New weather channel people being hired.

[nennie0]

I know that the new people seem to be good but was there something that didn't allow for TWC to bring back everyone that was layed off? Sorry if this is overstepping the bounds. Just curious.

[Martin]

I know that the new people seem to be good but was there something that didn't allow for TWC to bring back everyone that was layed off? Sorry if this is overstepping the bounds. Just curious.

I don't think TWC would ever bring back any of the people they axed. Shame since they spread themselves out really thin it seems.

[joyceajm]

I wonder what the ratings for the weather channel are like. It seems like they are getting farther from their "glory days".

[Martin]

I wonder what the ratings for the weather channel are like. It seems like they are getting farther from their "glory days".

Isolating the true wx viewers

[Caribbean Traveler]

We would constantly be advised of our ratings and they have not been good for years now especially compared with other shows. The weather channel would pull a nieson rating between a .1 and .4 for various shows on a typical week. If there was a big, big weather event like a major blizzard or hurricane 1.0 or more could be expected.

Compare this to some recent ratings:

WWE RAW 3.2 that's wrestling for those of you who are not in the know.

Sponge Bob 3.0

Penguins of Madagascar 2.6

That's right - phony wrestling, and cartoons are tops.

[Martin]

We would constantly be advised of our ratings and they have not been good for years now especially compared with other shows. The weather channel would pull a nieson rating between a .1 and .4 for various shows on a typical week. If there was a big, big weather event like a major blizzard or hurricane 1.0 or more could be expected.

Compare this to some recent ratings:

WWE RAW 3.2 that's wrestling for those of you who are not in the know.

Sponge Bob 3.0

Penguins of Madagascar 2.6

That's right - phony wrestling, and cartoons are tops.

Is it really even possible to measure viewers for a channel intended for someone to watch for only a few minutes? I never really got that. It seems like the dream is for someone to sit down at dinnertime and watch 1+hr of Weather Center. The Weather Channel had been a place where you can turn on the TV and get your whole forecast in about 10min.

[Caribbean Traveler]

Is it really even possible to measure viewers for a channel intended for someone to watch for only a few minutes? I never really got that. It seems like the dream is for someone to sit down at dinnertime and watch 1+hr of Weather Center. The Weather Channel had been a place where you can turn on the TV and get your whole forecast in about 10min.

In days longs ago, the weather channel realized that the majority of people tuned in to watch local on the eight's then leave. They did research and named different types of groups of people that watched the weather channel. In a brief breakdown it looked like this.... 1. the weather fanatic. They watched a lot. They were a minority but would watch for long periods of time, sometimes hours. 2. the planner. They watched to get the local on the eight's and left. They watched 1-2 minutes.

Ratings are created by getting people to watch a show longer, hence the reason why all of these storm stories and other 1/2 hour programs sprang up. If they could simply get their core audience to watch a few more minutes the ratings would soar. We'll they cut the chicken's head off with this strategy. They totally pleased one group and ticked off a much larger population. It was also a strategy to NOT give all of the weather in a short time span. This would keep people watching longer. ESPN is the master of holding an audience. Jumbled sports. Don't cover all of one sport - that will hold the audience longer.

How many people have you heard say "I can't get the weather on the weather channel any longer"? We used to update the weather every hour when I was a forecaster many moons ago. I can say that the weather is not updated hourly now.

[Kit Kat]

If you think about it, almost every kid likes sponge bob. How many like weather?

[Caribbean Traveler]

If you think about it, almost every kid likes sponge bob. How many like weather?

That's the point. There is a much larger audience to watch other programs. Even though most of us here are probably weather fanatics. it still doesn't compete with programs with a much larger base of viewers.

[Florida Beach Gal]

There will always be weather fanatics! I am just disappointed in the trend over the years where the weather channel has gradually shifted its programming to more fluff.

[Ninjaguy]

I would watch spongebob over the weather channel.

[Florida Beach Gal]

I would watch spongebob over the weather channel.

No surprise there.

[twcclassics]

The only way TWC will be able to compete with WWE is if weather becomes "cool." Why doesn't TWC set a more realistic goal of competing with a channel in their "league" like CNN or Headline News? I'm curious, though, what their ratings were like in say, the early to mid 90s. When weather was king. I was reviewing some footage from 1989 and 1990 the other day and it's amazing how much information they gave back then. And it was pretty rapid fire. Each segment never lasted more than a few minutes and the LF was on every five minutes or so.

[Caribbean Traveler]

The only way TWC will be able to compete with WWE is if weather becomes "cool." Why doesn't TWC set a more realistic goal of competing with a channel in their "league" like CNN or Headline News? I'm curious, though, what their ratings were like in say, the early to mid 90s. When weather was king. I was reviewing some footage from 1989 and 1990 the other day and it's amazing how much information they gave back then. And it was pretty rapid fire. Each segment never lasted more than a few minutes and the LF was on every five minutes or so.

twcclassics

I don't remember exactly, but the ratings were low at the beginning due to a low subscriber / ad sales base. We then starting getting better ratings as the weather channel grew. The ratings began to stagnate as more cable companies came on line increasing the competition. As the economy took a hit after 9-11 ad sales went down. Management scrambled to come up with a solution to increase ratings....long term programming - probably not a good idea in hind sight.

In those early days, we looked at every weather ob across the country....I'll write something about it in my weather channel stories.

[twcclassics]

Interesting. What whould you have done if you were in charge?