A major part of the plan for the new network was that it would be able to provide localized weather information to its viewers. This was done through WeatherSTAR units located at each cable company's headend. These WeatherSTARs were able to insert local conditions, forecasts, and warnings over the national feed.
On 30 July 1981, The Weather Channel, Inc. was founded in Norfolk, Virginia.
The launch: May 2, 1982
The Weather Channel went on the air on May 2, 1982. The channel reports the weather and other meteorological information for the United States as well as other countries and regions of the world. TWC originally gathered its national region forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its local forecasts from local National Weather Service offices.
The original Weather Star I model was quickly upgraded to the Weather Star II when it began to interfere with the channel 2 signal at the cable headend. The Weather Star III upgrade improved the hardware somewhat and came about 1987.
You Need Us: 1986 - January 1991
In 1986, The Weather Channel unveiled its first major image campaign and slogan, "You Need Us For Everything You Do". A full one-minute lyrical theme was created, but rarely aired - the shorter version was more commonly seen. 1989 saw the remixing of the theme.
1990 saw the introduction of the first Weather Star 4000 models in a text-based system similar to the Weather Star III. In-STAR radar was introduced in June of that year.
Weather You Can Always Turn To: March 6, 1991 - January 1996
Largely considered the height of the classic TWC by enthusiasts, The Weather Channel underwent a major graphic revamp with its new banner slogan being "Weather You Can Always Turn To" on 6 March 1991. Graphic elements include heavy use of gradients and the Caxton typeface. The Weather Star 4000s made TWC history by being the first graphically-based STARs and the first to feature the TWC logo in the forecast. July 3 brought The Weather Channel Connection, a 1-900 service for obtaining weather information. Originally 1-900-288-8800, it moved to 1-900-WEATHER in 1992 and used its phone number as its name. On 1 November, The Weather Channel began using the shortened TWC moniker in certain internal communications.
1993 brought the introduction of the budget Weather Star Jr from Wegener Communications. It is rarely seen today.
1995 brought a slow overhaul to TWC. The older local forecast openers were thrown out, the Short Term Forecasts from the National Weather Service were introduced to Local Forecasts as the Local Update, WeatherScope (top/bottom of the hour weather discussion) was introduced, narration was discontinued, and the music of Trammell Starks, used on Weatherscan and emergency cases ever since, premiered at the end of the year.
No place on Earth has better weather, a new look, and The Front: 1996 - March 1998
In two years, The Weather Channel changed dramatically. The first wave of change came in February 1996. A new slogan hit viewers' screens, "No place on Earth has better weather", heralded with a trio of humorous spots promoting the accuracy of TWC weather coverage. Months later, The Weather Channel received its biggest overhaul since 1991. A newer, flatter logo, new graphics featuring rotating globes and compass points, and new music made for a total modernization of TWC presentation. 1996 also saw the launch of weather.com, The Weather Channel's Web portal. On 30 October, the first use in commerce of the name Weather Star XL was marked; two years later, the XL would make its debut, creating a top-to-bottom modernization of the local forecast segment.
In 1997, TWC moved to new studios in Atlanta. The new studios were much larger and also updated the look of the channel. The Local on the 8s name was first used during this time period. A new schedule was introduced in a news wheel format. The summer of 1997 brought a memorable advertising campaign, The Front. The setting was something akin to a sports bar, but the major difference was that weather was the central focus. The slogan used with The Front was Weather fans, you're not alone.
January 1998 saw the introduction of new title bars for national segments.
The Weather Star XL, Weatherscan, and a graphics revamp: March 1998 - November 2001
In March of 1998, TWC refreshed again, with extended variants of Akzidenz-Grotesk and footage of clouds at the core of the new identity. For the first time in the channel's history, there was no slogan or unifying theme. WeatherScope was out and replaced with the Weather Center brand, originally comprising all of the channel's programming but later significantly pared down as other time slots received program names and long-form shows were introduced. April 1998 saw updates to The Front. One of the new advertisements specifically mentioned the 36-hour text forecasts (which, at the time, were still supplied by the National Weather Service), but heralded new Local Forecast graphics; the machine that produced those graphics, the IRIX-based Weather Star XL, came out later that year. The first new mainline STAR in eight years. Its capabilities were significantly more advanced than the 4000, with animated, high-quality output consistent with TWC's national graphics and new scalable icons; the icons would be used for eight years on TWC but still remain on the Weather Star XLs still in service and certain downloadable web widgets.
1999 brought the removal of the unpredictable-length Local Update on the Weather Star 4000, which stabilized flavor lineups. Also in 1999, Weatherscan Local, originally exclusive to Comcast systems, was introduced. Weatherscan runs continuous weather information 24 hours a day. Cable operators could add optional packages featuring expanded weather information or specialty (golf, boat and beach, marine, etc.) to their Weatherscan systems.
2000 brought the Vocal Local, which uses narration to read local forecast data, to XL systems; while most cable operators added the Vocal Local feature, some did not employ it on their Weather Star XL units. Music was switched from quarterly to monthly playlists; as such, 2000 is considered the split between the "classic" TWC and "modern" TWC by several websites.
In 2001, a major change occurred on Weatherscan. Local forecasts generated for each county by the National Weather Service were removed and replaced with TWC products. While the NWS forecasts were of high quality, the new TWC forecasts were generated for areas, beneficial to multi-county viewing zones served by one STAR.
