Preparing the next generation of broadcast meteorologists through an inaugural radio and TV weather course

The meteorology program at SUNY Oneonta has experienced rapid growth over the last five years. This expansion has taken place within an increasingly tightening job market. Seemingly, the only soft spot for undergraduate professional employment has been in the broadcast sector. The appropriate academic response may lie in placing further emphasis upon weather broadcasting within the educational experience. As a first step in achieving such a task, the SUNY Oneonta Weather Center was established in 2007. The SUNY Oneonta Weather Center first began producing weather podcasts by applying digital podcasting technology to update its recently designed webpage. The school's radio station would then access the link and air the weather. This approach allows for unlimited updates when needed. To date, we have produced almost 500 broadcasts, conducted by over three dozen students which represent more than half of the enrolled meteorology majors. The increase in student involvement since the establishment of the SUNY Oneonta Weather Center has been astounding, likely a testament to the appeal of the weather broadcast profession as a whole. The next logical step is the design and implementation of a course in weather broadcasting. Driven in part by student input, a three-credit course was first envisioned and designed during 2009, and came to fruition during the spring semester of 2010. The course objective states, “The successful student is expected to attain the following skills: the ability to acquire and comprehend operational and ensemble model output, competence in and familiarity with the audio podcasting process, comfort through experience in executing standard video broadcasting techniques, and basic webpage design”. We feel that these initiatives go a long way towards preparing students for the skills required of a broadcast meteorologist. The class, having modest prerequisites of introduction to meteorology and general meteorology, meets on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for two hours in a lab style classroom with an analog camera and chroma-keyed blue screen in the far corner. Classroom activities center on the production of a weekly weather show called Long Island Weather. The weekly weather show, filmed on Tuesdays, consists of an opening desk shot, a standard three minute weather segment, an intermediate desk shot, a 60 to 90 second “Weather Question of the Week” segment, a 90 second segment covering the long range forecast, and a closing desk shot. This comprehensive format requires that the duties be split, among the six students, by forming three teams of two so that each team shuffles station roles. On Thursdays, we review the merits of last week's show and discuss adjustments to be made to the current week's show. In addition to the production of Long Island Weather, the broadcasting experience is supplemented by: 1) mini-lectures on the acquisition, comprehension and retrieval of operational and ensemble forecasts from the internet, 2) a group audio podcasting activity at the end of every class, 3) logging weekly live radio broadcasts on the school's radio station by each student, and 4) attending a mid-semester field trip touring two network TV studios and a radio studio in Manhattan. Each student is responsible for designing their own webpage where their broadcasting projects may be displayed. These web portfolios are linked to the SUNY Oneonta Weather Center site according to the student's name. Each student is responsible for completing the final project which is to be posted on their website. This includes writing and posting a resume, designing a business card, writing a generic cover letter seeking either a weather broadcasting internship or employment in the weather broadcast sector and production of digital demo. The demo consists of a string of the aforementioned station assignments, which again include the desk shots, a standard three-minute weather segment, a weather question of the week segment, and a long-range outlook segment. In addition to gaining broadcasting experience, we feel that the establishment of this course and the associated presence on the internet will allow our students the opportunity to effectively showcase their talents to prospective employers and, in doing so, increase their chances of success within the broadcast meteorology industry.