Join Subby as he discusses the exciting new developments at the StormTrack Weather Center and his partnership with Radford Media Group. This episode dives into the new storm shelter list, interactive radar features, and the live feeds now available on multiple platforms. He also emphasize the importance of making weather information accessible and actionable for the local community.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Hey, it's Subby. We have a tornado possible tag on both of these cells. These things are spinning up tornadoes very, very, very quickly. Still have a tornado warning out. That's going to be for this circulation right along 13 Highway. It is moving to the northeast. Here's thunderstorm warning. Tree down, power outage. Let's go ahead and take your tornado precautions. Welcome to Subby's Weather Talk. Hey, welcome everybody. This is Subby with Subby's Weather Talk. Man, am I excited here. I've got Clay sitting right beside me today, and I just want to kind of go over some of the exciting new things we have going on here at the StormTrack Weather Center here at 95.3 KDKD. Clay, how you doing?
Clay Radford (Guest) :
I'm doing great, Jim. You know, I'm so excited, first and foremost, to... have you part of our team here at Radford Media Group, but also what you and I are working on. I'm really excited for what we're able to be able to do by partnering together, bringing Subbies Weather Talk with Radford Media Group, reaching more people for one thing, but all the great things that you and I have in the works to basically, at the end of the day, serve our community.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Oh, absolutely, Clay. And I tell you what, we've had so many ideas going back and forth across the hallways over just the last week and a half that I'm barely getting any sleep at night.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
And I'm forgetting what I need to do. So you keep me on track and I'll keep you on track. And we'll cover storms in between time.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Hey, that sounds great. Well, first and foremost, I want to tell you about one exciting new feature about MyKDKD.com. And we went live with it today with a current storm shelter list for West Central Missouri, where our community, our area has needed this for so long. And we worked so diligently trying to get this together. And it's live right now on MyKDKD.com.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Yeah, it's easy to find. Just go to the website, go over to the weather tab and then hit the drop down next to weather and there's storm shelters. You click on that and it goes to a page that lists by county places that you can go when severe weather threatens the area and if you're caught miles away from home or If you're up in Warrensburg at a ball game or whatever the case may be and you need somewhere to get to a safe place, there's a list right there available on the website at mykdk.com. Just by going there and clicking the weather tab, you can find a safe place by going to the storm shelters page.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
And that is so, so very important. You know, we've had such an active spring season in which I was live at Subby's Weather Talk back in April in which we had two tornado warnings for our county. that we had two busload of kids coming back from, one was coming back from a baseball game, another one was coming up from scout camp in Osceola, right when the sirens, went off for Henry County. They had no idea where to go, where if they had this information at that time, they knew exactly they could go over to Golden Valley Memorial Hospital, go to the emergency room. They will lead them down into the shelter. That is one of the reasons why it is so important that we get this information out at the fingertips of the people of our community.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
And one thing that I'm really excited about is you are the Deputy Emergency Management Director here for Henry County. So you have a lot of great connections with management here in Henry County, as well as the surrounding counties as well. So getting this information, you already had the connections to build this list. So you and I, you did most of the work. I just did the online part of it, but we got it updated on the website as quickly as we could. It's one of the first things we talked about. there's there's we've discussed the importance of having this available to people because if people are at scout camps or if they're traveling through uh going fishing and you don't and you're not from the area you don't know where to go this is a place where you can log on you can see some addresses and places that you can go to get shelter now jim um put a disclaimer out there no these places won't be open for every single storm this is a place that is kind of open a according to their availability as well, right?
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Absolutely, and that's one thing. We did put a note on this, so anybody that might be listening to this or maybe going over to MyKatyKaty.com and seeing this list. Now, you have to remember, not all of the locations are going to be open 24-7, 365, but Most of these have already been spoken with through either myself or through emergency management webpages that they are open during severe weather. So make sure you call ahead of time. Make sure that they are going to be open. A lot of these shelters will open up as soon as there is a storm watch, whether that's severe thunderstorm watch or a tornado watch in the area. That's right. They will open up for the community. But make sure, let's call and make sure that ahead of time that they are open. But nonetheless, this is going to be a great tool for here in West Central Missouri and for our community. I've had so many people reach out just over the last three, four months, and they don't have the information. So it's great that we were able to put it together for them.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Information is key.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
And also another great thing that we are doing is putting interactive radar with future cast and wind speeds with with the top 15 modeling data to choose from is now available on the storm track weather page, Clay. And this is going to be huge where you're going to be able to go out five ten fourteen days out and get a good idea of what the radar is going to look like what the wind speeds are going to be and that's really important for the farmers for the farmers and the agricultural community around our area
