An OnMilwaukee.com Special Feature

"Everywhere that I’ve lived and worked, everybody thinks their weather is the most extreme."

That’s the sentiment of Rachael Glaszcz, a news producer at WTMJ-4, who has worked and lived in several Midwestern markets throughout the course of her career.

As we trudge through another winter, thinking we’ve got it the worst — and we hear about it the most on TV — industry insiders say that’s not quite right.

Everyone, everywhere complains about their city’s weather and its weather coverage. Yet for the most part, every TV station reports on it the same way. The only difference is that when a storm socks New York City, it's national news. When Mother Nature dumps a foot of snow on Milwaukee, we just call it winter.

"If there’s something weather-related going on, as a producer, you’re either leading with it or you have it somewhere in what’s called the ‘A block,’ which is the first chunk of news before a commercial break," says Glaszcz, who’s worked in Topeka, Kansas City, Columbus and Milwaukee.

Jan Wade, general manager of WISN-12, agrees.

"Different weather situations happen in cities like this, from other cities where I’ve been," says Wade. "You have severe weather in winter here, as well as tornados. In the south, in Tampa for example, you may have a lot of sunshine, but you also have hurricanes. When you have unique weather situations like those, weather becomes even more important than it would be in Knoxville, Tenn., where I also spent a lot of time. In these unique and extreme weather markets, both warm and cold, there are unique obligations and opportunities here when it comes to weather."

But in a changing media landscape — one that allows us to find weather on computers, on Siri on our phones, through Twitter and more, why are TV stations still expecting us to tune in for a forecast?

"It has to do a lot with liking the person that you watch," says Tom Wachs, a meteorologist at WITI-FOX6. "We’ve heard from a lot of people who will say, ‘I want to get my news from a person.’"

In Milwaukee, one of the people viewers have turned to for decades is Vince Condella, the senior meteorologist at FOX6. He’s been in this market for 33 years, only slightly less than WTMJ-4’s John Malan.

"Here’s the thing," notes Condella. "With a lot of the online sources, the computer model has a grid point over your ZIP code, and it just cranks out some numbers based on this one model."

But, he says, real weather forecasting requires a human-machine mix. "We can interject our own opinions, and our own thoughts, and history. We can provide that interpretation for the viewer."

Don’t Fear The Hype

So now, in a crowded media landscape, TV must compensate by being louder.

"That’s what they do, says Condella. "A lot of local TV stations seem to be doing the same thing, almost like the same Weather Channel model. They say, ‘We’ll take this situation and we’ll go crazy.’"

"The thing that I can never figure out is: What’s their motivation? Why would hyping or talking about a weather situation like your hair’s on fire, be attractive to the viewer? I’m not sure why. We know that people tune in to local TV stations to get weather information. That’s a given. It’s always been that way, especially during severe weather. How does it behoove a station to present it in such a frenetic way to the viewer? I am always baffled as to how that helps."

One thing Condella does know is that the news department from his station isn’t pushing him in one direction or the other. He says it's the meteorologists who decide when to cut into programming, not his boss.

Says Condella, "We just run it by news director John (LaPorte). "He’ll say, ‘How severe is this situation? How potentially life threatening or property damage threatening is it? Can we hold off a little bit during a commercial break or something?’ Their attitude’s always been the same."

That is not necessarily how things are at other Midwestern stations, where severe weather is just as frequent.

Wachs, who most recently worked in Kansas City, says hype was the name of the game there.

"Their philosophy was that weather will often drive ratings," he says. "Especially in severe weather, people will watch, of course. Their thinking is, ‘The longer we stay on the more people will tune in, and that way they’ll be able to hold the people to the next show.’ It just got so frustrating because we would try to say, ‘Look, there’s no more threat.’ It doesn’t matter."

Says Condella, "I don’t know whether TV stations are thinking, ‘Do we need to jazz things up? Do we need to enhance things a little bit? Do we need to hype the weather a little bit now?’"

"There’s a lot of people that have an interest in weather, and that’s a great thing. The overall trend in media is that you are seeing a lot more weather coverage today than you may have several years ago, from the hype factor."

However, Condella says one real reason that stations make a big deal out of weather is fear.

Some people have a legitimate fear of bad weather or driving in bad conditions, he says, and that has not changed over time.

