Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Weather First Alert: The Five Minute Edge | WWMT-TV, April 2001
This was originally a live local West Michigan severe weather special with some taped elements that broadcast in late April 2001 on WWMT-TV in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The station had recently upgraded it's live Doppler Radar unit with a Baron system and this program showcased the many new features of the radar. The special worked in various severe weather segments including a 2001 spring weather outlook, a visit with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the May 1996 local premiere of 'Twister' in Portage, Michigan; a feature on the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak in Central Oklahoma, a recorded interview with then KWTV 9 chief meteorologist, Gary England, a garden-hose variety crash course in radar signal transmission, and a quick retrospective on the May 13, 1980 Kalamazoo, Michigan tornado.
The program was also my first professional experience assisting with co-producing and contributing elements for a local severe weather production, fittingly in my hometown of Kalamazoo. The over-hyped intro was typical for local news stations of the era and more of a promotional department thing than anything else. This was a time when WWMT and other station groups were still providing coverage using station-owned operational live Doppler Radar systems, before most affiliates dropped live radars in lieu of utilizing "real-time" National Weather Service WSR-88D imagery with a simulated "live" radar sweep for effect.
Program produced by Noel Sederstrom.
© 2001, WWMT-TV, All Rights Reserved.
Weather First Alert: The Five Minute Edge | WWMT-TV, April 2001
This was originally a live local West Michigan severe weather special with some taped elements that broadcast in late April 2001 on WWMT-TV in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The station had recently upgraded it's live Doppler Radar unit with a Baron system and this program showcased the many new features of the radar. The special worked in various severe weather segments including a 2001 spring weather outlook, a visit with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the May 1996 local premiere of 'Twister' in Portage, Michigan; a feature on the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak in Central Oklahoma, a recorded interview with then KWTV 9 chief meteorologist, Gary England, a garden-hose variety crash course in radar signal transmission, and a quick retrospective on the May 13, 1980 Kalamazoo, Michigan tornado.
The program was also my first professional experience assisting with co-producing and contributing elements for a local severe weather production, fittingly in my hometown of Kalamazoo. The over-hyped intro was typical for local news stations of the era and more of a promotional department thing than anything else. This was a time when WWMT and other station groups were still providing coverage using station-owned operational live Doppler Radar systems, before most affiliates dropped live radars in lieu of utilizing "real-time" National Weather Service WSR-88D imagery with a simulated "live" radar sweep for effect.
Program produced by Noel Sederstrom.
© 2001, WWMT-TV, All Rights Reserved.
