During my final days of working in TV weather, I shared on social media 20 lessons I’d learned over my 25-year span in TV news. If you aren’t on Facebook, you may not have seen any of these, so I’m copying them here on my blog with a tweak or two. I hope you enjoy this peek inside the TV news business as much as I enjoyed sharing.
#17 and #18 are fairly short so they are combined into one post. Keep an eye on your inbox for other lessons on my list in the days to come. If you haven’t signed up for email updates yet, you can do so under “contact” at the top of this page.
#17 I AM NOT A WEATHER GIRL
The term “weather girl” is finally being phased out, but still exists. I have learned most people aren’t trying to be offensive when they use the title for a female meteorologist, but to quote Maya Angelou, “When you know better, do better.”
It’s irritating to the women who’ve studied math and science and worked tirelessly in their jobs to be labeled this way. Since there is no such thing as a “weather boy” there shouldn’t be a “weather girl” either.
Weather girls are singing duos and horrible film names, but not titles for female meteorologists and weather reporters.
➡️ “Being called a ‘weather girl’ needs to become a thing of the past. It had its place in history but rarely does today. Women on TV can also be scientists. It’s that simple – to inspire kids in science, especially young women, so we make female scientists less of an anomaly.” – Ginger Zee
#18 WORKING ALONE
Working at a local news station is nothing like working at a national network. Unlike what you see in the movies, there isn’t a whole team of people helping us work. Most meteorologists are all alone in the weather office (except during severe weather, and sometimes even then).
Every day I made my own forecast, updated graphics, styled my own hair, applied my own makeup, troubleshot computer problems or internet outages, and so on and so forth.
Of course, there are many people who work behind the scenes (managers, producers, directors, writers, camera operators, etc) to get the news on TV, but the meteorologist is almost always solely responsible for what you see during their TV weathercast. Knowing that it’s MY name and MY reputation on the line for my work made me take a lot of pride in my daily efforts and focus.
➡️ “At the end of the day you can’t control the results, you can only control your effort level and your focus.” – Ben Zobrist
➡️ “Focus on being productive instead of busy.” – Tim Ferris
➡️ “The secret to multitasking is that it isn’t actually multitasking. It’s just extreme focus and organization.” – Joss Whedon
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