ANNOUNCERS: From Penn State, this is Weather World.

[music playing] ANNOUNCER: From the Keiko Miwa Ross WPSU Production Studios, this is Weather World at 40.

Here is our host, Kathleen Pavelko.

Tonight we're celebrating a milestone, four decades of a program that has been responsible for educating students and Pennsylvanians alike on weather and forecasting know how.

I've been a part of that history too as host of a version of Weather World in the early 1980s.

Joining us to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Weather World are none other than Paul Knight and Fred Gadomski, the original hosts and forecasters of the show.

Next we have Jon Nese, host of the long running Weather Wise segment and a current forecaster.

And rounding out our panel is someone who was behind the scenes for many years, WPSU producer, director, Charlie Gudeman Thank you all for being here.

Now some folks may be saying, wait a minute, Weather World has been on the air for more than 40 years, and in some ways, they're right, that's how I met many of you.

Now here's some of the milestone moments in the history of Weather World.

Back in 1957, Dr. Charles Hosler delivered the first television weather broadcast from Penn State on commercial TV station, WKBG-TV.

Then eight years later, a new program debuted on the new public television station, WPSX-TV, called Farm, Home, and Garden.

In 1974, State of the Weather, Shape of the World featured a six-minute weathercast, followed by interviews and video packages.

Then on September 5, 1983, a new show premiered on WPSX, a 15-minute all weather program.

The hosts were Paul Knight and Fred Gadomski.

Making strides in meteorology higher education, graduate students from the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences joined on-air talent roster in the 1980s, and the first undergraduate student forecasters premiered on Weather World in 1998.

In 2004, WPSX-TV briefly dropped the show which began airing on the cable channel PCN, with production moving from Wagner Building to Walker Building.

Paul Knight and Fred Gadomski retired from Penn State in 2015 and 2018 respectively, passing the torch to the next generation of weather broadcasters.

In 2019, we saw increased student involvement with a retooled show mission and vision.

Then in 2020, Weather World moved to remote production from home during the pandemic.

And today marks 40 years since that first episode on September 5, 1983.

Welcome, gentlemen.

It is so good to see you all.

So we're focusing on the 1983 version of Weather World, the standalone format.

What led to the standalone 15-minute format?

Well, actually, it was a major change that was taking place in the programming schedule at Channel 3, the public television station where we were doing the show, and that was the time-- people who've been around a while might remember the McNeil Lehrer News Hour was about to premiere.

And so it became an opportunity to think about a new way that we could do the weather on Channel 3.

And also, Kathleen, there was a major revolution going on in the weather industry.

The Weather Channel was coming online.

USA Today was a full weather page.

So there were all sorts of things happening, and our department felt that it was time to raise the level of skill in terms of presentation of weather information.

And increase the time from six minutes to 15.

Indeed.

Yes, that was also very important.

Charlie, how did you get connected with Weather World, in particular, because you started at WPSX even before this particular version of the show began.

Yeah, actually, I think it was a Friday, just before summer started, and Sandy Thomas, who directed the program for years, would take summers off.

Oh.

And they said, would you like to do the show for the summer?

And so I ended out being thrown into that production, and the crew saved me every night.

And so that began, and then the relationship with meteorology got even stronger after that.

I'd forgotten that people were allowed to take summers off.

John, you came on board as a graduate student a few years later.

What was it like being on the show as a student?

It was terrifying.

I had scratched my weather communications itch doing some radio in the 1980s, and then heard about the television course that Fred and Charlie were offering.

Sounded like something I wanted to dive into.

But I remember some bloopers that hopefully have been lost in the dumpster in the back of Mitchell or Wagner Building.

No, no, no, we're going to bring up several of them, actually.

[laughter] Charlie, so you were producer and director.

Talk about your specific role on the show.

Well, I initially was just the director of the program.

When we went to the 15-minute version, the scientists, Fred and Paul, also had to become producers.

So we did a lot of back and forth and back and forth on what was important and what the audience-- I became the audience advocate.

Plus, I got to ask all the questions I've always had about meteorology, and they would answer them.

They got them answered very nice.

Now let's talk about the technology of that time in the early years of Weather World.

I certainly remember paper maps.

Oh, yes, yes.

