Fans griped when tornado coverage blew American Idol off the air | Opinion
There’s some good news out of KAKE land today.
If you missed the season finale of American Idol because of all the severe storm coverage Sunday night, you’ll get to see the three-hour program, in its entirety tonight.
KAKE has arranged to rebroadcast the show from 7 to 10 p.m. on KAKE’s secondary channel, MeTV — channel 10.2 over the air and 669 on Cox Cable.
KAKE general manager Mike Rajewski said the station heard from many loyal and disappointed Idol fans when most of the show was pre-empted Sunday night for coverage of severe weather, including tornadoes that caused severe damage in Grinnell in northwest Kansas and Plevna, about 20 miles west of Hutchinson.
Moreover, it was the second year in a row that storm coverage interfered with the American Idol finale.
“I didn’t know that — it was a couple of viewers that pointed that out,” Rajewski said. “But the reality is we are licensed to serve the public, and as unfortunate as it is, we will always take the safety of Kansans over entertainment programming.”
On Monday, the station contacted ABC and obtained permission to rebroadcast the show.
“I know everybody knows who the winner (of American Idol) was now, that was interested in it, but a lot of viewers called and left me messages saying ‘I’d still like to see the whole show,’ so we’re going to provide that (Tuesday) night,” Rajewski said.
If you’ve lived in Wichita for any length of time, you’ve probably been through this experience many times: You’re watching a show or sporting event and just as they get to the pivotal moment in the plot or the critical play of the game, “We interrupt this program to bring you this severe weather update.”
All three of the network stations here do it. More often than not, the alerts are for storms many miles from Wichita — sometimes even in another state.
In fact, if it weren’t for severe weather coverage, I’d have never heard of McCook, Neb., which comes up so often in weather advisories that they should probably just move the entire city to someplace safer.
Weather or not?
The station’s decision to go wall-to-wall with weather was controversial in some circles and touched off a, let’s call it a community discussion, in comments on this Facebook post by the station: “We understand our weather coverage is interrupting the season finale of American Idol, however, we are trying to ensure Kansans are safe during the severe weather. We will return to ABC programming as soon as severe weather conditions allow. Thank you!”
The post led to some spirited debate, including the following:
“We know there are storms. Thank you. But watching Cameron (KAKE Meteorologist Cameron Venable) get excited about clouds is not what we want to see. Get us back to Idol.”
“The map & crawl (of weather warnings) are sufficient! Hopefully people can read. Then just come on during commercials! Either that or make sure we can see the show in its entirety when you are done repeating the same things over & over again!”
The majority on the station’s page said it was the right call:
“The fact that you even feel the need to apologize just shows how ridiculous the people have gotten. Shame on those who were upset about missing their shows!”
“Severe weather is a life or death matter that takes precedence over anything including American Idol.”
Among the recurring questions raised was why couldn’t KAKE have simply shifted the program over to one of its subchannels Sunday night.
“That’s not something we could do on the fly right away,” Rajewski said. “I wish we could, but we have to notify both stations and our network” to shift programming from one digital channel to another.
Another question was why KAKE couldn’t have kept American Idol on its main station in Wichita and broadcast the weather warnings on its outlying stations that cover western Kansas, where the threatening weather actually was.
The problem there is that a lot of western Kansans get their TV through cable, satellite and streaming services, and those providers get their feeds directly from the KAKE mothership in Wichita, Rajewski said.
“So if we weren’t broadcasting on KAKE here in Wichita, it would not get out to DIRECTV, DISH TV, AT&T, Cox, those kind of things,” he said.
Wichita loves American Idol
If it was any other show — except possibly a Kansas City Chiefs playoff game — it probably wouldn’t have been as big a deal as it was (as I said earlier, we’re pretty used to our TV shows getting rained out).
But the Wichita area has a long and storied relationship with American Idol, which even came here in 2019 to audition thousands of Idol hopefuls.
▪ Local singer Arthur Gunn placed second in the 2020 season, the pandemic year when the top contestants had to perform from home — and sixth in 2021, when the producers invited back some performers so they could experience the show’s big stage in Hollywood.
▪ Also in 2020, 17-year-old Makayla Browlee made the top 40, despite her performance being interrupted by a seizure caused by a rare stress-triggered neurological condition
▪ There was Phil Stacey, who made the top six on Idol in 2007 (after auditioning while his wife was giving birth to their daughter), and that daughter, McKayla, who competed on the show herself 16 years later, finishing in the top 40.
▪ There was Ricky Smith, who placed eighth on Idol in 2003, but was tragically killed at age 36 when a drunk driver rammed his car in Oklahoma.
And that’s not to mention the numerous Idol alumni who have performed in Wichita over the years, including Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Scotty McCreery and Philip Phillips.
With tonight’s delayed broadcast, Wichita viewers won’t get the chance to vote on who wins (insert your own “stop the steal” joke here).
But when it comes right down to it, there aren’t enough Wichitans to have influenced the outcome anyway, and the heart of American Idol is the music and performances.
And those will be just as good on Tuesday as they were Sunday.
So enjoy the show. And stay safe.
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 8:26 AM.
