From Yahoo News:

With killer tornadoes in half a dozen states in the last month, information about the effective force of each tornado has been thrown around, but few people use the terms properly and fewer still know what they mean.

The Fujita scale was first proposed in 1971 and suggested a rating system for tornadoes and hurricanes based on the wind strength and damage done by the tornado. Since the evaluation of damage cannot begin while the tornado is on the ground, it is improper to discuss a tornado as an F-anything in the midst of the storm.

According to the NWS, the EF scale functions from 0 to 5 and while in theory an F-6 tornado could have been possible under the original Fujita scale, the enhanced scale considers an EF-5 representative of total destruction. Since nothing goes beyond total destruction, a tornado greater than an EF-5 cannot exist.

Based on the EF scale, an EF-0 event represents winds of less than about 75 mph and would damage roofs and tree limbs. An EF-5 tornado would have winds in excess of 261 mph and include total or near total destruction of all types of construction.

Read the full story.

The birthday card sent by my parents to my wife arrived today. But not really. The envelope arrived, minus the card and a gift card.

At least the United States Postal Service cares!

The tornado that slammed Joplin, Missouri, was one of the worst in the nation's history. How has your station responded? Click comment and share. It's not too late to help:

— Seek out food-water-necessities drives and go to them. Do live shouts and invite organizers to phone in for regular updates. Get photos and video for your blog and social media.

– Launch a food-water-necessities drive of your own. Again, get photos and video that can be shared with your listeners online.

— Organize a day of text giving. At least three charitable organizations are accepting $10 donations via text. Pick one and push the text code all day. Produce sweepers that instill a sense of urgency.

— Go old school with a stunt. Promise to stay on the roof of a prominently-located business until listeners have donated a certain amount of money. (Missouri is known as the "Show Me State" so tell your listeners to show you the money.)

Heard on a talk radio station:

Talk about side-tracking the conversation before it ever got started!

Two things:

1) I don't care what format you're on, if you've never heard of Stephen Hawking you're not on top of world events — and that's your job!

2) The host didn't do his job by explaining to the fill-in co-host what the next discussion topic was.

From Tracy Johnson' Personality Radio blog:

Personalities and programmers use the term “benchmark” frequently, but it is often misunderstood.  More often than not, it’s used to identify a daily or weekly feature that’s performed and promoted at specific times, like Hollywood Gossip or a “song of the day”.  Those are not benchmarks.  They’re feature.

The literal definition of a benchmark is a standard by which something is evaluated or measured.  Our use of the term in radio is to help the audience get to know us for something, a standard of recognition and hopefully, affection.  Yes, features can be benchmarks and benchmarks can be features (Letterman’s Top 10 list), but benchmarks are so much more.

Features are what you do.  Benchmarks are how you’re known such as David Letterman’s chuckle, Conan’s hair and Stephen Colbert’s opening lines of his show (“Tonight…”).  Ditchy and Salty, the Real Radio Breakfast Show in Manchester, England offers cash prizes in Vietnamese Dong (currency).  Their benchmark isn’t the contest but their catch-phrase “That’s a lot of Dong” that they repeat every time they mention the prize.

When constructing a new show, creating features that fit are fairly easy, and they are useful.  They add structure that helps define boundaries to follow, but listeners don’t remember features without benchmarks.  How are you building benchmark layers into your show?

Tracy is the author of the superb Morning Radio Revisited, an invaluable resource for those who manage radio talent and those ready to take their show to the next level.