And in fact, you started with paper maps before I did.

Yes.

So lots of magic markers and maps splayed all over tables that we would be drawing on.

Now at the same time, Kathleen, behind the scenes, the technology guiding us, the forecasts, was changing quite a bit too.

So it was two things changing at once.

OK. Yeah, and the paper map thing, that was happening just before airtime.

Yes, it was.

Sometimes even much later than is comfortable.

[laughter] But yeah, that's right.

And then, of course, slowly but surely, that changed.

Yes.

The studio floor was level, so that made it easier.

Yeah.

That's good.

There were a lot of people kneeling on the floor, yeah.

Jon, were you involved in the behind the scenes, the production aspect of the show?

Well, what I remember is, I would let Fred and Paul know when I was available as a forecaster.

They would make the schedule.

You just show up, you put the forecast together.

And I remember drawing the maps with the markers, and then rushing to get over to Wagner Building.

Yeah.

Let's go back to the technology on the meteorology side, not production so much.

What were the changes that have occurred, especially in, say, the first 10 or 15 years of the show?

They were massive because the electronic graphics were becoming the state of the art, and we were, of course, still in the paper world.

So we had to learn the whole new technique, and Fred was just the anchor for that.

He spent countless hours learning how to run these programs.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I was a computer hacker all of a sudden.

And so that became a very interesting sideline of mine, computer hacking.

But yeah, the slowly but surely-- and of course, the computer technology itself was changing rapidly.

First it was relatively basic, and then it became, could do almost anything with the computer technology.

And of course, Weather World was there for that whole ramp up in computer technology.

Charlie, give us a highly compressed sense of what it was like on a night when you're doing the show-- well, five nights a week.

What was it like from the production point of view?

Well, we would take over the studio about an hour before the show went on the air, placed the cameras where they needed to be, and basically, get everything ready for when the meteorologists would come in.

When they started going to electronic maps, the computer was in Walker Building, and it had to be fed map by map by map over-- Also, slowly, no doubt.

Yes, and put in the right order and everything.

And it ultimately made the production much easier to do.

Right.

But it was cumbersome in the process.

So let's talk a little bit about the big distance between Wagner Building and Walker Building because most, not all, the meteorologists, were coming from Walker Building out to Wagner.

I think that had a timing issue.

It sometimes did because you cannot predict the traffic on the Penn State Campus.

That's right.

FRED GADOMSKI: And it got particularly hairy during move-in weekend at Penn State.

In fact, I recall one time having to abandon my vehicle-- [chuckling] And we had to run the final-- several hundred yards.

And the student I was with actually was a smoker, and it was a problem.

[laughter] Well, this is when I learned that I could use my bicycle, and I could get across campus much faster than I could drive.

Yeah.

What was it like working with students?

You had graduate students first, but then undergraduates.

There must be, let us just gently say, pluses and minuses with working with both graduate students and undergraduates.

Well, it was great to be able to watch them bloom in their field.

Mm-hmm.

But of course, there were some rough edges at times two.

Mm-hmm.

So we had to deal with them in a way that encouraged them, but also took off the edge and said, see, this way.

Did you rehearse them at all or just throw them in front of the camera?

Oh, yeah, there was rehearsal.

And of course, there was a course that Charlie and I taught, and some of our students have gone on to great things from that, and that makes us proud.

Yes.

But what is interesting is what I noticed over the years, was students, initially back in the early-- you mid '80s, were very, very, very, very nervous.

As we went through the years, students, it now seems as though they're all born to be on YouTube.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

So the technology moved out of the professional studio and become available in everybody's hands.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

So Jon, you were on the show as a graduate student, then you left and you went off to the Weather Channel, I think.

What was it like to come back later?

How had the show changed?

Well, I actually stayed on the show occasionally while I was a faculty member at the Penn State Beaver and Penn State Haselton campuses.

So as late, probably the mid '90s, I was still appearing occasionally.

So when I came back in 2005, the studio had moved.

And I was fortunate enough, convinced Paul and Fred to allow myself to create a little feature that's still running today, the Weather Wise feature.

So I feel like I had a much more hands-on approach to the production of the show because I had a weekly segment.

Yeah, yeah, and real life further experience out there.

