Audio Collections Contact Me Downloads Home Images Information Name That Tune Privacy and Terms Search Updates Video
Collections Contact Me Downloads
   
 
Home » Information » History of The Weather Channel

History of The Weather Channel

Page updated: November 29, 2021

Here's a run-down of the major events that have occurred on or at The Weather Channel from its debut to May 2002 (it's 20th anniversary).

May 2, 1982

The big debut
The network signs on the air for the first time from its studios on Mt. Wilkinson Parkways in Atlanta. Premiere meteorologists are Bruce Edwards and Andre Bernier.

1985

OCM arrivals
Jeff Morrow

OCM departures
Andre Bernier

1986

OCM arrivals
Jeanetta Jones, Jim Cantore, and Cheryl Lemke

OCM departures
Karen Minton

June 20, 1986

For Everything You Do
The network relaunches as "The New Weather Channel," and includes a makeover of its on-air presentation complete with new set. New programming included "The Morning Report," "Weather and You," "Weather Watch," "Tomorrow's Outlook," "Pacific Outlook," "The Week Ahead," "This Weekend," and "Weekend Update." The morning and evening programming blocks are now anchored by Liz Jarvis and Dave Nemeth and Dennis Smith and Charlie Welsh, respectively. A new on-air campaign, "You Need Us For Everything You Do," is launched as well.

1987

First special broadcasts
"Eye Of The Storm," a one-hour special with taped and live segments hosted by Colleen Wine, hurricane expert John Hope and meteorologist Glenn Schwartz is broadcast.

OCM arrivals
Dan Pope, Marny Stanier, Mike Bono, Rich Johnson, Marshall Seese, and Keith Westerlage

OCM departures
Gay Dawson, Neal Estano, Jerry Tracey, and Colleen Wine

September 1, 1987

New flavors added
A host of new Local Forecast flavors, including A, B and C (:50); H (1:00); J (3:00); and an unnamed 1:30 that was the forerunner to the more-familiar K flavor that premiered in 1990 debut.

1988

New location
The network relocates its studios to Cumberland Parkway.

OCM arrivals
Vivian Brown, Cindy Preszler, Kam Carman, and Carl Arredondo

OCM departures
Dave Watson and Mary Brown

Specials
"Clash Of Seasons" (severe storms), "Global Crisis" (greenhouse effect), and "John Hope On Hurricanes."

June 1, 1988

First live show debuts
"Drought Watch," a live call-in show, aired twice daily during the summer is broadcast. The show is hosted by John Doyle in the mornings. In July, Jeff Morrow hosts an evening version of the show.

September 1, 1988

Second show debuts and is later cancelled
"WeatherView," a weekend program hosted by Liz Jarvis, premieres. However, the show is discontinued by the end of the year.

September 17, 1988

First major live storm coverage
The network ramps up its commitment to live event coverage, dispatching OCM Dennis Smith and anchor Liz Jarvis to the Gulf of Mexico for on-site coverage of Hurricane Gilbert's landfall.

1989

For Everything You Do
The network upgrades its on-air marketing with a new music cue and graphics for its tried-and-true "For Everything You Do" campaign.

New set debuts
A new set debuts, introducing the "Forecast Center" to viewers.

OCM departures
Dan Pope, Liz Jarvis, and John Doyle

Specials
"Bringing Home The Weather" with Dennis Smith (a series of specials).

April 1, 1989

Flavor changes
A programming lineup overhaul includes the introduction of the I and G :30 second local forecast flavors. Additionally, the J 3:00 flavor moves into weekday prime time after originally being created for the weekend daytime lineup.

November 1, 1989

Morning anchor format discontinued
The anchor format for the morning daypart is discontinued.

1990

Cable Ace Award winner
The network is presented a Cable ACE award from the National Academy of Cable Programming for its coverage of Hurricane Hugo the year before.

OCM arrivals
Dianne Barone and Dave Schwartz

Specials
"Within Our Power" (solar and wind power generation), "Force Four" (Hurricane Hugo), and "Aftershock" (San Francisco earthquake of 1989).

June 1, 1990

Flavor changes
The network updates its morning day-part programming and discontinues all-three :50 LF forecast flavors, but the K flavor makes its premiere.

July 1, 1990

The WeatherSTAR 4000 debuts
The WeatherSTAR 4000 makes its debut on certain cable systems. The new units are a vast improvement over the previous STARs, incorporating animated graphics and current radar composites.

