A Weather Champion Faces TCA

It’s easy to see why The Weather Channel recruited Sam Champion to anchor and manage its big push into the morning daypart. The 52-year-old becomes a little kid bounding with energy when the topic of weather arises. Just tell him that LA doesn’t have weather. “Are you crazy? I can spend 10 minutes on [LA] weather,” which, he says, “is one of the toughest to forecast.”

Neither a meteorologist nor a climatologist, Champion’s more than a child when it comes to weather. He’s been presenting forecasts “for 30 years,” including most recently on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” As you can imagine, getting a chance to move from 30-second network weather spots to anchoring a 3-hour morning show on Weather is a dream for Champion. “I’ve never been as excited about a project,” he said.

The show, which will run from 7-10am after on The Weather Channel is a dream for Champion. “We’re going to hit you hard” with 3-4 national weather stories every morning, Champion told the critics. “Lots of live coverage, lots of live pictures, complete day-part understanding so that you can plan your day.” And Champion won’t spend all his time in a studio. He plans to be on site for weather disasters and that’s by design. “We need to show you the storm that’s coming… how bad it is… the damage after the storm… [and] I want to see it for myself.”

Traffic also will be part of the show, said Weather chief David Clark. Beyond these national weather stories, Weather has recently begun providing non-stop local weather in 4K locations nationwide. In addition, Weather undertook “a massive” revamping of its graphics packages, is remodeling its studios and has invested in its ability to report on severe weather, Clark said, although Champion’s new morning show, premiering in March, is the network’s biggest initiative. The unnamed morning show, which will run from 7-10am, right after Al Roker’s “Waking Up with Al,” will be the first national show to be localized, Clark said.