Yeah, and able to bring a student in.

I've always had a student working with me on this feature.

So for the last 18 years, I've been able to work one-on-one with dozens of students on creating the graphics that go into those features.

Paul, WPSU got out of the Weather World production business in 2004, and then the distribution focus changed, so source change.

There was a brief time when the show wasn't on the air, must have been a really interesting, challenging time.

How did the connection with PCN get made?

Well, Fred and I, of course, were discussing, what are we going to do from here?

We were six characters in search of an author.

[laughter] So we were trying to figure out what matches.

We had always forecast for the entire state, even if the broadcast was not necessarily picked up in Philadelphia, or Erie, or Pittsburgh.

So Fred had the idea, well, PCN broadcasts everywhere in Pennsylvania.

KATHLEEN PAVELKO: Statewide.

And so we approached them, Brian Lockman and his staff, and they graciously took the risk of working with us to try and keep the show going.

KATHLEEN PAVELKO: Mm-hmm.

What were some of the changes that occurred when that transition occurred?

Was it only distribution?

No, it wasn't.

They only changed it-- No, but there was a distribution.

Getting the signal to PCN was not the simplest thing in the world.

It actually-- then we had to install a microwave link, which then got hopped down to the PCN studios.

So that was a major change in the way the signal got out, and the changes that followed that just were more of these changes related to computer technology advancing.

Yeah.

At that point, the studio was in Walker Building.

So it had moved during that three month, August, September, November, or whatever, in 2004.

We were busy moving the studio physically, and of course, the staff at PSU was fantastic to help us.

Yeah.

Those personal connections and professional connections remain.

PAUL KNIGHT: Mm-hmm.

Charlie, as you think back about your long career in a variety of roles over time, how did your time with Weather World transform your career, elevate your career, change your life?

Well, one of the things-- the first thing that affected me is everything up to when I started working on Weather World, was edited material.

And suddenly, I'm doing live, and you can see errors happen.

It's live television, and it's on its way to Mars, and I had to get used to that.

I can do it again tomorrow and the day after.

And so that was the biggest thing.

The other thing was trying to find interesting ways as a coproducer with Fred and Paul to get across the ideas.

I think there were so many that were-- there were a few that we had to lay to rest.

There was no way to explain.

[laughter] But you just have to trust us.

But most of it was just that exciting part of it.

Yeah, yeah.

And I've always felt that Weather World excelled at explanatory journalism of its particular type.

Yeah.

Jon, what about the transformation of your life as a result of your time on Weather World, your first time on Weather World.

Right.

Well, it allowed me to scratch that itch in graduate school to get into the weather communications biz.

And I mean, it was transformational because although I've stayed in education much of my life, I've also been able to dabble in television.

And now it's come full circle.

I get to come back here and help educate the next generation.

It's very satisfying, isn't it?

It is, very.

Also, I think very satisfying to see how the technology has changed, TV technology has changed, meteorology technology and forecasting ability has changed, the look and feel of the show, so many things.

But there are some-- there were several persistent elements to it.

What would you say are the key persistent elements over time?

The persistent element, which actually started with Charles Hosler in 1957 because he was a meteorologist, and he looked at what was being provided to the public in terms of weather forecasts and say, we can do a heck of a lot better.

We're going to show the world how to do it, how to explain the weather, how to respect your audience, that you challenge them a little bit.

And slowly but surely, they become a little at home meteorologists themselves.

And that becomes important to us because then they are able to be a part of the process, and that's really still the case.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

So you created knowledgeable listeners and viewers, and you also created weather nerds.

We should acknowledge that.

Yes.

Thank you all, gentlemen.

Jon and Charlie, thank you so much for your contributions to this conversation and to Weather World.

We're going to be bringing in two new voices in just a few minutes as we continue this conversation on the history and evolution of Weather World.

Just ahead, Marisa Ferger and Rob Lydick will join the celebration.

But first, here are some memories and well-wishes from some familiar faces.

I don't think there's a better exposure of what our knowledge of the weather is and to put it to utilization in the country.

I think Central Pennsylvania has the finest weather coverage of any area in the United States as a result of the contributions that Weather World is making.

My wife and I have been avid Weather World viewers for 35 years.

