In 1976, Coleman was tapped to serve as the first weathercaster for the fledgling ABC series “Good Morning America,” which faced long odds against NBC’s “Today” show but managed to succeed. Image credit: ABC 7, courtesy Robert Feder. John Coleman during his tenure at Chicago’s WLS-TV. Coleman also was a groundbreaking adopter of satellite loops based on imagery from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series, which began in 1975.įigure 1. The technique had been invented at NBC in the 1950s, but it didn’t gain more widespread use until computerized weather maps became standard in the early 1980s. With chromakey, a weathercaster can stand in front of a “green screen” while maps are electronically added to the image behind the weathercaster. In 1972, he and WLS were among the first to use chromakey for weathercasting. ![]() He reportedly told viewers: “I am looking out on the western horizon to find that front I’ve been predicting the last few days.”Ĭoleman’s interest in the visual side of TV weather led to technical innovations. When the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Sears Tower ( now the Willis Tower) was under construction in Chicago, Coleman presented a WLS weathercast by remote video while sitting on a beam atop the 110-story framework. Like many of his colleagues in the early days of TV weather, Coleman was an unabashed showman, and his talents meshed with the 1970s advent of “happy news,” which sought to lighten the often-somber tone of the evening news. On-the-air antics and graphical innovations Coleman then worked his way up the TV-weathercasting ladder at several Midwest locations, including Peoria, Omaha, and Milwaukee, before landing in Chicago, where he rose to regional fame at WBBM (1967-68), WLS (1968-79), and WMAQ (1984-90). A native of Alpine, Texas, Coleman began weathercasting at WCIA-TV (Champaign, IL) in the mid-1950s while earning his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Illinois. “We will forever appreciate his vision that we continue to this day as the demand for severe weather coverage and hyper-local forecasting is at an all-time high.”Ĭoleman’s on-air career was a rarity in weathercasting: it extended from the early days of television all the way to the 2010s. “Thirty five years ago John Coleman and others founded The Weather Channel to answer a demand for around-the-clock weather information,” said TWC in a statement on Monday. ![]() In recent years, he was among the most outspoken of public figures denying the validity of mainstream climate science. Coleman was best known for his role as the original weathercaster on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the 1970s and for spearheading the creation of The Weather Channel, which debuted in 1982. Longtime weathercaster John Coleman died at his home in Las Vegas on Saturday at the age of 83.
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