Although he is not one of the local TV weather personalities being cut out, respected meteorologist James Spann has scheduled a YouTube broadcast about the move. Spann of Birmingham’s ABC 33/40 and social media will come live at 7 p.m. Monday about the cuts.
Spann will explain what is happening to some local TV weathercasters and his thoughts.
You can hear the program here.
The change is called “hubbing.” This innocent-sounding term means that weather information will come from a central hub (elsewhere) rather than local forecasters.
Hubbing is hitting a major local station in Alabama and 20-21 other stations nationwide. Viewers of WAAY-TV in Huntsville will no longer get their weather from a local source. It will come out of Atlanta from The Weather Channel.
Allen Media Group owns The Weather Channel and about 36 TV stations nationally. It has decided to cut local meteorologists from 21-22 of those stations.
The syndicate also owns WCOV-TV in Montgomery, which has already cut its meteorologists.
In addition to local newscasts being based on Atlanta-gathered information, Atlanta-based weather personalities cannot go 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? Spann may address that on Monday.
One of those stations slated for the cut is in Tupelo, Mississippi. WTVA covers a large swath of west Alabama. The meteorologist likely to be cut is Matt Laubhan, a friend of Spann and a respected weather authority.
Here is what Spann said over the weekend:
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* Already cut.
Allen Media Group’s 36 stations are in mid-size to small markets across the country. In 2024, it had already been quietly cutting various jobs, including managers, anchors and forecasters.
Amber Kulick of WAAY-TV in Huntsville posted the explanation of the Alabama situation:
Let’s address the elephant in the room.
By now most of you have probably seen the chatter about Allen media letting local meteorologists go, well I am one that will be affected by this. For now I am still at the station but I am looking for my next career opportunity. I never imagined I would finally work in Huntsville only to have my time cut short, let me say this I know my management team has done everything they can to make this better but this is at a corporate level so please don’t bad mouth WAAY on this post. I’ll land on my feet I always do. If you know of anything in the Huntsville area that would be a great fit for a degreed meteorologist let me know. To my friends and family here in north Alabama, I love you and I’m so thankful for your support in this journey I’ll still give you updates on this page and all my social media no matter what I end up doing. I love you all!
Other local TV stations owned by other conglomerates could follow suit and hub their weather staffs. It will be more difficult for the other syndicates to do hubbing because they do not own The Weather Channel. They would need a central source for weather information.
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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