Chief meteorologist at NewsChannel 9 to celebrate milestone in January
By Stefan Yablonski
Q: You’ve been doing this at NewsChannel 9 for a long time.
A: It’ll be 30 years in January. I don’t know if I’m getting a gold watch or anything like that. Yeah it’s kind of a milestone coming up. Before that I was in Portland, Maine and Burlington.
Q: You’re a native of Syracuse, correct?
A: Born and raised in Syracuse. I grew up probably about 10 minutes from the station here. I went to East Syracuse-Minoa Central High School.
Q: What got you started?
A: We sat at dinner with the news in background. That was our routine every evening. My mom and dad and two brothers; we’d sit and have dinner and in the background we’d have the 6 o’clock news on. I was always interested in the weather. That was one of the sparks. Another turning point was when I was in sixth grade. I had to do a research project for English class. I could pick anything I wanted. I chose weather. You had to write a paper and had to meet someone within the field that you were studying. I picked Bud Hedinger, a popular weatherman on Channel 3 at the time. I got to watch him do the weather at the TV station on James Street. That got me in the door to see what things were like behind the camera. A few years later, Bud shifted over to Channel 9 when I was in high school. I noticed Channel 9 didn’t have anyone doing the weather on weekends. I called the station and spoke to Hedinger. I don’t know if he remembered me — it had been three, four, five years. He asked me how old I was and I told him I was 16. He said I was too young to be on the air. But he offered me an internship. I jumped at it.
Q: Where’d you go to college?
A: I studied at Oswego for a couple of years then transferred to Penn State where I graduated.
Q: How did you wind up back in Syracuse?
A: My contract came up at Portland and at the same time they were looking for a weekend meteorologist here at 9. So I called and I think I had some people that remembered me that were in my corner — and the rest is history.
Q: Ever consider slowing down and possibly retiring?
A: Not at this point. I’m not quite at that age yet. I’m not thinking that far ahead. I’ve got a few more years left in me.