Congratulations, Weather World, on 40 years of informing, educating, and entertaining the public, and of training the next generation of broadcast meteorologists.

Weather World has always been a big part of my life.

I watched it growing up as a kid.

And now being part of the show, it's a really special thing for me and my family.

Being on Weather World was a fantastic experience, getting to work with talented students and faculty in the department of meteorology.

And being able to share weather information with people across Pennsylvania on television, but also across the world on social media in more recent years was a really rewarding experience.

My biggest memory of Weather World is the impact that Weather World has on the audience with their public service mission to educate the audience about the science of meteorology.

So I really appreciate that from Weather World.

And I wish them the best, and happy anniversary for 40 years, and I hope there's many, many more to come.

We are proud to support and air Weather World.

Happy birthday.

Happy 40th birthday, Weather World.

Happy birthday, Weather World.

Happy 40th birthday, Weather World.

Let's hope for another 40 years coming up.

To watch more content like this, visit wpsu.org.

Click on digital and browse our videos.

You can also check out our YouTube channel.

[music playing] Hi.

It's my pleasure to congratulate Penn State meteorology and PSU on decades of service to Pennsylvanians by bringing unique weather to the viewers across the state.

It was my pleasure to do this unique show for 17 years.

Congratulations to all the other participants over many decades.

40 years of Weather World.

What an accomplishment.

I am humbled and honored to have now been a part of the show in some capacity for eight of those many years.

And I still find it amazing that I can travel to several parts of Pennsylvania and hear from viewers about how much they love the program.

So congratulations on 40 years.

Here's to 40 more.

I had a childhood interest in weather growing up outside of Harrisburg, and Weather World was really instrumental and helped in helping to stoke that interest.

My after school routine was, doing homework, catching Buck Rogers, and then watching Weather World, pretty awesome stuff.

Your decision several years ago to put more students in front of the camera has been nothing short of transformational.

The students really have this incredible professional growth opportunity, and then the show benefits from their unique perspectives and insights on weather and climate issues.

So well done, and happy birthday.

[music playing] We're going to show you that, when you're doing something new, like Weather World was, you're bound to make a few mistakes.

Coming up for tomorrow, we're looking for a really fine day.

No, we're not going to see Fred there, but we're going to see tomorrow's forecast.

Of two severe droughts and record floods, depending upon the location of the ITCZ-- [mumbling] Cooler in the Northwest.

Prepare for it.

Paul, are you out there?

So as always, we'll have the state's most in-depth look at the wecker-- weck-- [laughter] Did you know that-- [mumbling] meteorologists.

It's a hard word to say.

Day on Thursday, plenty of cloud cover-- [chuckles] let's start that one over.

Continue to sizzle the West remained rather "twil-aj"-- [mumbling] [laughter] [crew speaking in background] My button.

[music playing] ANNOUNCER: Here again with Weather World at 40, Kathleen Pavelko.

We're continuing our look back at how Weather World has changed since it began in its current format in 1983.

Once again, I'm with Paul Knight and Fred Gadomski, the original hosts and forecasters of the show.

And now we're also joined by Marisa Ferger and Rob Lydick, who serve as current hosts, forecasters, and producers for the show.

Marisa, you came on board in 2003.

What were some of the changes that were underway at that point?

Yeah, so I came on board right before they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the show.

And then a year later, we got the news that things were going to be ending at Wagner Building, and that's when Paul and Fred got the new version of the show, started with PCN, and that meant moving everything to Walker Building.

We physically had the giant, bluish-gray set moved over.

And actually, it had to be sawed in half, I think, because it didn't fit in the space.

And then we also had to start the entire production.

And anybody in TV knows that the behind the scenes production is not easy, it's time consuming.

And we are meteorologists.

We're trained as to forecast the weather.

And so we then had to train our students in the production side of things.

So it was time consuming.

It was stressful.

But we did it, and we're still doing it.

And you'll continue to do it because this is a big theme of today's program.

That's right.

[laughter] Rob, talk about the role of students and how it has changed over time.

There have always been some graduate students, but much more recently, undergraduates.

Talk about how that evolved.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, we have them involved in every aspect of the show, so whether they're making graphics behind the scenes, or they're actually pushing the buttons and doing the directing taking different video sources.

