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This isn't really a surprise nor a big deal but I still find it interesting, given how easy it is to do remote work these days. Still there is a certain irony that perhaps the most local element of every newscast on CityNews Radio is the weather. What's it like outside your front door and what's coming next?
Turns out two often heard voices are nowhere near Toronto and there's no way a casual listener would know. My favourite has to be Carl Lam, a multi-talented broadcaster who also plays concert violin, does weather on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and works with an opera company. How he has time to forecast the weather is beyond me. He lives in Western New York and is often heard live, generally on weekends on 680 and 570 and has even turned up on City TV.
(His work has also been featured on stations in Atlanta, Tampa, Denver, Cleveland, Calgary, Columbus, The BBC, Halifax and Ottawa, among others. Pretty incredible.)
The other is a relative newcomer named Alister Aalders, who is frequently on in the evenings. He's actually based in Nova Scotia and was working for the Saltwire newspaper chain before it was taken over, and contributed forecasts for Rogers' 95.7 All News station in Halifax. Now he can be heard in Toronto.
He has a face for radio, but he's pretty good on air and I find his forecasts generally pretty accurate.
I believe Jill Taylor and Denise Andreacchi both live in the city and can be heard more often than the other two.
And by the way, John Wilson, who does weather forecasts for 570 News and who I used to work with back in the CFTR Top 40 days, appears in Kitchener from his home in London, Ont.
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Jason Frazer is also heard occasionally doing the weather on 680. He used to be located in Cleveland but I believe he's now in New York City.
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RadioActive wrote:
And by the way, John Wilson, who does weather forecasts for 570 News and who I used to work with back in the CFTR Top 40 days, appears in Kitchener from his home in London, Ont.
I have not heard John Wilson on 570 News for months. I only listen in the morning and he may be on during the afternoon, but he used to be on seven days a week virtually all year long. I really liked him. However, 570 has the same forecasters as 680 - weekday mornings its Jill Taylor and on the weekends someone else - often Carl Lam. And you would absolutely think they were in the 570 studios.
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Haven't spoken to John in a while so perhaps he's no longer doing the gig. But I know he was a regular on 570 in the not too distant past.
The weird thing about running your own weather service for a number of radio stations by youtself is that it's very hard to take time off. I recall him once telling me he had to do his forecasts even when he was out of town on vacation somewhere.
The weather never takes a day off but human beings need to.
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RadioActive wrote:
He has a face for radio, but he's pretty good on air
Ouchy!
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I was at 680 News for a bit back in 2006-2007 and already back then Brian Hill was doing the weather from Virginia Beach, VA. We grabbed MP3s off his FTP. Harold Hosein was calling his forecasts in from Mississauga.