Airport Network and other noise.. what happened?

October 17, 2006 9:44 AM

U.S. airport question. I seem to recall in the late 1990s that airport gate areas were showered with the cyclic noise of CNN Airport Network coming from TVs everywhere. Having flown recently it seems like something's changed... gate areas (at least the ones I've seen) have been really quiet and devoid of TVs. Is this trend I'm seeing for real? Or do some airports continue to pipe in programming / entertainment / noise / whatever?
posted by hodyoaten to travel & transportation (21 comments total)

You must be flying out of nicer airports than I am. I have gotten dosed with CNN in a lot of US airports over the last year. Ones I am certain I remember it in include BOS, JFK, MIA, and ORD. I don't remember hearing it in Dulles or LAX, but maybe there was something else going on...
posted by whatzit at 9:47 AM on October 17, 2006

DFW and Chicago have lots of noise including CNN.
posted by nadawi at 9:49 AM on October 17, 2006

Off the top of my head, ATL, CVG, ORD, BOS, SLC and I think Kansas City all still have TVs of some variety. Some are even newly installed.
posted by FlamingBore at 9:49 AM on October 17, 2006

At a recent layover in St. Louis I had to put in earplugs to escape the drone of CNN.
posted by Uncle Jimmy at 9:50 AM on October 17, 2006

Yeah, my observations might be based off a small sample. The airports I've flown lately have been DFW, AUS, ORD, DAY, and CMH... not very many, but DFW, one of the obvious culprits, certainly seems much quieter than 5-10 years ago.
posted by hodyoaten at 9:51 AM on October 17, 2006

Actually, here's the official answer on who's showing CNN Airport Network, for anyone who wants to check their answers above...
posted by whatzit at 9:56 AM on October 17, 2006

Pretty sure National (DCA) has this.
posted by crabintheocean at 10:02 AM on October 17, 2006

God, don't I wish. I know Louisville, KY's airport has it. At six in the bloody morning.
posted by kalimac at 10:14 AM on October 17, 2006

Vegas' TV volumes are out of control. I even begged the airport manager to turn it down, but he didn't actually have the ability to do that, for some obscure reason. It's insane.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2006

They are usually big TVs, why don't they just turn the closed captioning on?
posted by rabbitsnake at 10:34 AM on October 17, 2006

Buffalo (at least one of the bars therein) has three tv's. They're (apparently) contractually obligated to keep one on Fox News at all times (even during football games when there's multiple games on at once....scumbags.....)
posted by inigo2 at 10:35 AM on October 17, 2006

I've been to YVR, NAA, SIN, HK and BKK in recent weeks and none of the asian airports had any sort of TV in the gate area. YVR did have a TV running something quietly..
posted by aeighty at 10:39 AM on October 17, 2006

They are usually big TVs, why don't they just turn the closed captioning on?

Because CNN is paying a great deal of money to reach travelers with their Airpot News.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:44 AM on October 17, 2006

It depends on the airport. Some (but not all) have sold their soul to the (CNN) devil -- thanks for the link, whatzit. And just so you know, in a test at Dulles, they didn't respond to the signals from my TV-B-Gone.
posted by Rash at 10:52 AM on October 17, 2006

aeighty: BKK's TV's are between terminals 1 and 2, but as you said, there are none at the gates.
watched eight hours of golf in Thai last year
posted by whatzit at 11:06 AM on October 17, 2006

whatzit: BKK has a new international terminal open, no TVs at the gate area either. Although I can't be sure, 5am flight, I dont remember much :]
posted by aeighty at 11:36 AM on October 17, 2006

Austin's airport shows the local TimeWarner news channel. Which sucks if there is real news happening somewhere. However, the volume is reasonable.

Then again, CNN Airport news sucks too unless you care about Brad and Angelina. I've wanted to knock the TVs from the ceiling at DFW [I don't remember them being in Terminal D but then again I'm usually just passing through].
posted by birdherder at 11:54 AM on October 17, 2006

was just in dca and stl this weekend, both had cnn and huge tvs
posted by killyb at 12:57 PM on October 17, 2006

DTW has about a dozen jumbotrons (playing the regular CNN feed at volume) dotted along the Concourse A gates of its McNamara Terminal. Awful airport.
posted by holgate at 1:00 PM on October 17, 2006

holgate: I was just there and I thought the airport was quite nice. Much nicer than most of the crap we have here in California. (I laugh at you, SJC!)

MSP, SFO, DTW, ORD, LAS.. seen TVs with either ESPN or CNN in all of them.
SJC? Well, half the airport has no jetways and still does ramp boardings. The TVs are probably in the next remodel.
posted by drstein at 2:31 PM on October 17, 2006

A related observation/ complaint: At many airports, including the just-mentioned DTW, the overhead paging system is set to extremely loud volumes, as if the concourses were filled with old ladies with malfunctioning hearing aids. Maybe they have to be very loud to be heard over the very loud jumbotrons.
posted by yclipse at 6:10 PM on October 17, 2006