Big Weather is Dead
Another media giant loses to independent creators. Maybe the clouds are racist after all.
Big Beer wasn’t too big to fail. Neither was Hollywood or the mainstream media.
But who thought The Weather Channel would end up on the culture war gallows?
In 1982, San Diego meteorologist John Coleman and newspaper owner Frank Batten launched The Weather Channel to satisfy a need for an around-the-clock forecast in a rapidly growing 24-hour world.
Unfortunately, Coleman left after a year due to unspecified “internal friction.” Was it over money? Or did someone have too much at the one-year anniversary party?
If this 2014 interview is any indication, they might’ve split over politics.
For a good laugh, check out this 9-minute clip from CNN’s Reliable Sources, where you can see the late Coleman scold a much thinner yet balding Brian Stelter over “global warming,” as they called it at the time.
If you wondered if the climate debate was relevant enough in the early 1980s to end a business partnership, you might be surprised to learn that the argument goes back to the 1800s, when scientists discovered the greenhouse effect.
Yet The Weather Channel didn’t directly address the matter in its infancy. At least not publicly.
Back in the day, TWC offered little more than automated jazz-soundtracked forecasts, which mostly entertained patients in dental office waiting rooms and lulled people to sleep after watching The Exorcist.
Yet, as the company expanded and technology advanced, producers found new opportunities to offer not only weather information but also to theorize about the climate, mainly through their website.
As with most version one websites, users found crude designs that offered basic weather info. And it was a big deal when they added Flash-based weather radar.
But as TWC hired more developers and content creators, they eventually deployed the scare tactics, much of which targeted young people at climate.weather.com.
In 2008, they gave ‘Climate and Green’ its own spot on the navigation bar:
A few years later, star anchors Al Roker and Stephanie Abrams invited left-leaning comedian Lewis Black on-air to belittle people who “questioned the science.”
Yet despite all this, most everyday Americans didn’t care to answer the climate question. We just wanted to know if the ball game would be rained out or if we could plan on shoveling in the morning.
Then, 2020 happened, and anyone looking for the wind chill would find tons of CV data such as trends, confirmed cases, and death counts.
That’s when people sensed something in the wind, and it became more apparent that Big Weather was just as much part of the establishment as CNN, MSNBC, and everyone else.
They had their fun in the sun. At least until independent creators stole their thunder.
Rise of Independent Weather
Ryan Hall wanted to be the weatherman, so he took to the local news station's green screen.
But in 2021, Hall revolutionized the weather game by abandoning the traditional studio for YouTube, offering regional forecasts and live storm coverage to about two million subscribers today.
The Weather Channel, Fox Weather, and AccuWeather’s YouTube accounts have about 2.5M followers combined as I write this.
With a growing team of editors, meteorologists, storm chasers, and now a field reporter, “The Y’all Squad” and viewers directly help victims of severe weather with cash, supplies, and even vehicle donations.
But Hall isn’t Big Weather’s only threat.
Storm chaser, educator, and inventor Reed Timmer, who earned a doctorate in meteorology and starred on Discovery’s Storm Chasers, takes viewers into the fray with his signature “Dominator” vehicle, along with drones and small aircraft.
By speaking at public events, teaching classes, and streaming his storm chases, Timmer surely already inspired the next generation of meteorologists.
Pecos Hank, another tornado trailer and YouTuber, adds an artistic twist with philosophical narrations to his adventures and creates weather-related photography, art, and documentaries.
Hank even contributed to the field after discovering a new electrical discharge in the upper atmosphere during storms called “Ghosts.”
Big Weather Extremists
While researching this stuff, I noticed an unfamiliar logo at the bottom of weather.com. Not the Weather Company or the Georgia Peach, but this thing:
Weather Underground? Weren’t those leftist terrorists back in the 1970s?
Thought so. Why is The Weather Channel associated with an entity named after a terrorist organization?
In 1995, Jeff Masters founded an Internet weather application at the University of Michigan, creatively naming it UM-Weather.
Later, the National Science Foundation, a sister company to the National Institute of Health, of all people, asked Masters to write a funding proposal to expand his work.
But the NSF suggested the team replace UM-Weather with something else. For whatever reason, but probably because they’re communist sympathizers, they settled on “The Weather Underground.”
That was the era where you could name a company Yahoo and get away with it…So sure, why not name your company after a terrorist group? -Jeff Masters
Yet here we are, toppling Confederate statues, redesigning state flags, and renaming centuries-old Army posts for “being offensive.”
Just the double standard doing its thing.
Filling The Void
But most people aren’t deserting Big Weather because of the green agenda or communist logos buried in home page footers.
There's a void in this increasingly remote, virtual, and globally governed world, and people are hungry for genuine human connections, something The Weather Channel can’t, or won’t, offer.
They’re more interested in getting clicks and views by exaggerating wind conditions, like the anchor in this video.
With live streaming chat, meet-ups, and community fundraising, viewers not only interact with these underdog creators and other members but also see how their donations help people in need.
Unlike taxes.
Last year, Ryan Hall’s “The Y’all Squad,” a 501c(3) non-profit organization, donated over $100,000 in relief after the Rolling Fork, MS tornado outbreak, delivered thousands to victims in Cole and Shawnee, OK, and brought $40,000 in aid to Perrytown, TX, to name a few.
So far in 2024, dozens of Americans have died from severe weather, including a 4-month-old baby, with countless injured. Not to mention the many displaced families who may struggle with the fallout for the rest of their lives.
Yet I don’t see anyone from TWC or their parent company, Landmark Media, who rakes in millions a year, handing out one lousy blanket, gift card, or water bottle to anyone in these grief-stricken states.
But maybe I’m just being racist. That stuff’s reserved for illegals.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. -Bob Dylan
US Invasion Casualty of the Week: Jacques Price
Jacques Price, an avid skater, was riding his skateboard and minding his own business when a criminal alien ran him over, killing him. The alien, who entered the United States illegally in 2019, has a lengthy criminal record, including drug, assault, and armed robbery charges, according to prosecutors.
Jacques leaves behind his family, including a 5-year-old son and twin brother.
Those interested can make donations to the family here.
Brand of the Week: Angel Studios
Speaking of underdog creators, Angel Studios, which produced hits like Sound of Freedom, After Death, and The Shift, has amassed over 9 billion views, 26 million app downloads, and $300 million at the box office.
Paying Guild members can access these headliners, plus a library of movies, kids’ shows, and standup comedy. Not a member? Not a problem. Head to angel.com to find free content paid forward by theater donors and monthly paying members.
Loved this article! Your opening was spot on and the interview on CNN with Coleman and Stelter was really entertaining! Great topic!