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I am honoured to have John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel on my blog for my third interview. A man dedicated and passionate about the weather and with 55 years of experience, he is a man that changed the face of weather on television by forming a 24 hour television channel solely for weather that started at $14 million and sold last year to NBC for $3.5 billion.
Thank you John for sharing your time with me to answer these questions.
Thank you John for sharing your time with me to answer these questions.
Q and A
1) Could you start John by telling me a little about yourself?
Well I’m an old man that has done weather on TV for 55 years and I’ve been up to the top and now cruising towards retirement here in San Diego, which is the ultimate scam for a weatherman forecasting morning low cloud and afternoon sun, 70s day after day, sure is nice.
2) Obviously global warming is very much on your heart regarding the media’s portrayal of the doom of our planet caused by man-made warming. With the recent years of cooling do you see the media turn the other way?
Well I can’t see any dramatic or significant change in the media’s position, they are pretty much aboard the global warming bandwagon the media loves the sky is falling story and they tend to be dominated by liberals and accept Al Gore and the UN’s pronouncements as valid so it’s very difficult to be a sceptic of global warming and try to get this very bad science defeated but I’m working on it every day along with many other guys and we’re making some progress. We’ve really turned on the people, reaching to the average person, the high school graduate, maybe the person just barely made it through college, those people are really read enough, understand and accept our scepticism. The elitist, the leaders, the environmentalist, the college professor, the politicians they are very difficult but we keep working at it.
3) You course you are the creator of the Weather Channel, was that a dream from a young age?
No, when I was young there was no such thing as satellite or cable communications or even TV, I’m an old man, so non of that existed so I couldn’t dream of it nor I never even had the idea. My goal in life at a very early age was to be on the radio so my parents would listen to me, then television came along and my goal was, “gotta get on TV” cause radio won’t be around for much longer, said jokingly and then I got on TV and my goal was to make the network and I did that on Good Morning America. I then looked around and thought my gosh I’ve worked all these years, I’m getting up at 3.30 in the morning and they give me about 2 minutes to do the weather and cover all 50 states which is ridiculous, I can’ do a decent job, they don’t treat me well, em, yeah I am making a lot of money, so what! I’m not doing good work so by that time the concept of satellite to home communication had proven itself and there were a couple of examples out there like Ted Turner putting CNN on the air and so I got the idea of a 24-hour cable weather channel and I started putting that together and selling the concept, I spent 4 years where I found anyone that wouldn’t think I was crazy and stopped laughing at me.
4) You of course don’t own or have a part in the Weather Channel today do you?
No I don’t, the people that put up that $14 million to start the Weather Channel, their plan all along was to get me out, they managed to do that eventually and now NBC have bought it by the way, they paid $3.5 billion for it.. We started it for $14 million and after 25 years they sold it for $3.5 billion!
5) I notice a lot of region or city based meteorologists that work for national or private stations are very reluctant to talk about global warming, why is that?
Well their job and reputations are somewhat on the line, their standing in the American Meteorological Society. These are young people, it takes an old guy like me who’s already made it and doesn’t have to worry about anything and just having fun being on TV. I could quit any day and be perfectly comfortable the rest of my life so I will speak up, Joe D’Aleo will speak up, Fred Singer will speak up, there are some younger people who are suffering significantly cause of their outspoken position on global warming and are really getting squeezed. Many very intelligent people out there are having tough times getting grant more or getting anything going because of their views. If your not older and comfortable, their going to get ya! The institution is absolutely against our bunking global warming.
6) Do you ever worry that things you say on TV will get you into trouble?
No I don’t worry a bit, me worry, no. I am beyond worrying. I never speak about anything other than I know to be true, firmly and absolutely convinced is so. So I don’t worry. I do radio shows 2 or 3 a week, I do television shows a couple times a month, I do speeches for groups and gatherings couple of times a month. I speak out, I write a blog, I try to write some new material every day or two.
1) Could you start John by telling me a little about yourself?