Live By It, the IntelliStar, and the end of the old logo: November 2001 - August 14, 2005
November 2001 saw the Weather Star XL get refreshed for the first time. Changes included improved maps, title bars, and graphical elements. TWC introduced its "Live By It" slogan.
In January 2002, what happened the previous year on Weatherscan hit the Weather Stars: The NWS forecasts were out. As NWS bulletins/warnings were in the old forecasts, a Weather Bulletins page displays the applicable watches, warnings, and advisories (on the 4000, The Weather Channel does send NWS Bulletins to appear in the text-based local forecast, as the 4000 does not feature the Weather Bulletins slide). May 2002 brought TWC's 20th anniversary; to celebrate, a special was aired, and a book was published by Harvard Business Press, The Weather Channel: The Improbable Rise of a Media Phenomenon (ISBN-13: 978-1-57851-559-2), written by TWC founder Frank Batten and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank.
The first long form programs arrived at The Weather Channel to begin 2003, with Storm Stories being the first program that was not weather or a documentary-type special. Also in 2003, Live By It was refreshed slightly. Weatherscan received a new design in February and moved to a modern STAR platform, known as the IntelliStar. The FreeBSD-based IntelliStar is more flexible than the IRIX-based Star XL for updates. Plans to revive The Front as a weather discussion board were proposed and scrapped that year.
2004 saw the introduction and decommissioning of STARs. The IntelliStar made its way to TWC from Weatherscan. The Weather Star III was removed from service when DTMF tone and weather warning regulations were not being met.
In early 2005, The Weather Channel announced a major refresh - its first new logo in nine years, a new slogan, and other new elements - was to occur in August.
A new TWC, Bringing Weather to Life, HD, and NBC Universal: August 15, 2005-present
On August 15, 2005, at 5am Eastern Daylight Time, The Weather Channel underwent a total relaunch. A newer, simpler logo was introduced, as was a new slogan, "Bringing weather to life". More serial programs were introduced. The refresh came with STAR graphics refreshes for the XL and IntelliStar, both receiving the new logo and a new cloud background. The XL also received new title bars. Storm Alert was introduced two weeks later for hurricane and tropical storm events - Storm Alert entails less (and shorter) local forecasts with a special theme playing in the background.
2006 continued the trend of more serial programs, such as climate-focused Forecast Earth and It Could Happen Tomorrow.
In May 2007, The Weather Channel celebrated 25 years on the air, the festivities including airing select past Weather Channel commercials and showing a special 25th anniversary logo during commercial breaks (see the Logos section for details). September 26 saw the launch of the HD simulcast channel, and October 23 introduced a major refresh for the IntelliStar, with new titles and backgrounds.
2008 started with uncertainty, as rumors abounded about on-camera meteorologists Bob Stokes sexually harassing co-anchor Hillary Andrews. Andrews filed a lawsuit in Cobb County district court against The Weather Channel alleging the abuse by Stokes (which included statements like "Will you lick my swizzle stick" and saying that TWC "covered it up"). In May, Andrews won the lawsuit and was awarded an undisclosed amount of money. During the proceedings, it was revealed that Stokes' co-anchor before Andrews, Lisa Mozer, was also harassed. At the same time, Landmark Communications announced it was selling most of its assets, including broadcast television stations, newspapers, The Weather Channel, and data center facilities. In June, the IntelliStar received a new lower display line, which was a radical change from previous designs and layouts, coinciding with the launch of the channel's new HD studio and related graphics.
Current weather and forecast model data is still provided to TWC by the NWS and NOAA, and the ultraviolet index and air quality index reports are from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Weather Channel does not have any local meteorologists outside of the Atlanta area and certain former NBC Weather Plus meteorologists still based at NBC News headquarters in New York.
On September 12, 2008, NBC Universal purchased the channel, weather.com, Weather Services International, a 30% stake in Canadian company Pelmorex, and miscellaneous other assets for $3.5 billion along with private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, from the family-owned Landmark Communications. Later, Landmark announced it was halting the sales of most of the other properties except for one newspaper. The Weather Channel and WTVF in Nashville, Tennessee had already been sold.
In November, like all NBC Universal properties, it joined the "Green is Universal" campaign for environmental awareness. The logo was turned green (normally done from master control on other networks) by sending an update to the IntelliStar to change the logo. Ironically, in the middle of "green week" (on November 20), The Weather Channel made major layoffs, described as cost synergies - three active on-camera meteorologists and one former one, the marketing department, the Road Crew (originally including Jeff Mielcarz, but Mielcarz then appeared on some weather.com video forecasts in December 2008), significant portions of the TWC Radio Network, and the Forecast Earth/environmental unit.(However, certain portions of the Forecast Earth unit remain with TWC.) The layoffs are to take effect on November 30.(The Weather Channel later stated it would air other environmental programs.) With the shutdown of NBC Weather Plus, certain assets from Weather Plus (meteorologists and technology, specifically) have been rebranded as TWC assets with TWC-branded graphics. The NBC Weather Plus meteorologists are still based from NBC Universal headquarters at Rockefeller Center and appear often on MSNBC. TWC personalities and on-camera meteorologists, such as Jim Cantore and Mike Seidel, have appeared on NBC and MSNBC properties since the sale. One of the motives for the cuts was in order to aid a $500 billion budget cut at NBC Universal parent company General Electric; NBC Universal and CNBC have also made cuts.
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