"We see so many people out there that have a real fear of various weather events, and that’s always been there. There’s obviously always been the fear of tornadoes, but in talking to my different colleagues around the country, I really don’t think we’re any more unique than any other city in that regard."

But even if it seems like there’s more weather than ever on Milwaukee TV news, Glaszcz says the standard time allocated to that segment has always been around 2-2 1/2 minutes. That can change if it’s a big news day, a long stretch of uneventful summer weather, or something looming on the radar.

Condella says in the early ‘80s, some Milwaukee stations briefly experimented with putting weather at the end of a newscast, but that didn’t last long. Now, weather runs at roughly the same time on every station in Milwaukee.

"We talk with everybody ahead of time," Glaszcz says. "The weather people are very good about telling us producers (they’ve) got a lot going on today. Plus, if it’s Thursday, Friday, we’ve got the weekend forecast to get through so we can use extra time. We as producers are accommodating for that up in the news time. We’re taking time away from that to give to weather."

Yet, to some average viewers, it looks less like simple planning and can even seem manipulative. So much so, that one Milwaukee woman took to Twitter to poke fun at the city’s perceived weather obsession with the handle @WeatherBitch.

"Why is it hyped? Because it’s something we’re all interested in," says @WeatherBitch, who never tweets using her real name, but has lived in several places where people get fired up about weather. "Sure, some are more interested than others, but, in general, everyone wants to know what the coming day(s) will be like. Will we have to change plans? Wear heavier or lighter clothes? Bring sunscreen or an umbrella?

"Milwaukee needs to get a grip about the weather. I’ll tweet my way through a severe storm, tornado warnings, and whatever else, because I want to know, but also to inform others. I have received threats and a ton of hatred, almost entirely from men. I don’t take that seriously, either, because I can’t; it’s too ridiculous."

Of course, a lot of this comes down to revenue – and weather increases viewership and sells ads.

"News is a very important component of revenue," says Wade at WISN. "Therefore weather is a big part of news. Often times weather is news. Weather, when you do research, is always a driver and always a very important thing that the viewer always wants to know. What is the weather going to be like when I drive to work? What’s it going to be like when I go to lunch today? At my bus stop, what do I need to put my child in, in terms of clothing? There is nothing more important than weather."

@WeatherBitch, who has more than 1,000 Twitter followers, is a little more skeptical: "I can only speculate that it must be good for ratings, or that they like fear-mongering. There’s usually nothing a crawl across the bottom of the screen and occasional breaks in regular programming can’t handle."

Lake Effect

Of course, forecasting in Milwaukee is significantly more complicated than it is in, say, Phoenix or San Diego.

"There are a lot of TV markets where it’s much easier, but every location has its own quirks," says Condella.

"Each area does have its own unique sort of micro-climate. Lake Michigan, yep, it’s a challenge, no question about it, but boy, so many other places are equally as tough."

Says Glaszcz, "You can look at a weather map, but you really have to have somebody who can interpret it and really get into the nitty gritty of the details to actually give you the weather and the details of when exact timing on things, exact amounts of whatever. That’s always stayed the same."

Storm Team Coverage

When it comes to severe weather, the meteorologists and news directors make no apologies about coverage or perceived hype.

Says Glaszcz, "There’s always a fine line. Our jobs are to tell people when their lives are in danger. The thing that we probably get the most calls about is when you’re watching your favorite TV show, and it’s the last five minutes, and all of a sudden (there's a) weather alert coming on. We’re not going to try to do that just to make ourselves look good."

At Channel 4, Glaszcz says the decision to break into programming is also made by the news director and the chief meteorologist when possible. It can get complicated when the severe weather doesn't cover the entire viewing area.

"It’s hard when the warning can be in Oak Creek, but it doesn’t affect the viewers on the North Side and they’re watching their favorite TV show, but the people in Oak Creek really need to know and we cover that area. We need to tell them."

Says Condella, "On severe weather days, we will meet with management, we meet with the newsroom, keep everyone informed. If it’s a case where we need to cut into programming, depending on the situation, we’ll rely on management in some cases as well where let’s say if it’s not an urgent, pressing issue, maybe we can go in during the commercial break."

And while viewers may not think about it, stations, as a part of their license, have a mandate from the FCC to keep viewers informed and safe.