Well I’m an old man that has done weather on TV for 55 years and I’ve been up to the top and now cruising towards retirement here in San Diego, which is the ultimate scam for a weatherman forecasting morning low cloud and afternoon sun, 70s day after day, sure is nice.
2) Obviously global warming is very much on your heart regarding the media’s portrayal of the doom of our planet caused by man-made warming. With the recent years of cooling do you see the media turn the other way?
Well I can’t see any dramatic or significant change in the media’s position, they are pretty much aboard the global warming bandwagon the media loves the sky is falling story and they tend to be dominated by liberals and accept Al Gore and the UN’s pronouncements as valid so it’s very difficult to be a sceptic of global warming and try to get this very bad science defeated but I’m working on it every day along with many other guys and we’re making some progress. We’ve really turned on the people, reaching to the average person, the high school graduate, maybe the person just barely made it through college, those people are really read enough, understand and accept our scepticism. The elitist, the leaders, the environmentalist, the college professor, the politicians they are very difficult but we keep working at it.
3) You course you are the creator of the Weather Channel, was that a dream from a young age?
No, when I was young there was no such thing as satellite or cable communications or even TV, I’m an old man, so non of that existed so I couldn’t dream of it nor I never even had the idea. My goal in life at a very early age was to be on the radio so my parents would listen to me, then television came along and my goal was, “gotta get on TV” cause radio won’t be around for much longer, said jokingly and then I got on TV and my goal was to make the network and I did that on Good Morning America. I then looked around and thought my gosh I’ve worked all these years, I’m getting up at 3.30 in the morning and they give me about 2 minutes to do the weather and cover all 50 states which is ridiculous, I can’ do a decent job, they don’t treat me well, em, yeah I am making a lot of money, so what! I’m not doing good work so by that time the concept of satellite to home communication had proven itself and there were a couple of examples out there like Ted Turner putting CNN on the air and so I got the idea of a 24-hour cable weather channel and I started putting that together and selling the concept, I spent 4 years where I found anyone that wouldn’t think I was crazy and stopped laughing at me.
4) You of course don’t own or have a part in the Weather Channel today do you?
No I don’t, the people that put up that $14 million to start the Weather Channel, their plan all along was to get me out, they managed to do that eventually and now NBC have bought it by the way, they paid $3.5 billion for it.. We started it for $14 million and after 25 years they sold it for $3.5 billion!
5) I notice a lot of region or city based meteorologists that work for national or private stations are very reluctant to talk about global warming, why is that?
Well their job and reputations are somewhat on the line, their standing in the American Meteorological Society. These are young people, it takes an old guy like me who’s already made it and doesn’t have to worry about anything and just having fun being on TV. I could quit any day and be perfectly comfortable the rest of my life so I will speak up, Joe D’Aleo will speak up, Fred Singer will speak up, there are some younger people who are suffering significantly cause of their outspoken position on global warming and are really getting squeezed. Many very intelligent people out there are having tough times getting grant more or getting anything going because of their views. If your not older and comfortable, their going to get ya! The institution is absolutely against our bunking global warming.
6) Do you ever worry that things you say on TV will get you into trouble?
No I don’t worry a bit, me worry, no. I am beyond worrying. I never speak about anything other than I know to be true, firmly and absolutely convinced is so. So I don’t worry. I do radio shows 2 or 3 a week, I do television shows a couple times a month, I do speeches for groups and gatherings couple of times a month. I speak out, I write a blog, I try to write some new material every day or two.
It was an absolute privilege to be able to talk with John personally and I would like to wish him and his family all the very best for the future. Thank you.
Be sure to learn more about John by checking out these links..
http://www.kusi.com/about/bios/weather/1838191.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coleman_(news_weathercaster)
http://www.mahalo.com/john-coleman-weather-channel
See some interviews of John several TV shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R12Hx-e3aY
http://www.kusi.com/about/bios/weather/1838191.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coleman_(news_weathercaster)
http://www.mahalo.com/john-coleman-weather-channel
See some interviews of John several TV shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R12Hx-e3aY
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