Scathing review of "1 vs. 100"

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'134375\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 09:27 AM\']
What a shame that someone with such an illustrious career in the #2 market and with network exposure finds himself relegated to local weather in the #49 market (with apologies to all the Buffaloneans who may read this).
[/quote]

You might not feel as sorry for him if you knew what salaries go to meteorologists in those size markets.  The ones in Birmingham, Alabama (which used to be that size) weren't exactly known for paying in food stamps.  Of course, I don't know if Kevin would still prefer national exposure or hosting a game show, but financially he's probably doing all right, not to mention meteorologists tend to hold a lot of importance with many news viewers.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'134382\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 10:59 AM\']
You might not feel as sorry for him if you knew what salaries go to meteorologists in those size markets.  The ones in Birmingham, Alabama (which used to be that size) weren't exactly known for paying in food stamps.  Of course, I don't know if Kevin would still prefer national exposure or hosting a game show, but financially he's probably doing all right, not to mention meteorologists tend to hold a lot of importance with many news viewers.
[/quote]
What he said.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' post=\'134383\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 11:20 AM\']
What he said.
[/quote]

Yeah? And how would *you* know?

Not to go off on a tangent or anything (ok, I guess I am), I wonder what it is about the wackiest person on a TV newscast being the meterologist (not all of them are wacky, so don't take offense, Connecti-Matt!). Our local guy (Chuck Rhodes on 27 out of Harrisburg) is somewhat of a wacky guy, Letterman was when he did the weather, and someone I've heard a lot about (and also wished I'd seen...RIP) Jim O'Brien from WPVI in Philly was wacky as well.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'134389\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 09:31 AM\']
Not to go off on a tangent or anything (ok, I guess I am), I wonder what it is about the wackiest person on a TV newscast being the meterologist (not all of them are wacky, so don't take offense, Connecti-Matt!).
[/quote]
In my experience (and I'm not sucking up here), it's the weatherperson who has to do the most improvising, shucking, and jiving during their segment, so most of the time they are far and away the most talented of the anchors. And talented people tend to have more of a sense of humor about the whole thing.

[mmb5]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'134389\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 12:31 PM\']
Not to go off on a tangent or anything (ok, I guess I am), I wonder what it is about the wackiest person on a TV newscast being the meterologist (not all of them are wacky, so don't take offense, Connecti-Matt!). Our local guy (Chuck Rhodes on 27 out of Harrisburg) is somewhat of a wacky guy, Letterman was when he did the weather, and someone I've heard a lot about (and also wished I'd seen...RIP) Jim O'Brien from WPVI in Philly was wacky as well.
[/quote]
I would think this would go back to the day when the weather guy would also do light features for the station.  Since stations now give their entire news block over to the light features, somebody has to be serious, so it's the weatherperson.

Here in Detroit, we had a gentleman (Sonny Eliot) who would take off part of the Upper Pennisula off the map to squeak it and would mix weather words together "today we'll have frinkles" (fog + sprinkles).  He currently does drive time weather on an all-news station once an hour, and it will include at least three Borscht Belt-level jokes.


--Mike

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'134393\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 01:22 PM\']
I would think this would go back to the day when the weather guy would also do light features for the station.  Since stations now give their entire news block over to the light features, somebody has to be serious, so it's the weatherperson.[/quote]
There was also a period, mostly in the seventies and eighties, when the weather "guy" wasn't a guy at all, but the station's female eye candy. (My wife actually did weather for a while in Lansing.)  Experience didn't matter as long as you looked good and could point to the right spot on your green screen.  

Nowadays, there's an expectation that your weather person is a licensed meteorologist who takes the work seriously, but there are still plenty of old-guard entertainers out there.

[chris319]

I have a hard time believing that a wxman in Buffalo can command the same bucks as a wxman in L.A. It sounds like Kevin ran out of opportunities in L.A. when he returned to Buffalo. By so doing he probably achieved two things: 1) he's a bigger fish in a smaller pond, and 2) in Buffalo he has vastly more job security as it's a less competitive market. He's probably making satisfactory money and can look forward to retiring from his current gig. If he were still in L.A. his chances of getting another game show are pretty much zip as the game show scene is much different now.

The same applies to Bob Hilton.

[DrBear]

From Lewis Black:

"The best job in America has got to be doing the weather in San Diego. You pull down a six-figure income for 30 seconds of work a day.
'So, what's it look like for tomorrow?'
'Uh..................... nice. ................ Back to you.'

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'134403\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 01:01 PM\']
"The best job in America has got to be doing the weather in San Diego. You pull down a six-figure income for 30 seconds of work a day.
'So, what's it look like for tomorrow?'
'Uh..................... nice. ................ Back to you.'
[/quote]
I said that about the weather where I was in Monterey. We could have recorded a canned segment that said "Yeah, highs in the low 60's, partly cloudy, dropping to low 50's and clear overnight", and played it 300 days out of the year.

[mmb5]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'134400\' date=\'Oct 13 2006, 03:53 PM\']
I have a hard time believing that a wxman in Buffalo can command the same bucks as a wxman in L.A. It sounds like Kevin ran out of opportunities in L.A. when he returned to Buffalo. By so doing he probably achieved two things: 1) he's a bigger fish in a smaller pond, and 2) in Buffalo he has vastly more job security as it's a less competitive market. He's probably making satisfactory money and can look forward to retiring from his current gig. If he were still in L.A. his chances of getting another game show are pretty much zip as the game show scene is much different now.

The same applies to Bob Hilton.
[/quote]
I could see that, since most of the ones who left Detroit and came back were a secure #1 here and an insecure #3 there.  We've even had an instance here of the #1 weather guy going to the #3 to be a lead news anchor, only to go back to being the #1 weather guy since it was a guaranteed check.

It could also be a quality-of-life or family thing.  Or he really likes two feet of thundersnow.


--Mike

[chris319]

There is nothing like a steady income, and in the screwy business of television, steady employment is a wonderful thing wherever you can find it, even if it means giving up your aspirations of being the next Bob Barker or Mark Goodson or whoever.

[mcsittel]

Remember though that the bio says he was born and raised in Buffalo.   So having a steady job as the chief weather anchor in your hometown, presumably pulling a 6-digit salary, with family and lifelong friends close by, would be a good life indeed!

Matt  
Chief Meteorologist, the Sittel House (don't tell my wife-who's also a meteorologist!)

[chris319]

Buffalo winters are far more harsh than L.A. winters, though. (Wait, do we even have winters in L.A.?)

[Joe Mello]

Getting back to topic, I can see why some people might have a beef with the show (namely the question difficulty), but I don't think it's worth breaking out the torches and pitchforks over.

Considering how depressing it is to see some of the mob eliminations, it's a pretty "level" playing field, and that's the more important, imo.