New weather network coming in October 2014

[JaxGator]

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/08/19/5126483/new-network-weather-coverage-planned.html

The plan is to be like the weather channel used to be before 2000, I hope they succeed

I remember that I began watching the weather channel in 2002 and after watching it now and all the youtube videos of the classic weather channel, I thought it died when NBC bought it. They killed it. It's obvious. Though they brought back Dave Schwartz and still have some of the classics still aboard, it's still not the same. The 80s-2008 were the glory years imo (though I didn't like some of the shows from 2005-08). Now it's just non-weather related shows. I only watch it when there is a major weather event that's it. I do wonder what happened to the other founders of Network Weather since Dave's rehiring.

[northjaxpro]

I miss the days pre-2000 of the Weather Channel. This was when it was very quality television and it was weather all the time. They had great personalities and real knowledgable and respected meterologists, anchored by the one ond only late great John Hope. TWC is just a shell of its old self now. It is just bad now. I sat down and watched TWC for the fist time in seemingly forever for just a couple of hours during Tropical Storm Colin. It was hideous. The only people worth watching on there now in my opinion are Severe Storms and Tornado Expert Dr. Greg Forbes, and Bryan Norcross in my view. TWC let too many of their best on -air meteorologists walk out the door. The NBC takeover has been disastrous for them. It became reality TV instead of about weather.

I find myself watching WeatherNation more often. They have made significant improvements, especially with their graphics, and they are making great strides imo. I will give this new weather network a chance. I think if they can bring in people like Bill Keneely, Jeff Morrow, Bruce Edwards, Dennis Smith, among others the TWC let go, it would be a great starting point for them.

[JaxGator]

I agree 100 %. I feel lucky just being alive in the Weather's Channel's "last years" and that's sad what they did when Colin was hitting Florida. I've watched John Hope on archival videos and he's awesome. His coverage of Hugo, Andrew and Floyd to name a few helped to better understand the dynamics of hurricanes. I bet he and George Winterling would have made a great team. Yeah, Weather Nation looks cool. I've watch it and I'm impressed. Bryan Norcross and Greg Forbs I'm fans of too. They're definitely experienced. I would be happy if all those people were on Weather Nation and yes, it would be a great boost.

Personal Forecast Disclaimer:
The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to NHC and NWS products.

[northjaxpro]

Hey JaxGator, great to have another Storm2Ker here in my neck of the woods in the Northeast Florida area! Yeah, George Winterling is a legend in this area for sure. I have really missed him sice he retired a few years ago on WJXT TV4. I have had the pleasure of meeting him 3 times. He is a great guy and one heck of a pro for sure. Yeah, Winterling and John Hope would have made one hell of a tag team in analyzing hurricanes that's for certain!!

[JaxGator]

Same here northjaxpro! I hope we have nothing too bad here this hurricane season (besides Colin). That's great! I've been wanting to meet him since forever. The last time I saw George on air was when Irene's forecast cone had Jax in its sights. His blog was a good resource too.

Personal Forecast Disclaimer:
The posts in this forum are NOT official forecast and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to NHC and NWS products.

[bohaiboy]

I started watching TWC when it was first available on Cable (maybe had 20 channels available tehn) I am thinking 1981 or 82. THe OA personalities were real weather people and showed compassion for their careers, not theatrical. I quit watching TWC several years ago out of disgust. And besides, they hardly ever really hae THE WEATHER on, its always some documentary or other show.

[HurricaneRyan]

I started watching the Weather Channel back in 2003, when I was 9 years old. And I started watching around July with Hurricane Claudette being the first storm I watched coverage of and Fabian being the first major, and Isabel being the first major US landfall. So I remember when Storm Stories was the only non-weather coverage show (and was actually really good), when the women on the air weren't there to be pretty bobbleheads, and the men on the air weren't meant to be "eye candy". Though I'm 22, I don't mind a little eye candy - Jim Cantore, Paul Goodloe and Carl Parker still have a little spark in their look, but Mike Betters is losing it.

Back when I first started watching, the women all had unique looks, and age wasn't as big of a deal. Kristin, Kristina, Vivian, Heather, Sharon, Melissa, Alexandra, Eboni, Cheryl, Jennifer, Kim, Jen, Hillary, Kelly, Nicole and even Betty Davis were very distinct and I could tell who was who. They also all, for the most part, did their jobs well. Stephanie wasn't too bad either in the beginning...but she's gotten bad overtime. She has her good moments, but then she sounds like an idiot at other times.

The new bunch of weather girls you can't really tell apart - they all have very dense personalities - Alex Wilson, Kyla Grogan, Crystal Egger, Danielle Banks, Jennifer Delgado, Maria LaRosa...aside from Maria and Jennifer, the rest blend in together too much. I'll give Sarah Dillingham some credit, because at least she is doing technical stuff behind the scenes during major weather events.

The men - again, back in the day, the men had distinctive looks and personalities too: Rich Johnson, Marshall Seese, Mark Mancuso, Younger Dave Schwartz, Younger Jim Cantore, younger (and hotter) Mike Bettes, Adam Berg, younger Carl Parker (before he was a Storm specialist), Ray Stagich, Jeff Morrow, Mike Seidel (before he pretty much became just a 100% field reporter), Bill Keneely, Warren Madden. My list can kinda go on and on. Bob Stokes wasn't bad either on air...but he deserved to get ousted for harassing Hillary. Now, most of these guys are gone, and again, they are non-distinctive with very little personality, except for Jim, Paul, Carl and Mike Bettes and Seidel...you know...the ones there for years. Sam Champion ain't too bad...killer bod too...but he doesn't do much good. They still have Nick Walker who has been great for years, Dave is back of course. Mike Lowry is hot but he should just let Bryan Norcross do the talking.

The weather channel still has its good moments, but only during severe weather coverage. It would be nice if they actually had planned news programming in the evening again. Maybe then they wouldn't have to constantly invite Kelly Cass (who has probably gotten the MOST primetime slots since the NBC buyout in 2008, for Irene, the Joplin tornado, the El Reno tornado, and part of the April 28th outbreak) to be on primetime slots for major weather events then and give it to someone who can really use the limelight, because Kelly does great in the morning.

[Kalrany]

I started watching TWC when it was first available on Cable (maybe had 20 channels available tehn) I am thinking 1981 or 82. THe OA personalities were real weather people and showed compassion for their careers, not theatrical. I quit watching TWC several years ago out of disgust. And besides, they hardly ever really hae THE WEATHER on, its always some documentary or other show.

I can say the same. At this point, I don't even have cable, and I can't say that I miss it. I grew up in the 80s, and my dad liked to have the weather channel on in the background unless we were actually watching a program. That stopped when I went to collage in the 90s. We gave up in the 00s. I have some independent aps on my tablet that I use to get weather updates, and I check this forum for major events. The channel just doesn't have what it takes anymore. My mom would still flip it on to see if she could even find the weather, but the "programming" overroad it so often that even she has given it a pass in the last couple of years. They would need to do a major overhaul to make it worthwhile again, and I don't see that happening.