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Yeah, they can get on there and they can check it out. And that's available, once again, on that weather tab at MyKatyKaty.com. Go down to the StormTrack weather page and right there embedded in the page, we previously had links to the National Weather Service radars that were great. They served their purpose. But this radar that we have on there now that you were able to bring to the team is really interactive and really provides a lot of insights for those farmers or just for people when storms... When storms come up, that storm track weather page goes to the top of the page at mykittykitty.com. So when severe weather is in the area, people can log on there and see where the storm is at. Also, they should be jumping onto your live stream. But if they're not, there's just a good place to go to watch the storm on your own. As you learn about storms yourself, you can go there to test your skills.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Oh, absolutely. And speaking of live feeds, you know, for those that have followed me over the last five, six years, you guys know whenever there is severe weather in the area, I instantly go live on my Facebook page, and I am happy to announce that my live feeds... will be available on KDKD 95.3 Facebook page, as well as something me and you have worked on here over the last week. Now you can catch our live feeds on the Radford Media Group app.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Yes. And the app is really cool. You can take it with you. If you're down in a storm shelter, you can have it right there on your phone. You can pull it up. You can watch Subby's feed. And it's the same great feed that you're used to. It's available on the KDKD page. It'll be available on the mobile app as well. Tell everybody kind of what the plan is with the advisory page that you have going on as well.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Well, and I'm trying to get this out there on my Facebook page just to let people know some exciting new things that I have in store from the Subby's Weather Talk perspective is that, as many of you know, I am a CEO, one-fourth owner of a coast-to-coast tour con full weather service team.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
That's so cool.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
That it really is. And what we are going to be able to do is I am going to be the director, a regional director of the Midwest. It's going to include Missouri. It's going to include Kansas. It's going to include Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. And we are going to be fully staffed with radar techs, social media specialists. We are going to have directors that are going to be social media experts. experts that are going to be posting all the warnings all the watches for not just our area but if we have friends and family that is living over say in Dodge City Kansas or maybe Little Rock Arkansas we are going to be able to get them that timely data and warnings that they need Right at their fingertips. So we are going to be covering West Central Missouri, and I will be doing some live streams on there as well. But this is going to be around the clock, 365, 24 hours a day coverage for the entire Midwest. And that is what I am going to be kind of gearing up for Subby's Weather Talk, West Central Missouri advisory page going forward. Now, I'm still going to be keeping my... subbies weather talk group because we have a lot of great information people go there to get pictures to get the forecast and and it's amazing with 13 000 people in that group we share information i might not be online at that moment but you know what people are sharing their pictures their forecasts what's going on in their neighborhood And I tell you, that is a huge part of the weather community. All of us coming together, sharing what we're seeing. And I'm telling you, that is the greatest way that we can get information out there by people on the ground, real-time data. And that serves a big, big purpose with Subby's Weather Talk. So that's going to remain the same. But our advisory page will be going through some transitions here over the next month or two.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Okay. Well, one thing I want to definitely say, and I'm going to use some puns here, you really showed up on my radar whenever you started the Subby Weather Talk page and you're getting all these followers and people, this community of people sharing information about the weather. because you not only share what's happening and making people uh aware of the alerts and stuff but you're just making people weather aware in general and that is such a huge thing because some people uh what's the weather doing they uh it's not a rain or snow who knows who cares you know but when people are actually alert and engaged with weather they have more time to adapt to the changes. Because we're in Missouri and we joke and we say, hey, we don't like the weather in Missouri, wait 15 minutes, it'll change. We say that, but the weather does change quickly around here sometimes. And if you're weather aware and you're alert and aware of those changing scenarios that could happen, then you'll be better prepared for when they do happen.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Oh, yeah, I couldn't agree more. And that's what I love about this hand-in-hand between Radford Media Group and Subby's Weather Talk is we're not just switching Subby's Weather Talk over to Radford Media Group and KDKD95.3. We are joining together because our sole purpose here, Clay, is to... to inform and to protect everybody in our community. Just like you said, KDKD is community first, and that is our overall goal. If we are able to get out there and reach even 10 more people because of this partnership, then I feel like it's a success.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Absolutely. And that is our whole goal with anything we do weather-wise is just to inform the public of where the storms are, where they're at, and make sure people stay safe and keeping people informed. That's the biggest thing. That's what we do in radio. We're live and local, and that's our biggest thing. We just want to let people know we're here, we're in the weather path of the storm with you, and we want to make sure everyone gets out of themselves to safety or the property to make sure it's safe as well.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Absolutely. And another exciting new thing that we're... Subby's Weather Talk is actually bringing over to Radford Media Group and 95.3 KDKD Facebook page is a simple weather alert software package. And most of you guys will know this. On my advisory page, on my website, it has... 365 days a year 24 hours a day seven days a week up to the minute warnings watches and advisories for west central missouri and that's very exciting that's going to be rolling out here probably in the next week or two where you can go to our facebook page at 95.3 kdkd and it will instantly tell you if say henry county is under tornado watch Henry County is under a severe thunderstorm watch. Whether we're under a warning, it will instantly bring that up to your attention on our Facebook page.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
That's great. And that's stuff that's hands-free so that we don't have to have a person manning that for when it happens. We don't have to sit there and type it all out. It automatically goes there. The warnings are out instantly as soon as they're issued for our area. You can find it there on the KDKD Facebook page. I'm very excited about that as well. We've had something similar in the past, but this is a major upgrade, and I look forward to getting this implemented here in the coming days, weeks, months ahead.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Well, and a couple things that I would like to bring over here over the course of the next few weeks or few months. I mean, we want to do all this today, and we are just not enough time in eight hours.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
You and I get excited. about this weather stuff, right?
