James Spann has been doing TV weathercasts for 47 years, since June 1978 at WCFT-TV in Tuscaloosa. During his career, "Mr. Suspenders" has seen seismic changes in weather broadcasting and its business model.
The well-known meteorologist for Birmingham's ABC 33/40 says a major shift is underway.
Spann commented on recent local meteorologist layoffs on Monday night on his weekly podcast, "WeatherBrains." It was the 992nd episode of the podcast, which Spann has been doing for 19 years.
"The days of linear TV are over," Spann said. "People watch Netflix, YouTube TV and other apps. The audience for local broadcast news and weather is tiny, and those viewers tend to be in their '60s, '70s and '80s."
"In fact, people watching my podcast do so on YouTube," he added.
Spann used the term "wake-up call" to describe last week's announcement that Allen Media Group (AMG) is eliminating local TV meteorologists. AMG owns stations in 22 markets across the country and announced that it is eliminating local weather personalities.
Spann is not one of the meteorologists affected by the cut. He works for Sinclair Broadcasting, a different corporate owner.
The change is called "hubbing." This innocent-sounding term means that weather information will come from a central hub (elsewhere) rather than from local forecasters.
Hubbing is hitting a major local station in Alabama and about 20 other stations nationwide. Viewers of WAAY-TV in Huntsville may no longer get their weather from a local source. It will come out of Atlanta from The Weather Channel.
AMG owns The Weather Channel. They have decided to cut local meteorologists in 20 out of 22 of those stations and rely on staff in Atlanta.
AMG also owns WCOV-TV in Montgomery, which cut its meteorologists many years ago under different corporate ownership.
Is the move to eliminate local weathermen just a way to save money?
In addition to local newscasts being based on Atlanta-gathered information, the Atlanta-based weather personalities cannot go out to towns in local viewing areas and do programs for schools, civic clubs and other groups.
How would Atlanta-based weather staff covering 20-plus markets track and warn about tornadoes?
On Spann's podcast, meteorologist Jen Narramore of "Tornado Talk," a weather radio network, raised a practical question: How will the Atlanta weather personalities know how to pronounce the names of the local places in dozens of towns in distant states?
Can you imagine an Atlanta broadcaster trying to pronounce "Sylacauga?" Tornadoes seem to go through there often. (SELL uh COG uh).
One of the stations slated for the cut is in Tupelo, Mississippi. WTVA covers a large swath of west Alabama. The meteorologist likely to be cut is a friend of James Spann and a respected weather authority – Matt Laubhan.
Here are the stations owned by Allen Media Group that will suffer cuts to local weather staff:
WTVA Tupelo, MS
KIMT Rochester, MN/Mason City, IA
KEZI Eugene, OR
KDRV/KDKF Medford, OR
KHSL/KNVN Chico / Redding, CA
WTHI Terre Haute, IN
WLFI West Lafayette, IN
WFFT Fort Wayne, IN
WAAY Huntsville, AL
WEVV Evansville, IN
KADN Lafayette, LA
KITV/KIKU Honolulu, HI
WAOW Wausau, WI
WQOW Eau Claire, WI
WKOW Madison, WI
WXOW La Crosse, WI
WSIL Carterville, IL
KVOA Tucson, AZ
WREX Rockford, IL
KWWL Waterloo, IA
WJRT Flint, MI
WCOV Montgomery, AL* No meteorologists.
This developing story will be covered by 1819 News.
Jim' Zig' Zeigler writes about Alabama's people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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