Creating the Nation's First TV Weather Website—WeatherNet4

In 1994 NASA issued a call for proposals to use this “thing” called the “Internet” to increase the use of Earth and Space science data. The author brought the idea to Bob Ryan with an idea…The proposal was put together over the course of three months to describe the critical role that local TV weather plays in communicating science to its viewers and the opening-up of NASA datasets could profoundly impact what our viewers understand about science and Earth observing.

We would create this thing called a “Home Page” that would direct viewers to cool and interesting “Links” to NASA data and research. The website would be used on TV during our news and weathercasts and we would tell our viewers our “Internet Address” where they could always connect to even when the news was not on.

After being selected by NASA in a very competitive process, WeatherNet4 was born and launched in 1995 at the same time a guy named Steve Case was sending out AOL CDs for people to connect to the Internet. They could even “Get Mail” on their computers. What an exciting time within the emergence of digital media!

Dave will describe the journey and the incredible role that Bob Ryan played in making this happen in Washington, DC and around the nation. This is one presentation that has some truth to the phrase “Bob, Dave and Mark created the Internet…” 😉

Details to follow…stay tuned!