July 2, 1990

The Weather Channel's logo
The Weather Channel logo appears for the first time on the local forecast.

September 1, 1990

Segments dropped
Individual segments such as "Weather Watch" and "The Morning Report" are dropped.

September 20, 1990

The universal playlist debuts
The multiple playlist format is scrapped, with all cable and satellite viewers receiving the same audio feed during local forecast segments. Only the narration differs.

1991

1-900-Weather launches
The network launches its first commercial foray into telecommunications forecasting with 1-900-WEATHER.

Charlie Welsh takes over as narrator during specials
Charlie Welsh takes over as off-camera narrator for specials beginning with "Danger's Edge." A job he holds until his retirement from the network in 1996.

OCM arrivals
Terri Smith, Lisa Spencer, and Tom Chisholm

OCM departures
Dianne Barone, Kam Carman, Kevan Ramer, George Elliott, and Carl Arredondo

Specials
"The Unforgiving Sky" (drought) and "Danger's Edge" (Hurricanes).

February 1, 1991

Weather You Can Always Turn To
The on-air look is updated with new graphics and show openers as the channel adopts its "Weather You Can Always Turn To" campaign.

1992

OCM arrivals
Jodi Saeland, Mike Seidel, Jill Brown (who worked at the network for a brief period in the late 80s), and Rick Griffin (an original staff member who left in 1984)

OCM departures
Vince Miller and Bill Schubert

Specials
Specials this year include "The Enemy Wind" (tornadoes), as well as "The Dark Days Of August" (Hurricane Andrew), and "El Nino: Drought to Deluge."

The Weather Classroom debuts
The Weather Classroom, a daily 10-minute segment for school students, debuts.

August 24, 1992

Around the clock
The network's coverage of Hurricane Andrew's landfall is unprecedented: It goes around the clock for the monster storm's landfall and sends OCMs Dennis Smith and Jim Cantore to Florida to cover the big event.

1993

OCM arrivals
Brad Edwards and Sharon Resultan

Specials
"Fire Safe" (a joint production with the State of California) and "Out of the Blue" (wind shear).

March 12, 1993

Superstorm '93 coverage with two specials
The network goes wall-to-wall with coverage of the east coast Superstorm. It follows that quickly with a "Super Weekend" of specials that included a 30 minute documentary on the storm and "The Climate Puzzle" the day after.

1994

Headlines
"Headlines" debuts and is shown during the 8pm ET hour. The show consists of 10 minutes of continuous weather coverage, followed by a J flavor (also known as the LL flavor) LF. The show runs during 30 minute programming blocks which feature fewer commercials and LFs.

Specials
"The Year The Sky Fell" (active weather from spring to winter '93/'94), "Target Tornado," and "The Burning Season" (wildfires).

1995

Headlines leads to WeatherScope
The network adopts the title "WeatherScope" for its half-hour programming blocks.

OCM arrivals
Kristina Abernathy, Janine D'Adamo (Albert), Gene Rubin (who worked at the network for a brief period during its early days), and Kim Perez (who originally joined the network in 1991 as a forecaster)

OCM departures
Lisa Spencer and Tom Chisholm

Specials
"The Chase" (tornadoes) and "Hurricanes 95: Season on Edge."

February 2, 1995

CompuServe TWCFORUM launches
The network launches a forum on CompuServe. Originally run by Weather Channel employees, forum control is later given to a CompuServe employee shortly thereafter. Around the same time, weather.com debuts as "The Weather Channel Interactive."

March 1, 1995

Flavor changes/narration discontinued
Local Forecast flavors are dramatically consolidated. The "Local Update" page that includes NowCast information from the National Weather Service is added to certain flavors. Narration of the local forecast is discontinued.

January 1, 1996

Custom-made music debuts on the LF
The music of Trammell Starks debuts. Mr. Starks created a set of close to 40 songs that The network would use throughout the next two years. It would later use several of these tracks as background music for its WeatherScan Local channel, as well as back-up music for whenever the regular playlist or WeatherSTAR failed to load (thus replacing the long-standing use of Travel Forecast music).

1996

In-house specials discontinued
Specials produced by the network were discontinued. For nearly four years the network didn't have any specials. Instead, pouring its resources into upgrading its on-air look and live weather coverage.

OCM arrivals
Warren Madden, Dan Atkinson, Lisa Mozer, Paul Emmick, and Bob Stokes

OCM departures
Brad Edwards, Bonnie McLaughlin, and Jodi Saeland

Specials
"The Power of Weather," "Great Weather Disasters," and "Tornado Chase 96."

weather.com relaunch
Weather.com's interface and graphics are upgraded substantially.

