Found this report below on Harold Taft, the meteorologist credited with launching the country’s first regular television weather segment on Halloween of 1949 on what was then WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV) in Dallas-Fort Worth. He also did the weather on the overnight trucking show on WBAP-AM, which was heard across the country. Taft’s final television weathercast was in August 1991. He died from cancer a month later at age 69.
The National Weather Service has issued its first forecast for Christmas. Above is the forecast for Tupelo with only slight differences for other parts of Northeast Mississippi.
I shared with Simon Owens, who covers the media industry, the significant change we’re seeing when it comes to weather coverage in our corner of the world. First came Matt Laubhan’s departure from WTVA earlier this month after more than a decade as chief meteorologist to start an all-digital weather service. Now comes word that James Spann is doing the same thing. However, he says he will remain with ABC 33/40 in Birmingham as its chief meteorologist when his service launches August 11.
Of course, changes in the media landscape are nothing new. I grew up in a world where Top 40 music formats transitioned from AM to FM radio. There was no such thing as cable television for me until I moved from suburban New Orleans to Amory in the 1980s. And the internet, smartphones and social media were not available at the start of my broadcast journalism career. Some of the content for my newscasts came from phone calls, faxes and the AP wire on a printer where I reused ribbon to save money.
And here we are with change again as more and more people try to find a way to make a living doing news in a digital world rather than through legacy media. The retired me is relieved that I’m getting to sit this one out, but my younger self would look forward to the challenge that’s ahead. Regardless of which path is taken, godspeed to those who are on the journey.
A reminder from the National Weather Service in Birmingham on how to determine if what looks like a tornado actually is a tornado.
Thanks to Matt Walsh for building it and to Rich Demuro for sharing it: a website that allows you to see local weather anywhere in America through two classic looks from The Weather Channel. The 90s version includes jazz playing in the background. Click on the images above to see for yourself.
craigford.tv 