Cellit Climate™ Powers Custom Mobile Weather Alerts in 11 Designated Marketing Areas

CHICAGO, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellit announced today the successful launch of their automated weather alert system, Cellit Climate™. In partnership with Quincy Newspapers, Inc., Cellit launched the service in Quincy's eleven designated market areas.

"Beta testing" since October of last year, Cellit Climate leverages a proprietary, rules-based engine to deliver select National Weather Service alerts to the mobile phone. Since Cellit believes over-messaging the user can be annoying, and sending alerts after hours can disturb the recipient, the Cellit Climate system was designed to send alerts based on level of importance preferences established by the subscriber.

The system is technically advanced and flexible, allowing for a completely personalized experience. Subscribers can restrict weather alert delivery to certain parts of the day to avoid receiving unnecessary, late night messages. In addition, while other mobile weather services offer generic alerts, Cellit Climate provides specific details to better inform the subscriber, such as the effective start and end time for the alert and specific counties to be affected. Personalization features even allow subscribers to select which type of weather (snowstorm, tornado, thunderstorms, etc.) alert notifications they receive.

"It is critical for our broadcast partners to provide timely, accurate weather information to their viewers by every and any channel possible, including the mobile channel," said Brian Bauer, VP of Operations for Cellit. "However, due to the uniquely personal nature of text messaging, it is also necessary to filter these alerts to meet the preferences of the recipient.  Cellit Climate distributes weather alerts to Quincy's viewers when they want them on their mobile devices. Cellit Climate pulls directly from the National Weather Service on a 24-7 basis, delivers hundreds of thousands of weather alerts within minutes of being issued."

Cellit Climate is an add-on service for Cellit Studio, Cellit's flagship campaign manager.  Cellit Climate was developed to specifically support local news outlets in their broadcast television, radio and newspaper advertising space.  Each message can include contextually relevant supplemental advertisements, such as an advertisement for tires during a snowstorm.

"We work closely with our news partners to ensure we are providing high value content to their audiences on their behalf," said David Wachs, President of Cellit. "As these messages can potentially save lives, we are proud to offer an engine that delivers alerts quickly and accurately, while also serving as a revenue generator for our client."

QNI has already seen substantial benefit from the system.

"Our viewers rely and trust in our ability to deliver critical news and information on time, every time," said Mary Winters, Vice President of QNI's New Media division. "Every time we have a severe weather event – rain, tornado or snowstorms – our stations receive countless calls and emails from viewers afterward thanking us for the service. We are very pleased to be extending our viewer-station connection via SMS in partnership with Cellit."

The broadcast television stations and markets currently served by Cellit Climate include: KTIV-TV in Sioux City, IA; KTTC & KXLT in Rochester, MN; KWWL in Waterloo, IA; WAOW in Wausau, WI; WGEM in Quincy, IL; WKOW in Madison, WI; WQOW & WXOW in Eau Claire-La Crosse, WI; WREX in Rockford, IL; WSJV in Elkhart, IN; and WVVA in Bluefield, WV.

About Quincy Newspapers, Inc.

The story of Quincy Newspapers, Inc. (QNI) is a tale of two families and five generations of leadership that nurtured a single newspaper into a multi-media company now employing more than 900 people and serving markets in 14 states.  With a history that dates back to newspaper publishing in 1835, the modern company was formed in 1926 with the publication of the first edition of the Herald-Whig, QNI's newspaper serving the Quincy, Illinois and Hannibal, MO area.  QNI prides itself on having news centric operations, with significant ties to the communities it serves.  QNI currently owns 12 television stations, 2 newspapers, 2 radio stations and operates another broadcast television station under a joint sales agreement.

About Cellit, LLC

Headquartered in Chicago, Cellit is a leading provider of mobile information systems for the magazine and newspaper classifieds industries. Powering the mobile information systems for leading publications including Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, For Rent magazine, Employment Guide, and AutoTrader Latino, Cellit has developed best of class systems to deliver a complete suite of solutions, including text messaging, mobile web, and iPhone applications. Information on Cellit can be found at their web site: http://www.cellit.com. For more information, please contact:

SOURCE Cellit, LLC