TV WEATHER FORECASTS: MORE THAN TELLING IF IT WILL RAIN

TV WEATHER FORECASTS: MORE THAN TELLING IF IT WILL RAIN

Local news anchors, sportscasters, and weathercasters are extremely important to local TV stations in establishing their signature and identity in their market. Although a large majority of programming on commercial television is either network or syndication, local news is one of the few programs where a local station has control of all aspects of the programming. A popular team of local anchors can bring an extremely helpful ratings boost that greatly raises the visibility of that station in the target market.

A seemingly indispensable part of all local news shows, as well as some national ones, is the weather forecaster. Although all U.S. weathercasters use essentially the same data, those gathered by the National Weather Service, clearly not all weathercasts are equal. Although increasing numbers of weathercasters are trained in meteorology, some are more performers than reporters. NBC’s Willard Scott did the weather on the Today Show dressed in various costumes and always with panache. Early TV events like a Chicago weatherman giving his Thanksgiving forecast to a turkey, a Milwaukee weathercaster puppet named Albert the Alleycat delivering the forecast, and crumpled falling confetti to signify snow being predicted are things of the past. High quality computer graphics now allow even small local stations to give a weathercast of high technical quality, a far cry from 1950s weatherman Bill Carlsen, who squirted his map with shaving cream to show snow. (Garelik, 1985).

Although weathercasts are often seen as the frivolous or soft side of the news (the first on-the-air newswomen were the “weathergirls” of the late 1950s), often the subject is deadly serious. Forecasts and warnings of tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods can mean the difference between life and death. Although the National Weather Service issues the watches, warnings, and advisories, often the local weathercaster does additional interpretation as to how strongly to advise precaution. A wrong judgment call in such a situation can have tragic consequences.

195 A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication

One of the greatest unknowns in the next decade or so will be the role of Internet. Already an important and popular source of news, the Internet web pages for various newspapers, networks, wire services, television stations and other sources are read by millions daily. There is some indication that this may be particularly at the expense of newspapers, although some of the most widely visited sites are newspaper sites, some of which (e.g., The New York Times ) have free e-mailing services available with news summaries and links to complete stories. See Gunter (2003) and Tewksbury (2003) for thorough discussions of Internet news.

TV news reporters, especially network news anchors, become trusted friends in our lives. They may be a part of our mealtimes, almost like having the news anchor as a regular dinner guest. We invite them into our homes through our choice to turn on the TV to a particular channel. It is not unusual for people to audibly respond to a greeting, such as responding “Hi, Tom” back to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw as he signs on with “Good evening.” They become substitute friends in a sort of parasocial interaction (Giles, 2002; A.M. Rubin, Perse, & Powell, 1985), as discussed in chapter 2. There is a sense of solidarity with them. As one person explained such a relationship, “I grew up watching him. I guess I expect him to be there when

I turn on the news. We’ve been through a lot together” (Levy, 1982, p. 180). That feeling of being through a lot together captures very well why news anchors are far more important people in our lives than merely folks who read us the day’s events. Even with local news, if one of the anchors is married or has a baby, it becomes one of the news stories that evening. There is no equivalent relationship with newspaper editors or writers.