They're putting together features.

They're writing scripts for different stories about weather or climate.

They're making forecasts, as they've been doing for years.

So we have them involved in just about every aspect of the show, hosting, you name it.

Do they intend to be TV meteorologists?

No, not necessarily.

In fact, we've actually got several right now who are probably going to go on to great things in aviation, meteorology, or otherwise.

Broadcasting, not one of them, but they're very great at communication skills.

And I think that's a tribute to the department of meteorology and it's recognition, that there are multiple roles for people who study meteorology.

Yeah.

And we say that, basically, these skill sets are transferable to a lot of different areas.

And so having that communication skill set, whether you're defending your thesis, or you're talking to a crowd or a classroom, it's transferable.

OK, just one question about this.

How did you cope during COVID?

[laughter] Did we?

It wasn't easy.

[laughter] We tried our best.

It was really about trial and error and trying to figure out new technologies that would allow us to be able to produce the show.

I wasn't sure we were going to be able to do it, to be honest.

But we made it work despite some challenges along the way.

Yeah.

And I'm actually very grateful for Rob because he's really the one who spearheaded it and figured out a lot of the technology because some of us aren't as tech savvy as Rob is.

But it was hard because we had to do it from home.

The internet always didn't work.

You've got pets in the background, families in the background, phones ringing.

But we did it.

And there was only one day in that entire 4 and 1/2 months that there was a glitch, and it was the day that Rob had taken off and it was handed over to me.

[laughter] Of course.

Of course.

Oops.

And yeah, so it was on my end that the show didn't upload fast enough.

So we missed the deadline.

I feel for you guys.

I have a furry coworker myself.

So I know how that goes.

I retired just in time.

[laughter] Yeah, good planning on your part.

Let's talk about some of the ways that Weather World engaged the audience directly.

There were contests, snowflake contest, the trivia contest.

But how did those ideas originate?

Where did it come from?

Well, I seem to remember the snowflake contest.

Preceded.

Yeah, preceded Weather World.

Yes.

And so we just brought it in and got wider submissions from people.

Yes.

But then in the first year, we also had a photo contest, remember?

We had a photo contest.

And that got a lot of submissions.

It was hard to find objective judges about that.

But the trivia contest, I think, which has gone on for a long time and become very popular was part of this never ending search for more weather content.

We always needed to fill the space.

And we're always thinking of, what are new and interesting and audience-engaging ways to fill the space?

And the trivia contest became that.

I think it's revealing that you were focused on audience engagement long before there was social media, the internet, et cetera.

To what extent were you actually interacting in real life, face-to-face with the Weather World viewers?

Well, in the grocery store.

[laughter] Yeah, yeah.

Oh, look who it is.

Yeah.

And of course, when we would do some of the features we did were with people who were Weather World viewers and happened to have another vocation where the weather was part of what they did.

So that was another place.

In the old days, there used to be letter writers.

I remember Bonnie from Wilcox.

[laughter] Yes, yes.

People like this, just salt of the Earth folks who were part of our audience, and that's always good to remember.

Yes.

Tell me about the Weather World-- excuse me, Weather Wise Pennsylvanians.

Well, that was part of a series that we started early on, where we would go to the streets of-- and usually, since the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts comes to State College, it was inviting an audience for us.

And we would come up with some offbeat interesting questions that we would just ask folks walking around.

Yeah.

Do you get wetter walking or running in the rain?

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

It was an interesting one.

And I remember an answer from a comedian on the street who said-- when I asked the question, he said, I would take a cab.

[laughter] And it's worth noting too that we actually just had one of our students go and ask Pennsylvanians at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts just recently some of these questions too.

What constitutes a blizzard?

And some of these responses have been hilarious to see in the editing process.

Yeah.

How fast does a raindrop fall?

That was a great one.

Yeah.

The tradition continues, clearly.

Yes.

Yeah.

But now you have students creating features of their own.

I can imagine they would come up with some very-- I'll use the term, eclectic features.

Yeah, I mean-- of course, they come from all over the country.

And so we've got surfers.

We've got people who really like riding horses.

What are some of the other features that we've had recently too?