Jim Sublette (Host) :
It is. It is. And but one of the things I would like to work on is being able to have the possibility to have opportunities for free weather radios for the area. And and I tell you, I know firsthand I go do a lot of school seminars throughout the year. And every time I do that, I ask that very simple question before I get started in on weather radios is I asked all the kids, how many of you guys have a smoke detector or a carbon monoxide detector in your house and nearly everybody raised their hand i said okay great now how many of you have a weather radio and i hold it up in the air there might be one or two kids with their hands up there So that is definitely something that I want to be able to push our weather radios because they are absolute top notch, something every household in our community needs.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
can save lives you know if you're asleep in the middle night three o'clock in the morning and a tornado warning comes up out of nowhere they they wake you up they save your life they provide enough time for you to get to safe shelter and yes i have one i've had one next to my bed for as long as i can remember
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Well, now, my kids can vouch for this. Of course, with Subby's Weather Talk and, of course, Radford Media, we take care of the seven to eight counties surrounding Henry County. So I have my weather radio set up for each individual county around Clinton. So once those storms hit the state line, that weather radio goes off and does not shut up for about the next 30 minutes, and my kids get so aggravated with me.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Mine's the same way, and Brittany's the same way. She's like, that thing's going off all the time. I'm like, well, there's a storm in our listening area, so I have to go back there, I shut it off, I listen to the warning, and then I make my way out to the radio station because there's a warning for our area. So it might be over in Cass County or Bates County or St. Clair, but it's still... right here in our community. It's where our stations cover, and that's where I consider my home is where 95.3 KDKD reaches. If you can hear us on the radio, you're in our coverage area, and we keep an eye on that area for severe weather at all times.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
And speaking of those school seminars that I just talked about, That is also something I would love to do here in conjunction with Radford Media Group is next spring, I would love to be able to work with the area schools to bring maybe an exciting and fun weather program to them to help them in storm preparation. And in just educating these kids on the severity of weather and the weather hazards around us, I think this could be a great outreach tool for both Subby's Weather Talk and for Radford Media Group.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
I think so, too. And I think Steve Stevens even said that he would dress up like a twister and come along with us. So I think that would be great to get Steve out there in a twister costume.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Oh, man, Steve the Twister, man. I tell you what, I see it already. I see it already. We got big plans here at Radford Media Group. Yeah, if anybody sees Steve, just make sure you don't mention anything. We want it to be a surprise.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Exactly, exactly. We'll surprise him. Trust me, he'll be eyes wide open on that one for sure.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Another thing that I'm going to be working on in the upcoming months is that we have to remember what a farming community that we live in around us. And that's something that I want to include with myself working on the ag side for the last 28 years. I've developed some really strong relationships with these guys. And I have worked... diligently, actually, to provide them some portfolios to help them in their decision-making process when it comes to farming. And I want to be able to bring that to Radford Media Group, to Subby's Weather Talk. With certain weather insights such as local spring conditions, till and soil conditions, I want all this information so that it's right there at their fingertips to help them make those, those could be very costly or time, money-saving decisions that they have to make. each and every year several times. So that's something that I would love to get going here in conjunction with both Radford Media and Subby's Weather Talk.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
You know, at KDKD, we provide a lot of farm and ag reports on the air, and we just recently brought all this back here in 2024 to the radio, including Brownfield Ag Network as well as the American Ag Network. And the reason is, is because we want to help our local farmers make those decisions, give them the information, give them the tools to do their job. And this information, this tool is information. And if they have the right information, they can do their job better and hopefully save some money. If weather's not get bad, they can protect their crops or hold off on planting or whatever the case may be. There's a lot of information in regards to weather and agriculture and farms that we want to get out there to our farmers here in West Central Missouri. And I think this idea is a wonderful idea as well. It's just going to take a little bit of time to get it all put together. But once we get together, I think in the coming months and or next spring, we should have that information out there. So I'm excited as well as you are.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Yeah, Clay, and I tell you what, buddy, you know, just kind of a little bit in summary, just being able to bring Subby's Weather Talk and Radford Media together, it's going to enhance our community awareness and warning system so much going forward. And I'm so excited, buddy, to be part of the team here at Radford Media Group.
Clay Radford (Guest) :
Hey, we're super thrilled to have you a part of the team as well. I look forward to a lot of great things we're going to do. But at the end of the day, we're serving the community. We're making folks weather aware. And hopefully we save a life or two.
Jim Sublette (Host) :
Absolutely. Well, Clay, thanks for joining me today on this edition. And I can tell you guys one thing. I'm loving it behind this mic. So I know you're going to be hearing a lot more podcasts coming here from Radford Media Group, courtesy of StormTrack Weather Center. So you guys take care, have a great day, and we'll be talking to you soon.
