Plows clear a highway.
Credit: PennDOT
“From the KYW Newsradio storm center…”
Those were the words decades of youngsters grew up listening to on snowy mornings to see if their school’s number was called for closure or delay. Following the introduction, anchors at the Philadelphia-based AM news station rattled off school numbers in quick succession and stated whether they had the day off or a delayed start.
Earlier this week, Philly.com reported KYW has ended the use of the school numbers after slowly phasing the three and four digit numbers out over the past few years.
Steve Butler, director of news and programming for KYW, told Philly.com that reading school numbers on snowy days could take up to 14 minutes of air time per an hour and was losing its edge to the internet, apps and phone alert systems,
Locally, the Council Rock School District’s closing number was 756.
