Fox Weather

[Briella 234]

5 hours ago, tw-804 said:

 

What shows? The only Fox Nation program they have aired is Park'd, a travel show hosted by Abby Hornacek.

Exactly. It’s a cheap way to fill airtime. They need to do weather 24/7 like AccuWeather, not become a cheap imitation of the already maligned Weather Channel.

[Georgie56 3303]

Fox Weather has been doing live severe weather coverage all day and night on the severe weather warnings in the South. 
 

As much as they’ve had a lot to criticize about, they still do some stuff right compared to TWC.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Georgie56

[Georgie56 3303]

Fox Weather is opening a bureau at WOFL.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Georgie56

[Spring Rubber 702]

8 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Fox Weather is opening a bureau at WOFL.

Wow, that's a surprise out of left field. I see that they have already announced that Katie Garner and Kelly Costa will be the meteorologists based out of that location. Katie Garner has been with them in NYC since December, while Kelly Costa just joined them this past week from WWLP-TV in Springfield, MA.

 

Kelly Costa announced on Twitter that she will be primarily based in Orlando, but she will be also flying to NYC as needed. I'm guessing that Katie Garner will be doing the same.

 

I'm confused why they would even need additional fill-in help in NYC, considering that they already have Kiyana Lewis, Steve Bender, and Jane Minar available as fill-ins, plus they're already super overstaffed Monday-Wednesday because they have Craig, Amy, and John there in addition to everyone else that works Monday-Friday.

 

The only thing I can hope is that the addition of the Orlando bureau means that they'll be adding an additional daily live show from there. I hope they're not planning on only using it on severe weather coverage days.

 

 

[Spring Rubber 702]

I can't say I'll ever understand the shifts they use to staff the network. This morning, I saw that John Marshall was filling in for Stephen Morgan in the 9am-12pm block of Sunrise. To my surprise, John Marshall is back on the air now as the "third meteorologist" on America's Weather Center alongside Craig and Amy.

 

I'm surprised they still have him on his usual afternoon spot despite doing the morning fill-in shift, especially considering that Craig and Amy are both in today.

[Spring Rubber 702]

There's severe weather with numerous tornadoes happing now in Iowa. Fox Weather is covering it live. TWC is not covering it.

 

Fox Weather is 1000x more attentive to severe weather/tornadic events, while TWC has a massive bias toward tropical systems and winter storms. The execs over at TWC seem to like tropical/winter weather better because they're a "sure bet", and they have multiple days in advance to schedule on-air shifts and send meteorologists out into the field. Severe weather, on the other hand, is more prone to have less days notice in advance, and also a greater chance of being a total bust if the tornado outbreak fails to materialize. TWC seems to have no interest in covering an event that's not a "sure thing".

 

One note about Fox Weather's coverage is that they're not using a control room / main studio / multiple hosts. It's just nonstop solo-hosted "emergency break-in" style coverage with Jane Minar where she stands at the podium near the weather center and controls the broadcast herself using the touchscreen on the podium. I don't know why TWC refuses to do something like this when they're unsure of the potency of a severe weather event. It seems pretty cost effective compared to having a full staff there during off-peak hours, and at least it gives Fox Weather the ability to be live to cover this outbreak, especially when things get a lot more severe than originally forecasted.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Looks like Kelly Costa made her on-air debut at the top of this hour. I don't recognize this studio at all...so is this at WOFL?

[GoldenShine9 1513]

It definitely appears that Fox Weather does a lot better during severe weather events, especially on weekends. They are willing to run 24/7 where TWC fails miserably.

[Spring Rubber 702]

There are at least two, possibly three damaging tornadoes confirmed on the ground right now in Arkansas. Fox Weather has been live already for several hours. TWC is again not covering it because to them, "Weather doesn't happen on weekends".

 

Jane Minar did confirm a few minutes ago that the coverage we're seeing at night is from their new WOFL bureau. She mentioned that Katie Garner will be hosting tonight's live coverage from Orlando. So looks like both Kelly Costa and Katie Garner are now in place to start hosting from Orlando. All we saw last night was just that single camera setup with the touchscreen and plain blue background. I'm sure that's again what they'll be using tonight. I'm curious to see if they'll be building a proper set down there in Orlando or just sticking with a very simple setup. I guess it will depend on if they plan on broadcasting there on a daily basis or if they plan on only using a single-cam setup for extended live coverage hours.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Fox Weather should go out and promote the fact that they are always there. I know TWC tends to treat severe weather as a secondary thought, especially at night or on weekends.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Well, clearly they have some work to do as far as getting a wireless mic/IFB system set up at WOFL for the Fox Weather meteorologists. Katie Garner took over from WOFL at the top of this hour, and as you can see from behind her head, her mic and IFB are hard-wired into a wall port instead of being wireless.

 

This certainly looks rather uncomfortable and also potentially dangerous if you walk just a few too many steps away from the wall.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Fox Weather has added one more hour of live programming to their schedule. America's Weather Center now starts at 2pm ET instead of 3pm ET. This appears to be a permanent change, as the show time has been updated accordingly on their "Schedule ticker" that sometimes appears in the lower right corner of the screen.

[Georgie56 3303]

7 hours ago, Spring Rubber said:

Fox Weather has added one more hour of live programming to their schedule. America's Weather Center now starts at 2pm ET instead of 3pm ET. This appears to be a permanent change, as the show time has been updated accordingly on their "Schedule ticker" that sometimes appears in the lower right corner of the screen.

