Bravo Cantore!

Back in 1982, 34 years ago,  I had the chance to be one of the original weathercasters on John Coleman’s new experiment called The Weather Channel.  The move would be for the same pay as I was getting in New Orleans, and with 3 young boys under 10 years old,  I decided to stay here.    I believe that turned out to be the correct choice for me.    All of the original weathercasters are no longer working for TWC, but one of the longest tenured people is Jim Cantore.  TWC is celebrating Jim’s 30^th anniversary and I can only say Bravo Cantore!   I truly enjoy Jim’s passion for telling the weather story in a way that is entertaining & educating.   You can tell nothing is scripted and Jim often gets excited when he spots something on-air that he didn’t see beforehand.    In fact, Jim often reminds me of me.  I don’t see that in most TV weathercasters now.  Every market looks the same.  The consultants tell the broadcasters what you the people want.   So that is why you see the “hour by hour”, “daily planner” & now, the “Event planner”.  Good grief, all these useless graphics that already are on most station’s weather apps.  What we don’t see is educated meteorologists pointing out features on satellite & radar loops & explaining why the weather will do what it will do.    The latest is showing a satellite loop of the tropics with  words echoing NHC’s “no tropical storms are expected for the next 5 day”.   What would I be doing?   I’d be showing all of the features/reasons as to why nothing is happening.   There are several tropical waves & upper level lows to point out along with shearing winds that probably won’t be there during the most active (Aug-Sept.) part of the season.    My beef with most weathercasters is simple.   Show me stuff I can’t already get on my phone or computer.    I can see all the models.  I can read all the temps & heat index.  I can read the planners & 7 day forecast.     I want to know what you think.  That’s what made me successful for 45 years.  People watched because they wanted to know what did Bob think?   They already know what the National Weather Service thinks & what the National Hurricane Center thinks.   Just me, I’m watching less & less TV weathercasts and more and more cable TV shows.  At least I haven’t gone to doing Pokemon yet!  Stay tuned!