Recently I realized that this November will be my 30-year anniversary forecasting weather on Portland television stations. I’ve been extremely fortunate to spend my entire career in the same TV market I grew up in.

So why not a fun post covering all the changes in those 3 decades? It’s been a great and (sometimes) challenging ride for a weather geek from small towns in the Pacific Northwest. Don’t miss the throwback pics at the end.

HOW DID I GET HERE?

Of course going back 30 years those memories get a bit “hazy”. If I recall correctly, the first evening was on Saturday November 13th, 1993. That was at KOIN-TV and I can still hear anchor Ken Boddie say something like “don’t worry dude, there’s only about 70,000 people watching you”…and laughed. Anxiety through the roof! I also remember Randy Querin (KOIN meteorologist) asking if I knew how to talk on TV because “I don’t care if we put a monkey on TV, I’m tired of working all these extra days”. Not an exact quote, but something close. I was just a small town 24-year old guy with a great love for weather and meteorology, but had only done some occasional “TV weather” over at Columbia Cable in Vancouver for a month. By the way, I had worked for (and liked) a private forecasting company (Micro-Forecasts) for 2 years straight out of college in Portland and Hood River 1991-93. But there had been some financial issues so it was time to look for another job. I never intended to go into television, but interviewed and was hired at KOIN when the previous company boss asked “how much of next month’s paycheck do you really need?”. Yeah, definitely time to move on.

I survived that first evening on TV in 1993 and somehow did just fine over there at KOIN the following 7 years. Those were good times and great memories were made. I figured I would stay there much longer. By the late 1990s I was the 10pm weekday “FOX-49 NEWS AT 10″ weather anchor, working alongside Jim Little, a longtime Portland TV meteorologist. All through the 1990s KOIN had produced KPDX’s 10pm newscast. But I left KOIN in 2000 because KPDX decided to start their own news operation at a new building off Hwy 26 in Beaverton. They brought over 3 of the 4 anchors (including me), so now I was “the main guy”! That was an exciting time since all was brand new here. That lasted two years, then our company traded TV stations with Fox Corporation. We merged with KPTV, swapped affiliations (FOX49 became FOX12), and shut down the 10pm KPDX newscast midsummer 2002. Rod Hill and I were suddenly not competitors, but “co-chief meteorologists” (strange) for 9 months before he headed over to KATU to take the chief met job there. From that point until now (21 years) nothing has changed dramatically. Just the weather graphics, coworkers, news music, fresh carpet etc… It’s been a ride!

HOW IS FORECASTING/METEOROLOGY DIFFERENT?

This is the biggest change. There was really no internet in 1993 for day to day forecasting. Once per hour or so we saw official readings from cities/airports and that was it for observations. For example, we generally had no idea at a specific time what was happening between PDX and Redmond (along Hwy 26) unless someone called and let us know it was dumping at Government Camp, or Sandy Nowadays there are hundreds of weather sensors across every state. No weather maps came in on computer then, instead we had a big “map wall” where paper maps were hung after they came off a FAX machine. We could access maybe 3 real low resolution models compared to nowadays. No high resolution models showing Pacific Northwest terrain, and no decent radar coverage. Portland only had a weak 1957-era radar at the airport so nothing could really be seen out along the coastline. Everyone was doing 5-day forecasts on TV, and even those were sometimes sketchy because just ONCE per day the MRF model went out to 5 days on the maps we accessed. So even though there was FAR less information available, that actually made forecasting quicker/simpler than now. A rainy period was just labelled “periods of rain” instead of “morning rain” or “rain beginning in the early evening” on specific days. Because the change has been so gradual, I don’t think most folks realize how much more specific we are with forecasting now. The map wall went away around 2000 or so as online maps/models became commonplace. There were no weather apps, no widespread phone use, etc… back then. Kids, you actually had to go to a location to dial someone on a phone connected to a line!

WHAT HAS CHANGED IN TV NEWS AND WEATHER BROADCASTING?

Far more news! I think it was 5pm, 6pm, 11pm in 1993. Add in a 1-2 hour morning show, plus noon, and that’s something like 5-6 hours of news a day. Nowadays we produce 14 hours of news each day at KPTV/KPDX. Back then we didn’t produce any content for social media or apps; in fact I have no idea what we spent 8 hours doing back then! There was almost no buildup or hype with snow/ice 30 years ago; that started in the late 1990s in the Portland TV market and then went wild with social media in the 2010s. If I recall correctly, 3 or 4 of the 4 PDX TV stations with news departments had helicopters through the early 2000s, now none of them do with leaner budgets.

