Weather-Personality Step Aside

When I need to know what the temperature will be and a quick weather forecast, I always run into the Large Weather Person who thinks I watch the TV weather segment to see him or her dance back and forth.� When the temperatures in my area comes up on the expensive Doppler Radar screen the Weather-Personality steps forward and covers the full screen as he says as you can see it will be a HOT ONE in the Valley.� No, "super-ego personality" I cannot see the temperatures on the map because you are standing in front of the map covering everything.� Since they don't have time to tell you each temperature in the entire area, you must try to get a peek around their big head or body to see what is the forecast temperature is for your town.

From my experience in TV newscasts, I know that the Weather-Persons have marked on the floor where to stand so you can see them best.� They step in and out of the shot like a dance.� The viewer has to quickly try to read the forecast material written on the screen before the Weather Blob covers them.� It seems that the Weather-Personalities think it is more important to see them than the information they are trying to present.� As a former news reporter and anchor, I would think it would be strange if the reporter or anchor would keep jumping in front of the camera during a video report on an important news story.

Why is it necessary to see the Weather-Personality jumping in front of the camera a half dozen times in a three minute weathercast?� I will go for them being seen at the beginning and the end with their silly remarks with the anchors, but why keep walking in front of maps that have information for the viewers to see.� Perhaps we should paint them green and then the maps would show through them and we could see temperatures on the forehead and their big bellies.

News Directors will tell you that in some markets weather is an important part of the newscast and the Weather-Person is normally a registered meteorologist, not a standup comic.� But in many markets the weather never really changes much so it's not taken too seriously and a funny man or good looking woman will do just fine for the Weather-Person.� Now they do add lots of "bells and whistles" and fancy radar to make it look like they know what they are talking about, but then they stand in front of it, so you can see THEM.

�The priority for late night TV Weather is that it makes good teases in the lead in network prime time show, it holds an audience into the second 15-minute segment of the late newscast so the audience will count on the full half-hour rating, and then it makes your anchors seem more human to make jokes with the Weather-Personality. (In many cases the anchors cannot stand the Weather-Person, and they complain about having to chit-chat with them.)

For the viewer they have to stay up later than they would just to see what the weather will be in the morning.� And of course they have to be able to look around that big personality blob to see the forecast and temperatures.� And what do they hear most of the time?� Weather-Personality: "It is going to be real hot, like it was yesterday and the day before.� The temperatures will be like they normally are at this time of the year.� Beaches cooler, valleys hot, and deserts very hot.� That's it, the same forecast day after day with the TV Weather-Personalities dancing back and forth in front of the expensive Doppler Radar.

I was working as a reporter on a weekend TV Newscast in Houston, Texas and I had just finished my on-set report about a flood.� In the commercial break the anchor Bob Nicholas said, "can you do the weather quickly?" I said where is the Weather-Personality?� Bob said he just ran out of the studio saying he saw the ghost of the former Weather-Personality, and the Weather Segment is next and I still have five-minutes of news to pad. I said I have no idea what the weather forecast is, then Bob said just fake like the Weather-Personalities do.� I said, no way. Then we came back from the commercial break and Bob introduced me as standing in for the Weather-Person.� I was stuck, this was live TV news.� So I stepped up to the weather map, that was blank and I adlibbed for two and a half minutes. All I knew was that a national newscast on the radio said something about rain, so my "made-up" forecast had rain all over that map. I remember saying things like "It will be another normal hot and humid day in Houston."� But I never once stepped in front of the map, that didn't have anything on it anyway.� After the segment one of the camera people said "that was a good forecast Judd, it was very understandable." That's because I made it up!�� I have never done another TV weathercast.

Editors Note:� Judd McIlvain has been in the TV news business for at least 35 years.

Filed July 14, 2006