No Prep – Television weather proves a complicated endeavor
No Prep by Bryan ‘Dub’ Axelson
When I found out that my next No Prep task was going to be doing the weather forecast with Chief Meteorologist Jenna Petracci on WJBF NewsChannel 6, I was pretty excited. I’ve always been fascinated by the weather. It might have started when I watched “Twister” as a kid. Regardless, I’ve always paid extra attention to the weather segments on the news and check my weather app every morning before I get out of bed.
Think about it, the weather affects so many things. It affects how we dress, how we plan our events and activities, and so much more. I was very excited to learn more about what goes into the weather forecast that I watch every night.
Full disclosure, I assumed that I would go to the WJBF studios, learn how things work from Jenna, and then we would record a fake forecast. That sounded great. If I messed up, we could just start over. What I discovered was I would actually be doing the weather forecast on the 5 p.m. news. Live. On television. Where people can see me – and perhaps see me screw up. That made me nervous.
I arrived at the station an hour before I was supposed to go live. Jenna brought me into the weather center, and we got right to work. We only had an hour, so there was no time to waste. She began showing me the different graphics that go into a weather report, and how she builds them. Then she showed me all the weather models that they look at when they’re putting together a forecast. There was a ton of information being thrown at me and there was a little data overload going on. Still, it was pretty amazing to see how much work into a weather report that will probably only last three or four minutes.
Jenna showed me how she handwrites all of the upcoming seven-day forecasts and had me do one as well. She showed me the slides that I would be using on the show, and I sort of rehearsed what I was going to say for her. She liked it, or said she liked it. That left only one thing to do.
Wait.
I kept an eye on the clock. How many more minutes until we went live? It was 30 – a lifetime. Then it was 15. Then ten. Before I knew it, we were heading into the studio and getting ready to go live. Jenna showed me the green screen and where I’d be standing. She also handed me one of the clickers that they use on TV to switch graphics. That made me feel official. I was being entrusted with a clicker.
I also was starting to feel a little more nervous. Jenna told me that I would be on at 5:19pm. As we got closer, I did my best to remain calm, but inside I was freaking out a bit.
I wanted to do well. I didn’t want to mess up.
Before I knew it, the time had come. Jenna started doing the weather report, talking about high pressure, moisture out of the Gulf, and the potential for winter weather. Then it was my turn. I was going to be doing the lows for the night, the highs for the next day and the ten-day forecast.
This was the moment I had been waiting for. There was no turning back. I was live in three…two… one…I can’t tell you what I said. I just started talking and trying to remember what I had rehearsed. In about 90 seconds it was over – on to the next segment. I was told it went well. I hope so.
Here’s what I can tell you. There is an art to TV weather. There were three different monitors, and I found knowing which one to look at a real challenge. Not only that, but also knowing which one to look at while walking from one side of the green screen to the other.
I’ve always respected meteorologists, and after seeing what all goes into the reports that we all watch every night, which has only increased. Thank you to Jenna Petracci and the team at WJBF NewsChannel 6 for having me and helping me because as you know, I had No Prep.
Watch Bryan ‘Dub’ Axelson’s weather broadcast on WJBF NewChannel 6 here.