The other big change is weather graphics technology. Think of the change in computer technology in 30 years; we can do SO MUCH MORE compared to even 20 years ago. Many graphics are automated of course and our graphics systems ingest numerous models. TV meteorologists currently have better broadcast graphics tools than at any time in the past. I just love the ability to make almost any sort of graphic to explain a weather pattern or event.

SOME UNIQUE EXPERIENCES

I’ve had some unique experiences in this career. I went skydiving, did a live weather broadcast from Sea World’s shark tank…10 feet under…with sharks swimming between my legs. I flew with the Hurricane Hunters through Hurricane Georges. I’ve gone scuba diving in a Cascade lake, swam in a shark tank (again) at some boat show…strange and I don’t remember why. For about a year at KOIN the weather team worked full-time out of OMSI. Working in a science museum with smart people was a very unique. That didn’t work out long-term because we were just too removed from our coworkers. I watched Keiko the orca (in a plane) fly out of Newport headed to Iceland, visited hundreds of school classrooms, and talked to many older organizations. My favorite school visit was when a bunch of kids looked out the window and asked “where’s your Lamborghini”? Haha. No, just a Toyota.

GOOD BOSSES & GREAT COWORKERS

I’ve been very fortunate to have almost no crazy bosses. The TV news world seems to be filled with some real weirdos but I’ve avoided most of them and have had great management here for at least the last 20 years. Most of my coworkers and fellow meteorologists have been wonderful. Although…over two decades ago I did have one meteorologist tell me he “had X-ray vision and could see through clothing”…without smiling. He was serious, some weird stuff there; only worked here for a year or so.

ADVICE FOR YOUNGER FOLKS

I’m no career counseling expert, but just a few things I’ve noticed over time

• Perfectionists don’t do well in TV news. I’ve seen people leave or let go over this. Folks, we’re making “news sausage” in a “news factory” here. I mean you do your best work, but you are on a strict timeline. Sometimes it’s not perfect. This is a fast, and sometimes exhausting, business. But that can be fun too! Ah, the thrill of just barely making it on-air at just the right moment…what a rush!
• Be flexible. Have some give and take. Do you really need to leave at EXACTLY the same time each day? Maybe earlier sometimes and later others? Does it REALLY matter if that new weather graphics title banner is blue or dark blue? No. Don’t be the employee that complains about everything, choose your battles.
• But…stick up for yourself and don’t let management or bosses roll over you.
• Have some fun at work! Stop being so serious.

A few fun pics from the past. This is the KIRO-TV internship my senior year at University of Washington. Look at that scared kid, I swear I really was 21, not 14.

Then a very brief stint at Columbia Cable doing a recorded short afternoon news program in 1993. They sent us to a salon and suddenly i had big hair

Micro-Forecasts in Hood River about the same time. Check out those socks and tucked in shirt!

At KOIN-TV around 1995, at 26 I was finally looking like 18 or so. Check out that fancy new terrain imagery with a little 3D flight through the clouds. A 10 second flight would take maybe a half hour to render.

The new weather center at KPDX in 2000, I’m finally looking like a 25 year old, but 31. Some hair highlights because I’ve always been so…fashion forward. Boss told me to stop doing it because I “was a little old for that”.

We were the very first USA TV station to use realistic terrain (like Google maps) or so we were told in 2003. Someone in promotions decided to call it PINPOINT TERRAIN MAPPING. Some strange branding…but a fun promo shoot from 2003. Look at those kids…

In 2011 someone cut my head out of a huge banner on a building near the Convention Center. Of course this would just been gold for social media…but my boss (wisely) didn’t want me to mention the “crime” on social media or on-air. It could inspire a copycat crime! I still wonder if someone has my head somewhere in a garage, dungeon, or bedroom. Strange stuff once again!

My news buddies Wayne Garcia and Shauna Parsons at the Starlight Parade in 2019. I think this is the last one we did together. I spent more time on the anchor desk with these two than anyone else in my career. Our kids went from babies to adults during our time together. 2002-2015 with both, then all the way until last year with Wayne when Shauna went to mornings. Just GREAT memories for 20 years.

Thanks for watching, listening, and reading all these years; hopefully there will be many (well, not 30) more!

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