Local TV news can’t do anything about the weather, but they love to talk about it. If water is running in the streets, break out the team coverage!
Denver’s TV weather faces are as familiar as dead presidents on our currency.
Why? Because viewers groove on the weather. Byron Grandy, news director at KMGH-Channel 7, summed it up: “The weather is going to affect how you dress your kid, your drive to work, it can be dangerous to your safety, to your property. You’re not going to find anything that means more to people than weather.”
Lacking weather, the stations talk technology. KUSA-Channel 9 rolls out, with great fanfare, a 24/7 weather channel and Channel 7 responds that they were doing that months earlier. KCNC-
Channel 4 launches an elaborate website, where up-to-the-minute weather reports are a key element.
Channel 7, home of Storm Tracker, Hail Tracker, Storm Vision, 3-D Radar and Street-Level Mapping, last week announced that its weather radar is now SOLAR POWERED (their emphasis), thanks to a hookup with the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Our new 24/7 live Doppler will actually put more energy back into the power grid than it takes out,” bragged Channel 7 weather hawk Mike Nelson.
Now, if it would only rain buckets.
Riding the waves
Erin Yoshimura must be very persuasive. She’s assembled an International House of Pancake Makeup to emcee the fifth-annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.
Actually, she said, it wasn’t that hard. “All I had to do was ask.” When she did, she got yeses from Adele Arakawa, Quynh Nguyen and Lorie Hirose from Channel 9; Christine Chang and Kim Nguyen, Channel 7; Raj Chohan, Channel 4; Vinita Nair, KWGN-Channel 2; and Whei Wong, KDVR-Channel 31.
The festival, which started with five boats and is up to 54 this year, takes place July 30 and 31 at Sloan’s Lake.
Around the dial
Jamie & Danny, the morning duo carried on KFMD 95.7-FM (“KISS”) until the station flipped to a Spanish-language format, is no more. One-time “Partridge Family” regular Danny Bonaduce’s contract at KYSR 98.7-FM in Los Angeles wasn’t renewed. His partner, Jamie White, remains on the air, paired with Jack Hine and “Stench.” … What’s next, a bake sale? Faced with funding cuts, PBS has launched a Best of the Best sale online, offering DVDs, CDs and videos at 20 percent discounts. … Outdoor Life Network reports its viewership for the first week of the Tour de France up 80 percent from last year. … Quotable: “Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” – Kin Hubbard
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
