It is really amazing the number of people who think we work a three minute day. That is the amount of time we get for a weathercast on a typical 30 minute newscast. Today is a fairly routine day for me…
The alarm rings at 4:52 a.m., and I make the long walk to the home office for a three hour radio/Internet shift. From 5:00 until 8:00, I handle the weather on 25 radio stations around the country, in places as far away as Phoenix, Arizona and Lynchburg, Virginia. Most of the radio cuts are MP3 files that I load to the jamesspann.com web server. I do some live visits with the various radio personalities as well every morning.
During that time I also do the morning video update for the ABC 33/40 web site (I usually get that done between 5:00 and 6:00), and write an article for this very web log (blog). I also manage to get our 7 year old to the school bus stop and spend a little time with my wife. Many mornings during active weather our entire forecast team will be on an instant message conference for forecast coordination and planning.
At 9:00 this morning, I will do a program on meteorology for the second graders at Deer Valley Elementary school in Hoover. Then, I drive quickly down I-459 to Rocky Ridge Elementary for another weather program at 10:00. These will be great fun since I also teach many of the same kids from both schools Sunday mornings during children's worship at Hunter Street Baptist Church. You can read more about my church here:
http://www.hunterstreet.org
Then, at 11:30, I will change hats and speak at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, where I am President of the Board of Trustees this year. It is my honor to serve in this capacity; the needs of Alabama children and families are great. You can learn more about our ministry here: http://www.abchome.org/
From the meeting I roll over to ABC 33/40 in Riverchase, where I feed more weather cuts to the 25 radio stations, do the afternoon web video, write another discussion for the blog, and prepare the graphics for our news at 5:00 and 6:00 using the afternoon forecast package written by J.B. Elliott. J.B.'s work is a real life-saver; by him working the afternoon forecast shift I am able to speak to school kids every day.
During the day I read over 100 e-mail messages... about one out of every four require a require a response. That is how I set up all of the school visits and other speeches. With a laptop, and wireless Internet access in many places now, I can answer e-mail at just about any place at any time.
I simply have no way to deal with the telephone; if I start downloading all of those messages it eats up too much time. I have Jason Simpson on the job handling all the phone calls.
At 6:30, it is home to spend the dinner hour with my family. That is one of the most important parts of my day. Of course, if the weather is severe I stay right here.
Then, back to the studio for the 10:00 news. At some point between 8:00 and 11:00 nightly, I write the morning forecast package and discussion. If you check the seven day discussion page, you will see that I post the morning discussion sometime around 10:00 nightly.
Most nights I get to bed sometime between midnight and 1:00. A long day, but it is a job I love. I am truly living the dream. A little fatigue? You bet. But, it is all worth it.
The alarm rings at 4:52 a.m., and I make the long walk to the home office for a three hour radio/Internet shift. From 5:00 until 8:00, I handle the weather on 25 radio stations around the country, in places as far away as Phoenix, Arizona and Lynchburg, Virginia. Most of the radio cuts are MP3 files that I load to the jamesspann.com web server. I do some live visits with the various radio personalities as well every morning.
During that time I also do the morning video update for the ABC 33/40 web site (I usually get that done between 5:00 and 6:00), and write an article for this very web log (blog). I also manage to get our 7 year old to the school bus stop and spend a little time with my wife. Many mornings during active weather our entire forecast team will be on an instant message conference for forecast coordination and planning.
At 9:00 this morning, I will do a program on meteorology for the second graders at Deer Valley Elementary school in Hoover. Then, I drive quickly down I-459 to Rocky Ridge Elementary for another weather program at 10:00. These will be great fun since I also teach many of the same kids from both schools Sunday mornings during children's worship at Hunter Street Baptist Church. You can read more about my church here:
http://www.hunterstreet.org
Then, at 11:30, I will change hats and speak at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, where I am President of the Board of Trustees this year. It is my honor to serve in this capacity; the needs of Alabama children and families are great. You can learn more about our ministry here: http://www.abchome.org/
From the meeting I roll over to ABC 33/40 in Riverchase, where I feed more weather cuts to the 25 radio stations, do the afternoon web video, write another discussion for the blog, and prepare the graphics for our news at 5:00 and 6:00 using the afternoon forecast package written by J.B. Elliott. J.B.'s work is a real life-saver; by him working the afternoon forecast shift I am able to speak to school kids every day.
During the day I read over 100 e-mail messages... about one out of every four require a require a response. That is how I set up all of the school visits and other speeches. With a laptop, and wireless Internet access in many places now, I can answer e-mail at just about any place at any time.
I simply have no way to deal with the telephone; if I start downloading all of those messages it eats up too much time. I have Jason Simpson on the job handling all the phone calls.
At 6:30, it is home to spend the dinner hour with my family. That is one of the most important parts of my day. Of course, if the weather is severe I stay right here.
Then, back to the studio for the 10:00 news. At some point between 8:00 and 11:00 nightly, I write the morning forecast package and discussion. If you check the seven day discussion page, you will see that I post the morning discussion sometime around 10:00 nightly.
Most nights I get to bed sometime between midnight and 1:00. A long day, but it is a job I love. I am truly living the dream. A little fatigue? You bet. But, it is all worth it.
on March 16, 2005, 10:43 pm
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4 to 5 hours sleep...... you are not much younger than I am, but I could not keep up with you!
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I handle the weather on 25 radio stations around the country, in places as far away as Phoenix, Arizona and Lynchburg, Virginia.
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What do you do if your Internet connection goes down!<G>
Chuck
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