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Another WXIA Weather Employee in Addition to the New Chief Meteorologist

M

Mr11WXIA

I looks like now Tom Slater has been added to 11Alive's weather team (fill in or permanent I do not know yet). I researched him and found he was at WTTG Fox 5 in Washington DC and then he left a while back to become the assistant manager at Tractor Supply Co in Warrenton, VA. Don't believe me read it for yourself:http://eitmfans.blogspot.com/2008/05/tom-saters-new-career-path.html
And he is married to Gurvir Dhindsa, who recently relocated back to Fox 5 Atlanta to come back to Good Day Atlanta. There is another story on him you can read about
http://www.aftrasagdcbalt.com/?q=node/61 There's one more interesting story that has to do with his former Fox 5 days in Washington DC, but I'll let you Google it for yourself and once you have all the pieces together, you will have one very interesting new TV personality background. If you can do basic math with all of the stories, you will have a quite a tale.
 
The new Chief Meteorologist is named Tom Sater. He is Gurvir Dhindsa's husband. She is one of the hosts for Good Day Atlanta on Fox5 Atlanta. I cannot say for sure that Tom Sater is still a fill-in freelancer or permanently employed. I had heard a while back that he had a promising outlook for an employment opportunity in Atlanta to be with his family once again.
 
Bue Eyes,  Mike Francis from KARK-TV Little Rock, Arkansas has been named the new WXIA Chief Meteorologist.  There is a distinct difference between Mike Francis (who is completely shaven on his head) and Tom Slater who has a full head of hair.  11Alive is now running TV ads with Mike Francis from the back saying he is coming to 11Alive.  I could be wrong but I do not think they would be advertising Mike so heavily if he was not Paul's replacement.  There have been no TV commercials that I have seen about Tom Slater. 
 
Oh ok, I thought you were referring him as the new chief meteorologist, my bad. I was just trying to clarify the name as you put it as "Slater" and it is "Sater." I did just only scan on your post when I saw you misspell his name wrong.
 
Blue Eyes. Thanks for pointing out the typo. How embarrassing. It's amazing when you spell it correctly more information on him comes up. I probably should have used a more clear title so people knew I meant Tom was added in addition to Mike Francis. I guess with all of the new separate team of anchors for the news broadcasts they plan to add, they needed a bigger weather staff, unless Tom is just a fill in contract worker for now
 
No Biggie, we all goof up once in a while. ;) He may be a fill-in like Orleon Sidney. I am sure he would be wanting a permanent position since his wife is with FOX5.
 
I got to watch Tom just now for 2nd time and this time I was able to see his whole segment. He's very good. I just don't know where he would plug in permanently. I don't want anything to happen to Chris, Mike Francis will have the weekday evening news times, and I actually have gotten used to Chesley's style in the morning and noon news and don't want him gone.
 
I normally do not watch 11Alive unless I need to see something. I totally cannot stand the WIZOMETER. I think it is redundant; if a person cannot guess what kind of day it is by the normal forecast, then there is something wrong. I used to tune in occasionally but that absolutely made me feel that WXIA considers people are stupid. Of course, it is just my opinion.
 
As long as Ellen Crooke is over news, these kind of decisions will be made. They are getting more Edward R Murrow and Emmy awards than before she started so they are better at earning awards and their stories are well done. They just keep reaching in the wrong direction like the WIZ. They thought people would like the simplicity of the number system rather than trying to remember the actual forecast. With all of the marketing dollars they have spent on the graphics and advertising, management doesn't want to admit they made a mistake.
 
Now they've made another mistake with 11Alive traffic jams. What a nightmare! They get rid of long time veteran Jim Basile for a guy who's been in Atlanta for a week and his side kick who is awful. They talked very little traffic, instead wanted people to Facebook, Twitter and text traffic problems. Um- isn't that now illegal while driving?
 
They got rid of Jim Basile and Rob Langer? That's got to be another cost cutting measure. I know for a fact that it looks like those two were in the 11Alive studio but they were located way south of the Monroe Drive TV station studios. That I'm sure was to reallocate their budget for all of the new people coming in the door. Can we just get them to stop making changes? Ellen, go on a six month sabbatical and when you have had your hands off of things for 6 months, maybe someone can accomplish the things you couldn't. In some ways you done a lot of good but you have brought a lot turmoil. Remember, you can only do such much molding to clay before it starts to crumble.
 
They got rid of Jim Basile and Rob Langer? That's got to be another cost cutting measure. I know for a fact that it looks like those two were in the 11Alive studio but they were located way south of the Monroe Drive TV station studios. That I'm sure was to reallocate their budget for all of the new people coming in the door. Can we just get them to stop making changes? Ellen, go on a six month sabbatical and when you have had your hands off of things for 6 months, maybe someone can accomplish the things you couldn't. In some ways you done a lot of good but you have brought a lot turmoil. Remember, you can only do such much molding to clay before it starts to crumble.
 
It goes to prove that some things do not need improving. Why change the way we forecast the weather when our schools cannot get the students to pass their tests? A bit redundant I would suggest, changing things could lead to much confusion, leave the known stuff alone, and teach the newer stuff. This should reply to business too, especially the weather forecasts and whatever else may apply.
 
Well, isn't WXIA along with WUSA are considered the Gannett flagship stations? If so that would explain why they are trying so many experiential concepts like WIZmeter and this chatty Cathy traffic reports rather than official reports like WSB-TV and WAGA.
 
I can tell you that an 11Alive on-air personality told me in person that employees expected some things in the new Monroe Drive studio to be improved and they were not specific but I got the impression they might have been referring to the capsule news studio they moved and the design of the news room. He did say employees were surprised that things which needed updating or changing or issues that needed to be dealt with were not swapped out or still remain issues. They were referring to the facilities though, that they were clear about.
 
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