Plenty of young people read this blog, including those who are majoring in meteorology and planning on getting into the broadcast business. With graduation time upon us, and seniors on the street looking for that first job, I thought I would post a list of phrases I DON’T want to hear from a television meteorologist on a resume tape…
*”Sunny SKIES”. Look out the window and count the number of skies above. There is only one! I have no idea where the plural thing comes from, but the SKY is sunny (not skies!!
. This is an old, canned TV weather term.
*”High pressure is in firm control of our weather”. Another old, lame TV weather term. Yes, high atmospheric pressure usually means sinking air, and that subsidence leads to dry and fair weather. When people ask me about the weather in the checkout line of the supermarket or the ball park, I have never used that line. On the air we are simply communicating the weather on a one on one basis; we need to talk to the audience that way.
*”The temperature outside is 84 degrees”. Anytime you are doing the weather on television, you are ALWAYS taking about the weather outside, and you don’t have to say that. I don’t think I have ever talked about temperatures inside our studio other than times the air conditioning system is down!
The bottom line is that on a television weathercast you have to simply communicate with your audience like you talk with a person you know. Forget all of the old, canned TV terms; you are simply there to tell a good weather story. Don’t try to be a “TV weather person”, just be yourself!
*”Sunny SKIES”. Look out the window and count the number of skies above. There is only one! I have no idea where the plural thing comes from, but the SKY is sunny (not skies!!
. This is an old, canned TV weather term.*”High pressure is in firm control of our weather”. Another old, lame TV weather term. Yes, high atmospheric pressure usually means sinking air, and that subsidence leads to dry and fair weather. When people ask me about the weather in the checkout line of the supermarket or the ball park, I have never used that line. On the air we are simply communicating the weather on a one on one basis; we need to talk to the audience that way.
*”The temperature outside is 84 degrees”. Anytime you are doing the weather on television, you are ALWAYS taking about the weather outside, and you don’t have to say that. I don’t think I have ever talked about temperatures inside our studio other than times the air conditioning system is down!
The bottom line is that on a television weathercast you have to simply communicate with your audience like you talk with a person you know. Forget all of the old, canned TV terms; you are simply there to tell a good weather story. Don’t try to be a “TV weather person”, just be yourself!
Keep up the good work!!
on May 18, 2006, 8:53 pm
Oh, and just one more... those who describe someones complextion as medium skinned - but pronounce it as if it was spelled SKIN-DID.
Lastly - do you know there is no such thing as a hot water heater??? Why would you need to heat HOT water????
Im Done.
Reply to this comment