NYNewser_676

Honestly the only thing that annoyed me about the promo was the poor execution of the song- if the jingle were better, then the promo would be better. The concept is no different than anything WABC or WNBC have ever done- turning news into "entertainment." And no offense to any of the talented meteorologists we have- but for example, Amy Freeze does the "Freeze Factor..." not scientific and it is advertised as such. But at the same time, Amy is one of, if not the most, qualified meteorologist in the market. If WCBS found a niche in its coverage of severe weather, which is arguably very good, and Lonnie's thing is to roll up his sleeves, then so be it. It is just a way that the viewers connect with the personalities. It doesn't "make the weather department look mediocre," it is something that kind of just happened once, viewers took a liking to it, and now it's a thing- it doesn't degrade the forecasts that Lonnie and the weather team issue, it's just something for fun and connection. I would be very careful about criticizing someone like Lonnie just because he doesn't hold the degree. On principle, fine. But don't try and claim his forecasts are any less reliable than the other stations, because in the end, they are all within literally 2 degrees of each other and in the same ballpark when discussing snow, etc. If you're going to criticize the integrity of the weather department, do it based on the actual forecasts, not a promo.