 

Looks like they're gradually restoring live afternoon and primetime programming as they add more OCMs.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Georgie56

[TallyNewsJunkie 22]

I'm not a big fan of the FOX company itself however FOX Weather is becoming one of my favorites. The Weather Channel used to be my favorites but they have been dropping the ball when it comes to Severe WX coverage. WX doesn't stop on the weekends as we all know. Two thumbs up to FOX Weather for being there when severe WX is in my area and for the awesome coverage they put on. 

[Georgie56 3303]

Big pickup here.

 

 

[Spring Rubber 702]

3 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Big pickup here.

 

 

The first of former TWC talent to be recruited, I see...

[Georgie56 3303]

DirecTV Stream is adding FWX and Fox Nation.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Overnight coverage is originating from both NYC with Jane Minar and Orlando with Katie Garner. They are not using a control room and are instead just alternating "emergency override control" segments on their own. As a result, they can't appear on the same blocks together, so they're just alternating blocks. i.e. Jane hosts the A block; uses the touchscreen to end the override and head to break; Katie hosts the B block; goes to break; Jane hosts the C block, and so on.

 

They have revamped the WOFL setup a bit, adding in a background. Also, despite still not having a proper wireless mic and IFB setup, at least now Katie has a bit more slack in her wires so that there's not the concern about moving too far from the wall and pulling a wire.

 

The lighting may need a bit of work. The blue lighting is strongly casting on Katie's arm whenever she uses the touchscreen. They could probably turn that down a bit. She also has to turn off to the side and walk halfway off cam whenever she needs to manipulate something on the computer because they weren't able to get a podium with a computer set up in the on-camera area as of yet.

 

Overall, kudos to them again for staying live all overnight. TWC ended coverage at 1 AM ET.

 

 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

With the peak severe weather season coming, Fox Weather will have its big chance to show its strength. It's clear that severe weather is a big weakness for TWC.

[Spring Rubber 702]

They had Katie Garner on as an extra host on America's Weather Weekend this morning. She was just sitting in front of a generic background that was no better than any of the work-from-home setups that they used back in January. It's hard to tell if she was at home or at WOFL, although given the blueness of the lighting, I wouldn't be surprised if she was in the WOFL studio. She wasn't doing any stand-up bits from what I could tell. Whenever she did weather maps, it would just be in a split screen with her remaining seated.

[PhillyWatch 239]

Just got a 6am ET push notification plugging the morning show and saying "FOX Weather's new, expanded programming lineup launches today".

 

I put it on in the background while I'm working and caught this graphic-

 

Also, in the rotating promo corner they showed "America's Weather Now" running from 7p to 10p, with "FOX Weather Wild" airing at 10p, so it looks like live programming through 10pm is now standard starting today.

Edited March 28, 2022 by PhillyWatch

[Georgie56 3303]

2 hours ago, PhillyWatch said:

Just got a 6am ET push notification plugging the morning show and saying "FOX Weather's new, expanded programming lineup launches today".

 

I put it on in the background while I'm working and caught this graphic-

 

Also, in the rotating promo corner they showed "America's Weather Now" running from 7p to 10p, with "FOX Weather Wild" airing at 10p, so it looks like live programming through 10pm is now standard starting today.

 

Glad to know the automated America's Weather Center was only temporary until more OCMs could be hired. I assume it'll stick around on weekends, which is fine with me.

 

Sky Dome has returned. It's disappearance was mysterious to begin with.

 

Across America sounds like it'll build off of the existing segment involving the O&Os and rely on them heavily for this program.

 

America's Weather Tonight is dead. Fox Weather Wild will go back to one hour and repeat into Night Light at 1am ET.

 

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with this lineup. They're staying live all day until 11pm ET, which is good.

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Georgie56

[Spring Rubber 702]

I always thought Sky Dome was a weird name. I was hoping that branding would be gone and that America's Weather Tonight would be the revived title, but oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

 

With this change, I'm curious if Amy Freeze and Craig Herrera will still have a Monday-Wednesday presence on one of the shows. With the old arrangement, they hosted America's Weather Center Mon-Wed while Ian and Bridget hosted Thu-Fri. Under that previous schedule, Ian and Bridget's role was as secondary co-hosts of America's Weather Now alongside Marissa and Nick five days a week, so that they could still have a full-time presence on the network after America's Weather Tonight got cancelled.

 

I also wonder what Kendall Smith's role will now be, as she used to be full-time host of the 9am-12pm block of Sunrise.

 

Any idea what's airing in the 5am EDT hour? That hour is strangely not accounted for in the lower-right schedule ticker.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Quick add-on thoughts:

 

1) If we want to see all of the proper opens, bumps, everything, we'll have to keep an eye out for all of that today, as it looks like Tuesday is going to be somewhat of a severe weather event in the central-southern plains, followed by possibly a rather intense severe outbreak in the south on Wednesday. So much of the Tuesday-Wednesday opens will probably be Fox Weather Alert opens, and if there's any devastation from the severe weather, Thursday and Friday coverage might be a bit abnormal due to live reports on the aftermath of the storms.

 

2) I think the daytime automated loop may be completely dead now, as they actually dumped the automated loop from weekends back in December when they replaced it by an all-long form weekend afternoon lineup.

 

3) With the expanded weekday lineup, I wonder if there's any chance of them bringing back Studio K, the tiny little box set that was used October-December for America's Weather Tonight. They haven't used that studio at all since December, so I suspect that they will avoid it completely and just use the far-nicer main Studio W for all shows, but I guess we'll see.

[Spring Rubber 702]

Katie Garner is hosting Sky Dome from NYC. Wonder if this is just a day 1 arrangement and if we'll see her back at WOFL at any point in the near future.