The Weather Channel ®




The Weather Channel ® on-camera weather personalities
The Weather Channel ® has had numerous weather personalities deliver the weather since its founding in 1982. The Weather Channel ® became a household name from its combination of no-nonsense and comedic style of weather. The on-camera meteorologists are known as "OCM's". Shifts initally were comprised of four one hour shows. The on-camera meteorologists were on-air much more than those on local networks. They had to be proficient in all areas of weather and geography. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice storms, and snow storms all needed to be covered with expertise. The on-air talent also needed to understand weather from various climates, and geographical locations. The meteorologists who joined The Weather Channel ® had to become in a sense "super weather presenters".

The Weather Channel ® History
The Weather Channel ® first went on the air in 1982. It was founded by meteorologist John Coleman and business partner Landmark Communications ® of Norfolk, Virginia. Atlanta, Georgia was chosen for the ultimate company site with the "quality of life" being a deciding factor for the location. The Weather Channel ® began with a small staff of meteorologists, graphic artists, technical directors and business people. The idea that anyone would watch weather appeared to be laughable. The Weather Channel ® struggled for it's first few years operating with budget deficits. In August of 1983 Landmark nearly closed The Weather Channel's ® doors. Frank Battan, president of the company, decided to give it more chance.

A plan to charge subscribers was pitched to the cable companies that carried The Weather Channel ®. The proposal was accepted and helped bring the company out of the red. The Weather Channel ® steadily grew into a multi-million dollar company. The company grew and prospered on the philosophy that "weather is the star". Meteorologists were dedicated to the company and a great comradery grew between the staff. Foremost, The Weather Channel ® can thank the late John Hope for its success. John Hope was the hurricane forecaster who kept the public informed during the hurricane season. He was a man of great knowledge, wisdom, and kindness.

 

By the early 2000's, The Weather Channel ® started to slowly decline. No longer was The Weather Channel ® one of only a few cable companies. By now there were many, many cable stations, each taking a bite of the total TV audience. The more TV stations, the more potential to lose viewers. With this competitive challenge, new weather shows were launched. The days were gone to find curent weather around the clock. To balance this problem, more resources were poured into weather.com ®, The Weather Channel's ® sister company on the internet. Weather.com ® increased its popularity markedly as the marketplace changed to more internet and mobile savy viewers.

The year 2008 brought more changes to The Weather Channel ®. Landmark Communications ® sold the company that changed the way people watched weather. A group of companies including NBC (Comcast), Blackstone Group, and Bain Capital purchased The Weather Channel ® for 3.5 billion dollars. The group downsized in an effort to save costs including getting rid of many of the familiar Weather Channel ® personalites. This trend continued for several years where many of the most familiar weather channel personalites were replaced with lesser experienced personel.

As ratings continued to be flat, Al Roker, a well know weather presenter, was hired for a morning show to strengthen numbers. In 2013, Sam Champion, another well know weather presenter from New York City was hired for a new morning show. Significant changes occured in late 2015 as IBM purchased the digital assests of what was now called The Weather Company. Included in this purchase were Weather.com and WSI. During 2017 The Weather Channel ® began expanding it's "Local Now" product. Taped forecasts were produced for local weather in certain cities, replacing the text and graphics versions. Most recently, The Weather Channel ® was purchased by Byron Allen Entertainment Studios Inc. for $300 million in March 2018. It is not known at this point if there will be any significant changes to programming.

The Weather Channel ® Studios
The Weather Channel ® has always been located in Atlanta, Georgia, although a few smaller sales offices exist in other cities. The first few years the office was on top of Mt. Wilkinson, where General Sherman got his first look at Atlanta during the Civil War. The Weather Channel ® found its second home in the same office park just a short distance away. Because of it's rapid growth during the late 1980's and early 1990's The Weather Channel ® needed to find a much larger space. Landmark Communications ® bought a building on the northwest side of Atlanta, just outside of the Perimeter. This is the present home of the Weather Channel ® studios.

The Weather Channel ® Message Board
Come visit Tropicalweather.net's Weather Channel Message board! Rich Johnson, Tropicalweather.net's owner and lead forecaster worked at The Weather Channel ® for over 25 years previously and is now there again in a freelance role. He shares his insight about The Weather Channel ® with you. Post your questions or discussions under the "public weather forums - weather channel".

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