Page 26 - On The Move - Volume 17, Issue 4

By J.W. Southwick
Director of Marketing
& Social Media
MAADA

WSB’s SkyCopter
every six minutes during weekday rush hours and every ten
minutes on Channel 2 Action News during their morning news-
casts. There’s also several reports per hour that go out on
97.1 The River, B 98.5 FM, and KISS 104.1 FM. And Atlanta’s
commuters also get the chance to aid the reporting. “Traffic
Troopers” can call in to alert the WSB team to incidents they
have spotted, adding extra eyes in support of the effort.

Terrestrial radio and television aren’t the only ways WSB
gets traffic updates out to the masses. After all, this is the
digital age, so reports are also tweeted out on their radio and
TV Twitter accounts, as well as the AJC account. But wait,
there’s more! They also have the Triple Team Traffic Alerts
app, which users can download and receive updates tailored
specifically to their respective commutes. The level of coverage available to
Atlanta’s drivers is truly impressive.
tlanta is the home of many well-known things. It’s the home of Coca Cola.
AIt’s the home of the world’s largest drive-in restaurant, The Varsity. It’s With as much traffic as Atlantans experience on a day-to-day basis, you can
the home of the College Football Hall of Fame. It’s also home to some of the easily understand why it takes so many boots on the ground to keep commut-
worst traffic in all of America. The city has often been the butt of jokes due to ers informed. But some of those boots are in the air, flying overhead to scope
the seemingly endless congestion that clogs our roadways. A quick search of out the situation from a wider perspective. WSB’s SkyCopter is able to travel
the Internet will yield such quips as “Atlanta is an hour away from Atlanta,” across town quickly, avoiding the backups they might get caught in, adding
or “driving in Atlanta is an extreme sport.” If you’ve spent any amount of another layer of reporting that can help motorists avoid trouble.
time behind the wheel in the Metro Atlanta area, you’ve likely got a war
story or two to tell. It’s okay. You’re not alone. We’ve all been there. Smilin’ Mark McKay spends a great deal of time looking down on Atlanta’s
roadways from the SkyCopter, and he’s been reporting on traffic here since
The good news is that Atlanta commuters truly aren’t alone, not when it 1990. Working full-time as a sports reporter/anchor for CNN beginning in
comes to finding ways to navigate the motoring madness from day to day. 1985, Smilin’ picked up a part-time radio gig with Z-93 as a disc jockey,
There’s a round-the-clock operation at work, scoping out the traffic situation which led him into traffic reporting. He joined WSB in 2001 when he was
from the ground and in the air. Whether you’re on I-285, I-75, I-85, or 400, brought onboard their team by the late Captain Herb Emory. He sees what
WSB’s Triple Team Traffic is just an arm’s length away, ready for you to punch he does as more than just basic traffic reporting. “There’s a real sense of
them up on your vehicle’s radio or infotainment system. Once you’ve got community service, in memory of Captain Herb Emory,” Smilin’ says. “It’s
them dialed up, you get regular updates from all over the Metro Atlanta area, one thing to report sports scores, results, and stories, but it’s another to help
keeping you up to speed on the latest snafus that can gum-up the works. people get to where they need to go.”

Over a dozen people make up the WSB traffic team, monitoring the roads Smilin’ Mark recalls meeting a listener at an event, keeping in mind that he’s
around the area and then feeding traffic information out to the public via generally heard and not seen, explaining that she lit up when he introduced
numerous channels. Triple Team Traffic updates go out on 95.5 FM (AM 750) himself. “You’re my traffic guy,” she proclaimed. McKay said, “It made me
feel great!”
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