and snow plows.

 

[ameyer]

I disagree somewhat with Becker, In Reading they do traffic and there is station in Pottsville now doing traffic neither one of these 2 places have enough traffic problems to report so they go outside the area. Reading does a lot of Allentown and Philly traffic and Pottsville focuses more on I-81 and I-78.

It is construction season so yes there is going to be construction but anybody who is anybody knows the 322/I-99 project knows there is construction from Skytop all the way down to Toftrees been that way for years nothing new there. Most radio stations do report accidents and car fires when the Police give us the info, most of the time it is after the fact unless they shut down 80 or 220. Point is there is not enough traffic in State College and the surrounding areas to make a traffic report worth while.

As for winter and school closings...umm I don't know one station in the area that doesn't do it

 

[Snafu]

That's why I asked, using the Marti in the plane is as illegal as the day is long. At 2500 feet (a bare minimum altitude for State College) you could easily light that frequency up all of the way to Cleveland.

 

[Bedoe]

Do any stations do traffic reports for PSU home games & if you do, how is it done?

Traffax, Harrisburg has done reports for us in Lewistown but they only do them up to 10am on Saturdays...whiich is okay for the day games, but it don't work for the night games.

One would think that with 150,000 coming to Happy Valley from all point beyond there would be someone who could offer traffic reports for stations wanting to use the service.

Erik,

Anyone sitting along side a road could phone a report in and say: "Looks like traffic is quite congested" and make a few bucks.
By the way, ameyer is a wisenheimer. Small brain, small thoughts....Same goes for shilton.

Bedoe

 

[cadillacjack]

We did traffic reports for PSU home games back in 1982. We put the QWK Rock morning guy at the time (Brian Slawin? sic) up in a plane as "Brian The Flying Lion" as part of the WRSC/Wendy & Kevin tailgate party. Yeah, we stuffed a Marti in the plane, used our second one at the parking lot and our CE (a two-way whiz) somehow brought in a third signal for lockerroom interviews with Tina Hay & her crew. (I never asked how he did it as I didn't want to know.)

 

[shilton]

Do any stations do traffic reports for PSU home games & if you do, how is it done?

Traffax, Harrisburg has done reports for us in Lewistown but they only do them up to 10am on Saturdays...whiich is okay for the day games, but it don't work for the night games.

One would think that with 150,000 coming to Happy Valley from all point beyond there would be someone who could offer traffic reports for stations wanting to use the service.

Erik,

Anyone sitting along side a road could phone a report in and say: "Looks like traffic is quite congested" and make a few bucks.
By the way, ameyer is a wisenheimer. Small brain, small thoughts....Same goes for shilton.

Bedoe

Bedoe,

Just wondering...do you know me? How about what's your background? Its easy to sit and cast stones but before you judge my "small mind", lets see the basis behind that assesment. I am not going to sit here and toss out stats about my IQ or anything, but you may be surprised of what my small mind is capable of.

I tend to find that most persons who have to insult others are generally insecure about themselves as well, but that's just my small mind talking.

I know Harlow has said it many times, as have several others. Its just too bad we can't get on here and hash talk back and forth about radio without someone bashing someone just because their opinion is different than our own. Perhaps a nice thought would be to treat everyone the way we wished they'd treat us. But I realize I am asking for a lot here so why bother?

That said, let's be honest...anyone with half an ounce of common sense realizes a game day traffic report is useless cause you no matter whether you are approaching from the East, West, North or South, there are only so many ways to get to the stadium and the roads that lead there were never intended to handle that many cars in the first place. There is no way to route around traffic congestion and that is the real purpose of a traffic report.

 

[listner1]

What about non-gameday traffic. With the university expanding every day, that town is overloaded for the infostructure it has, the roads are 10 years behind where they should be and Traffic is bad in parts of town in general. With all the construction, it does change frequently. A traffic report during the drive hours might be usefull.