March 1, 1996

No Place On Earth Has Better Weather
The network introduces the "No Place on Earth Has Better Weather" campaign which is followed quickly by the most significant makeover of its on-air appearance yet; including new promos, intros, and graphics.

1997

OCM arrivals
Kristin Dodd

Storm experts make their debut
The network begins using more weather experts during storm coverage, with expanded on-air roles for senior forecasters such as Stu Ostro, Colin Marquee and Jamie Simpson.

March 1997

New location and studio
A brand new studio premieres after the network relocates again. Shortly thereafter, TWC discontinues tours of its studio and premises.

1998

Network relaunch
Another on-air makeover includes the renaming of the network's half-hour programming blocks from "WeatherScope" to "WeatherCenter" and the premiere of a very popular, self-deprecating campaign proclaiming "Weather Fans You're Not Alone."

OCM arrivals
Myke Motley and Steve Lyons (who joins John Hope in reporting and analyzing tropical weather developments)

OCM departures
Gene Rubin and Declan Cannon

weather.com relaunch
weather.com receives another upgrade in its appearance.

July 1, 1998

Quarterly LF music playlists debut
The network adopts a standardized, 3-month cycle for its Local Forecast music playlists.

1999

Filler spots debut
P. Allen Smith, a gardening expert (who never seems to get dirty), premieres in special features on the network.

OCM arrivals
Heather Tesch, Paul Goodloe, Carl Parker, John Scala, and Nick Walker

OCM departures
Dan Atkinson

Storm expert arrivals
Paul Kocin (winter weather) and Greg Forbes (severe storms).

The WeatherSTAR XL debuts
The WeatherStar XL premieres on limited cable systems with greatly improved graphics and animation.

2000

OCM arrivals
Kelly Cass, Melissa Barrington, Jennifer Lopez, Jen Carfagno

OCM departures
Bruce Edwards

Specials
In the summer, the network's first traditional documentary program in nearly four years is broadcast.

January 2000

Your Weather Today
"Your Weather Today", a daily two-hour morning program debuts. It stars Marshall Seese and Heather Tesch (anchors), as well Dennis Smith (travel analyst) and John Scala (storm analyst). The show includes a new set in the TWC Forecast Center.

March 2000

First Outlook
"First Outlook", an early-morning program geared toward early-rising professionals debuts. Rick Griffin and Cheryl Lemke host.

Narration returns to the local forecast
Computerized narration is added to portions of the WeatherSTAR XL.

Weekend Now
"Weekend Now", a new weekend morning program with Bill Keneely, Mark Mancuso, Kelly Cass and Melissa Barrington debuts.

August 2000

Atmospheres
TWC's first regularly-scheduled scripted long-form program, "Atmospheres" debuts. The show airs Wednesdays at 8pm. Original broadcasts air until early 2003. Jim Cantore hosts with Boston weathercaster Mish Michaels. It is produced in partnership with an outside production company.

2001

Evening Edition
"Evening Edition", a two-hour program from 9-11 pm ET weeknights debuts in the summer. Original hosts include Paul Goodloe, Carl Parker, Jennifer Lopez and Kristina Abernathy.

OCM departures
Will Annen

Storm Week
Long-form programming development continues with "Storm Week," which includes four new documentary specials premiering over a four-day period.

WeatherSTAR XL update
WeatherSTAR XL's on-air appearance and flavor-lineups are altered that fall to coincide with the network's new on-air appearance.

February 2001

weather.com relaunch
Weather.com's appearance is upgraded once again.

June 2001

Network relaunch
Yet another overhaul of on-air promos and intros is unveiled.

2002

First Outlook
Nick Walker and Kim Perez succeed Rick Griffin and Cheryl Lemke as hosts of "First Outlook."

OCM departures
Mike Bono

Your local 36 hour forecast
The National Weather Service-provided 36-hour forecasts on the WeatherStar XL are dropped in favor of The Weather Channel's own forecast products. Eventually, National Weather Service forecasts are phased out on all WeatherStar platforms.

May 2002

The Weather Channel turns 20
The network commemorates its 20th anniversary with a retrospective and behind-the-scenes special. Around the same time, former Landmark Communications CEO Frank Batten's "The Weather Channel: The Improbable Rise of a Media Phenomenon" hits book stores nationwide.