WeatherCall is a state-of-the-art severe weather notification system, built on new, National Weather Service "storm-based warnings," delivering targeted alerts to subscribers with any type of telephone.

Older warning methods rely on a broad, county-based model, under which entire counties are placed under warnings for severe weather. A recent improvement in how the National Weather Service defines warning areas has resulted in significantly higher accuracy and smaller warned areas, compared to the decades-old county-wide warning method.

Valerie Ritterbusch, President and Meteorologist for Media Weather Innovations said "the advantage to WeatherCall is that our storm-based warning methods are far more surgical than outmoded county-based warnings."

"Instead of a warning affecting a huge area,"  Ritterbusch continued, "computerized mapping allows NWS forecasters to draw a boundary around the truly dangerous part of a storm, reducing the square mileage placed under a warning by an average of 75 percent."

The advantages of WeatherCall over weather radios are clear. The new 9NEWS WeatherCall's targeted warning system virtually eliminates false warnings, alerting subscribers only if they live or work in the true path of danger. "Weather radios lack the specificity of the WeatherCall system," added Ritterbusch.

Subscribers can register one location for each annual fee. Using computerized mapping, the system compares a subscriber's specific location to the location of the warning area. When a severe weather warning includes that location, a WeatherCall from 9NEWS Chief Meteorologist, Kathy Sabine, immediately is made.

With the exception of tornado warnings, users can choose which types of warnings they receive, including flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings, and whether it's by phone and/or e-mail and SMS text messaging. Any type of telephone can receive a WeatherCall which has proven to be very important for senior citizens who often use older, analog phones.

"We're very excited about this new and evolutionary service," Sabine said. "Coming just a year after the Windsor tornado, we're pleased to partner with Media Weather Innovations to offer this potentially life-saving tool to our viewers. WeatherCall will complement our broadcast and on-line weather reporting with a lightning-fast warning call no one else in this market can match."

Users will subscribe to the service through 9NEWS.com, paying an annual fee of just $9.95, the proceeds of which defray the cost of the calls and the expense of running the service. 9NEWS will not make a profit from subscriber fees.

GANNETT CO., INC. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 900 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes nearly 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.

MEDIA WEATHER INNOVATIONS began in 2007. Principals in the company include a meteorologist, communications expert and certified emergency manager. 41 broadcast markets currently use the WeatherCall system with some 110, 000 subscribers. Since the start of severe weather season in March 2008, the system has made more that one million calls for severe thunderstorms and more than 250,000 calls for tornado warnings. The system can currently handle 5,500 simultaneous calls, each lasting approximately one minute.