WGST No Longer Affiliated With The Weather Channel Radio Network

[AMFMRadFan]

Yes, that is correct in the subject line. I just heard a meteorologist from AccuWeather.

 

[AMFMRadFan]

The meteorologist's name is Dave Bowers. More meteorologists are to come.

 

[FLjack2]

This HAD to be a purely financial move. With the Weather Channel based in Atlanta, what local station would ever consider dumping them for Accuweather? ???

 

[jabba17]

This HAD to be a purely financial move. With the Weather Channel based in Atlanta, what local station would ever consider dumping them for Accuweather? ???

Maybe the ComcastNBCUni buyout of TWC has something to do with it...not sure what since ComcastNBC isn't really into radio anymore. Did CC do this as a national deal, perhaps?

Accuweather is coming on strong...TWC is becoming more of a lifestyle channel and that pace has quickened since the ComcastNBC buyout. If you just want the stinkin' weather the accuweather.com website and apps are better than the bloated mess of TWC's digital properties. Not as good in some respects (their radar sucks), but they are constantly improving their products.

 

[AMFMRadFan]

No, this had nothing to do with Comcast NBC Universal buying out The Weather Channel. That was done a couple of years ago. As for the possibility of this being a financial move on WGST's part, yes. This isn't the first time this has happened. Back in either 2005 or 2006 around that time approximately, WGST dumped The Weather Channel for forecasts from FOX5. Then Randy & Spiff started doing the morning show for awhile. Randy & Spiff got split up; Spiff got fired; Randy stayed around. Eventually, WGST brought back The Weather Channel. Then, of course, Randy left WGST to reunite with Spiff at AGH (Atlanta's Greatest Hits) 106.7 FM WYAY. No, Randy & Spiff's presence at WGST had nothing to do with bringing back the TWC affiliation. Does all this mean I will be listening to WGST less? No, I will continue listening to WGST, and the amount of time I spend listening will continue to be the same. As far as TWC Radio Network flagship affiliates are concerned, the closest affiliates are 93.3 The Joy FM WVFJ south of Atlanta along with 4 out of the 5 Rome Radio Partners stations up in Rome: Magjk (pronounced Magic) 1360 AM WGJK, 93.5 Life FM WSRM, Q102-102.3 FM WQTU, and South 107-107.1 FM WTSH. NewsTalk 1470 AM WRGA may have been affiliated with TWC for some time in the past. I don't know when they dumped it for AccuWeather. It would be nice if TWC & AccuWeather merged, but the chances of that happening are very unlikely. As for WGST, as long as they don't start doing sports coverage again, we won't see a repeat of what happened when Randall Bloomquist was the program director. WGST doesn't need to let anyone else go. That is all.

 

[newsjunkee1]

Good heavens guys...pay attention. The Weather Channel is basically going out of the radio business. They are laying off 15 people on Sunday, leaving only a half-dozen or so behind to do the very few markets they have decided to keep. And it has everything to do with NBC buying them out. I really am surprised this hasn't gotten more attention since it's been known in the industry since before Christmas. AccuWeather has been swamped with new business over the last couple of months.

 

[newsjunkee1]

BTW FMAMRadiofan...A lot of those Georgia affiliates that you mention, if not all of them, got their Weather Channel through the Georgia News Network, which is also now AccuWeather...Same reason as WGST. Weather Channel Radio is GONE in Georgia

 

[taylorengineer]

The Weather Channel should just go away all together. The radio service was terrible and the television version has not been worth watching for years.

 

[AMFMRadFan]

BTW FMAMRadiofan...A lot of those Georgia affiliates that you mention, if not all of them, got their Weather Channel through the Georgia News Network, which is also now AccuWeather...Same reason as WGST. Weather Channel Radio is GONE in Georgia

newsjunkee1, thanks for the memo on the fact that TWC Radio Network is laying some people off. You're right on the fact that a lot of affiliates here in Georgia got the TWC Radio Network affiliation through GNN (Georgia News Network). Of course, WGST is the flagship for GNN. I knew all of that. Out of all the affiliates I mentioned earlier, WGST & WRGA are the only ones with GNN. Of course, there are many other GNN affiliates here in the state. Other examples are both WGAU & WNGC out of Athens. They never got their forecasts from TWC. Same is also true for WLJA in Elijay. WGAU & WNGC get their forecasts from WTOC-TV chief meteorologist John Wetherbee who used to work in Atlanta before moving to Savannah where WTOC is located. Here is the list of the affiliates still with TWC Radio Network: http://www.weather.com/aboutus/radio/partners/ga.html. And OMT (One More Thing), newsjunkie1, my username is AMFMRadFan, not FMAMRadioFan. Remember the AM before the FM. I forgive you for being dyslexic. That is all.

 

[FLjack2]

The Weather Channel should just go away all together. The radio service was terrible and the television version has not been worth watching for years.

You know why the radio service was terrible? When they went out to hire people, they hired weather people -- not radio people. They (for the most part) didn't sound well on the radio. I think it would have been better to hire radio people and tech them how to do weather than the other way around. Plus, with a huge organization of weather folks behind them, a radio person could easily get help from "staff" to come up with a local forecast.

As far as the TV service, I stopped watching the weather channel when they started adding weather-related movies, series, etc. The best part about The Weather Channel (and Headline News years ago) was that you could tune in ANYTIME and get weather (and news). It's no longer the case.

 

[newsjunkee1]

AMFM...I just may be standing corrected on some of your points...and sorry for the dyslexic interpretation of your user name. a few, but NOT all of the stations on that list are GNN affiliates, so it may need to be updated

 

[nightmanager]

GST's weather went down hill, in my opinion when they dropped Joe Zona and Weather Services Corp. weather and went with Weather Channel. They used to have a familiar roster of weather people acting almost like local talent, and went instead to plastic canned weather sterilized for your pleasure.

Ok, sure TWC was local and WSC was out of Boston or something. But it wasn't location, it was people and personalities. WSC wasn't the first of those to get the axe from GST.

 

[secondchoice]

IIRC GNN used to send TWC "local" (zone) weather forecasts to the affiliates back in the late 1980's. I remember recording it. I think WGST was using The Weather Channel around 1989. I do not remember Weather Services Corp. Was this before they moved to 640?

 

[kal30005]

Wonder if Cumulus could partner with the Weather Channel and voice track local weather to the additional markets they add down the road.

 

[nightmanager]

Late reply, sorry.

WSC was with them on 920 and I am pretty sure they made the move to 640 at least for a while. Maybe Richard Warner can remember more.

IIRC GNN used to send TWC "local" (zone) weather forecasts to the affiliates back in the late 1980's. I remember recording it. I think WGST was using The Weather Channel around 1989. I do not remember Weather Services Corp. Was this before they moved to 640?