08By Ariel Kim
Recently, Mr. Mills and Ms. Randone’s Earth Science classes visited News 12 Long Island’s station, located in Woodbury, New York. First, we ventured into the main studio, where meteorologists can go on-screen and welcome the viewers with the weather forecast and news. Here, we met Rich Hoffman, a CBM, or certified broadcast meteorologist, who predicts the weather to broadcast on TV and is always very busy. “Weather is non-stop, so even when my work is off, there’s always an issue going on,” he said.
Mr. Hoffman compared his experiences as a broadcaster to those of a student. “My job is like subjects in school–there’s subjects that you love and subjects that you hate, but either way you still have to do them. For example, it can be a rewarding feeling if a forecast is correct. Weather can also be really sad. Natural disasters, like [Superstorm] Sandy is disastrous to report.”
We also toured the Newsfeed and the Graphics rooms. In the Newsfeed room, there were several cameras set against a large rectangular wall. This room has live footage all the time. At News 12, they gather information in a variety of ways, such as using AP wires, partnering with international news stations for earlier access to news, and their own camera operators who are sent to the site of the events. Sometimes, viewers can email and call the staff to inform them of the weather and other events taking place. Hoffman explained another common way that they can gain information. The station can pay a weather company to get a “bundle of information easy for viewers to understand.”
Hoffman explained that his team uses “glorified PowerPoint presentations” put together by the staff. Using online computer models that the meteorologists cite, they face the cameras and interpret the weather models.
Finally, we visited the Graphics Department that was festive in its Christmas lights, leftover Halloween candy, and colorful murals of TV characters on one of the walls. We soon learned that it was a hard workplace, just like the main TV set. We concluded our tour, and then Mr. Mills and Ms. Randone’s Earth Science classes exited the station just as Hoffman went live.
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