Meeting Viewers' Needs: A Guide for Broadcast Meteorologists

Meeting Viewers’ Needs: A Guide for Broadcast Meteorologists

Picture of a couple trying to grill outside while it's raining.

Last winter, I flew to Madison, Wisconsin, to coach the weather team at WISC-TV. The woman at the car rental counter sees that my driver’s license is from Texas and says, “You’re going to love our weather this week. It’s supposed to snow on Friday.”

This conversation took place on a Monday. She was already talking about snow coming in five days.

Did she talk about the mostly cloudy sky today and tomorrow? No.

Did she mention the temperatures would be three degrees warmer this week? Nope.

Did she chat about the gentle southerly winds blowing 10-15 mph? Of course not.

She talked about the next impactful weather event. That’s what the meteorologists on TV should be talking about, too.

Tell viewers something they don’t already know

The research is clear: most viewers already know the general forecast. Of course, they do. These days, you can get a weather update without even trying.

My smartphone shows me the forecast every morning when I pick it up off the charger. My bathroom scale provides a forecast along with my weight. My watch displays the forecast every time I look at it to check the time. I can’t not know what the weather will be like today!

This creates both a challenge and an opportunity for broadcast meteorologists. Since viewers already know the general forecast, we must tell them something they might not know. Furthermore, since they already know the general forecast, we don’t have to cover everything. This frees us up to focus on the essential things.

We can spend our on-air time demonstrating our expertise by providing specific details about the next impactful weather event. That next big thing isn’t necessarily a severe weather event. Remember, there are five different types of weather consumers care about.

Think like a real person, not a meteorologist

Broadcast meteorologists spend a good part of their day looking at data. They study the upper air flow, check for vorticity and divergence aloft, monitor the movement of surface boundaries, and look for an exchange of air masses.

It stands to reason that they would want to tell their viewers about everything they discovered in their research. But viewers don’t care about everything. They care about threats and impacts. They want to know how, when, and why the weather might affect their plans.

Broadcast meteorologists are trained to think that all weather matters. It does, but not as much as we’d like to think.

Do viewers need to know the current temperature right now? Not unless it’s unusually warm or cold.

Do viewers want to know whether the sky is mostly cloudy or partly cloudy? There’s little difference.

Do viewers tune in to see the latest satellite/radar loop? Only if it’s been raining all day.

Yet many broadcast meteorologists spend almost a full minute talking about this in most weather hits.

Imagine if the newscast started with this story: “It was a near-normal day in our community, with people going to work and school. Some folks had a meeting this afternoon while a few others went to see their doctor.”

Nobody’s going to tune in to see that story.

Don’t tell a story about data. Do this instead.

News consultants coach broadcast meteorologists to tell a weather story. That’s a mistake. For a broadcast meteorologist, the data is a story. We see a story in the weather data just like a doctor sees a story in an X-ray or an accountant sees a story in a spreadsheet.

Instead of telling a story about data, use the data to tell a story. First, identify the essential information viewers want to know and need to know about the weather right now. Then, choose the data that best delivers the message.

During my coaching sessions, I often hear two different yet similar concerns from the broadcast meteorologists. They complain that they don’t have enough time in their weathercasts to cover everything. And they grumble that they don’t have enough time in their workday to do everything.

So, don’t.

Don’t try to cover everything in your weathercasts. Don’t waste time highlighting the typical, mundane, everyday weather. Don’t tell viewers something they most likely already know.

That slight change will give you more time in your weather hits to focus on the essential things and more time in your workday to finish everything. Communicate more effectively, and you’ll also communicate more efficiently.

Tim Heller is an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist, Talent Coach, and Weather Content Consultant. He helps local TV stations fulfill the weather brand promise on broadcast and digital platforms.