"There is nothing more important than what we do in our local communities, from that standpoint," says Wade.

Says WISN-12 News Director Chris Gegg, "Public safety is our news department’s number one priority, and when something is breaking, whether it’s breaking news or severe weather, we are going on camera."

Shrinking Budgets

The Milwaukee broadcast stations employ a total of 18 meteorologists/weather reporters, not counting support staff. WTMJ and WITI lead the pack with five, and WISN and CBS-58 have four.

Still, budget crunches have affected every newsroom, and some stations have repurposed their meteorologists to occasional reporting duty.

"Personally, I really like that in the sense that we are very much focused on weather," says Wachs. "Not to say that we don’t go out to the State Fair. We do, but a lot of times, (my previous station) would send me to the circus. I dressed up as a clown once in Kansas City."

"When I did the Harley Davidson 95th reunion," says Condella, "we had a thing on the website – I loved it – where we had voters vote on what kind of facial hair I should grow. I remember a couple of people at the time said through letters and email, ‘You're totally killing your credibility,’ but you know, I’m still here today."

Says Wachs, "I loved doing that kind of stuff, but you might be seeing more of that just because news staffs need to be stretched a little bit. But as for sending a weather person to a news conference? I don’t know how I feel about that."

But, Glaszcz concedes that the meteorologists are TV stars in this market.

"It comes by their nature because they’re always on, and we look to local news for weather, and those are the faces that we see," she says. "It would be anybody. If I was a weather person and I were the chief or whatever, and I was on giving the weather, I would be a celebrity. It comes with the nature of the job. It’s never like they don’t seek that out. It’s just the way it is."

Appointment TV

Viewers can gripe on social media or at the water cooler, but whether they like it or not, weather still drives ratings.

Says Condella, "If you have a lot of snow falling that’s interrupting traffic you may see the station start a half an hour earlier in the morning. In the markets that I have worked in, I don’t think that Milwaukee is the craziest, by any means. I don’t think that it is necessarily over-doing it. I mean, there’s a definite difference. It’s not overly crazy … but there is more of it."

Will TV weather continue to be "appointment" viewing in the years to come? Condella isn’t so sure.

Says Condella, "It definitely has changed, but some stuff has stayed the same. I mean, you can pretty much go anywhere and at 10:23 or 10:18 p.m. (and the weather is on). I don’t really understand that. Is it like scheduled weather? Is that still relevant in 2015?"

For weather enthusiasts like @WeatherBitch, it’s already changed.

"I get my weather info from many sources, including Twitter, broadcast news, and looking out my damn window. Hey, bitches, it’s starting to rain in Franklin. That’s not really genius-level reporting there. I’m just passing along information. On Twitter, I follow some local reporters and weather broadcasters, fire and police, MCTS, NASA, NOAA, and a bunch of other weather nerds."

"It’s all going to be Internet-based," predicts Wachs. "You’re seeing more and more local news. I believe a lot of stations do that because producing local news is a lot cheaper than syndicated programming."

"You have to be aggressive on air and online," says Gegg. "Our mobile product soars whenever there is severe weather because people are online looking at the warnings, looking at the radar, tracking the storms themselves."

Adds Wachs, "The plus side is it also gives us an opportunity to get to the viewer in a non-traditional news time. Let’s say for example that we have snow when it wasn’t in the forecast. We can quickly get that out on social media, so that’s why we encourage our viewers to follow us on social media."

Try following the hash tag #wiwx – the Twitter abbreviation for "Wisconsin weather" – during a Milwaukee storm. It can be a very, well, social experience.

Says Condella, "Now of course, with social media, and with all the various internet outlets, you can really get weather anywhere at the touch of a button, no matter where."

And while online is a new opportunity to monetize weather for the younger viewers who want their news on the web or via their mobile app, Wade also concedes that social media doesn’t directly make her station money – but it falls into the public safety side of the business. That isn’t going to change.

"We have to be in those spaces because that is where viewers are and users are. Users are viewers. Viewers are users. Our obligation is on both platforms, on all platforms, really," she says.

On TV or online, Milwaukee TV stations are only as obsessed about weather as their viewers are – and it comes down to giving what their audience, their advertisers and their FCC mandate demands. It's balancing act between keeping the public safe but not scared.

As long as it snows in the winter and storms in the summer, that isn't going to change.