There was somebody who was just interested in psychology so he did one on seasonal affective disorder.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I mean, they come up with really creative-- sometimes it has to do with their interests.

Like Rob was saying, we had a surfer.

Yeah, I know there's somebody this semester who's really interested in soccer.

So we're going to hopefully get something together with weather and sports.

The Blue Band at Penn State.

So it's really easy to get them to do some digging and some investigative journalism, if you will, on topics that they're passionate about.

And if they can somehow relate that to weather or the changing climate, all the better for the show and for Pennsylvania.

So Rob, what is it like now to have a double role?

You're with the weather communications group, but you also teach.

You used to be a student here.

What are all those various roles like in your life?

Well, I know earlier in the program Jon said, it came full circle, and that's what I say as well.

I remember as a student being on the show with Paul, and Fred, and Marisa.

And being able to have the role that I have right now, where I'm working with them behind the scenes, but then also in the studio on the air with them to prepare the forecast, to do some of these features-- and the editing room, we're working with them, making graphics, you name it, it's really fulfilling.

It's really a dream.

Yeah, it is.

Marisa, what's your favorite Weather World moment?

Oh, geez.

I would say it's mostly behind the scenes.

We laugh a lot.

Mm-hmm.

Everybody that we work with, both professionally and with the students, they are just-- everybody has a really good sense of humor, and I appreciate that.

Whenever there's a big storm, everybody runs to the windows of Walker Building, and we all-- if it's a snow squall, if it's a thunderstorm.

So that's always fun.

And then one of the more fulfilling moments, a full circle moment, was when we went to the virtual set.

Was that 2015-ish?

And we got to take sledgehammers to the old set.

And so it was really neat because a lot of people from here at WPSU, a lot of the people we had worked with throughout the years, showed up.

We were there, and we literally took sledgehammers and we got to knock it apart.

I cried just a little bit.

I just want you to know.

[laughter] But it was fun to get off.

It was a neat moment.

It was sad, but it was fun to move into this new technology that we've been with since then.

Yeah.

Paul, I'm going to ask you the favorite moment question as well.

But one of the things you always said was, the weather is the star of the show.

Yes.

And that means there must be memorable storms that you won't forget.

There's a host of them, Kathleen.

And actually, early on in May of '85, the great tornado outbreak was one that we saw well ahead of time.

But there was Gloria, and then there was this Superstorm in '93.

There was the extreme cold, which nobody remembers anymore, in '94, almost shut down the power grid in the East.

And then there was the super blizzard, Armageddon Storm in '96.

And then we had a host of hurricanes too.

Most of them were ice storms, Irene, and Ida, and so on.

And all of those leading up to the great finale, which was Superstorm Sandy.

That was the memorable one.

Yeah.

You have a catch phrase, or two, or five, Fred?

[laughter] The one I'm going to ask you about is, misty distant future.

What exactly does that mean?

Well, it, of course, was part of my intro to 12-day Trends, which was a segment.

And one of the things we've tried to do with Weather World is separate the weather forecast into different segments, the local 1 in two-day forecast, the extended forecast going out five days or so.

And then as you go into the place where meteorologists really can't tell you in detail what's going to happen but we might have some idea, that's the misty distant future.

[laughter] That's so gently put there.

[laughter] Yeah, so nicely done.

Rob, there's lots of long running weather segments, as we've talked about.

One of them is Weather Wise and Climate Watch.

How do you keep long running things like that relevant?

Yeah, I mean, Jon and Marisa have worked on weather wise for, I think, nearly 18 years.

It's won an Emmy through it's time.

And it's topical, but it's also timeless.

And so basically, it's one of those things where I think that's the theme, or the common thread, through Weather World, one of them, that weather transcends.

It's always needed that information.

Yeah.

Television shows, some of them are viewed as practical assets in the day, and you turn it on, and there's the news, and et cetera, et cetera.

But there's something about Weather World that makes an emotional connection to many of its viewers.

Why is that?

Well, that's the whole weather thing itself, right.

And some of us who've been in weather don't know why, but we know we caught the bug.

And we actually went so far as to turn it into a career.

But there are other people and many, many other people who have the bug.

And there's something very primal about the human relationship to the weather.

There was a time when everything was about the weather, or you might not end up being alive at the end of the day.

So I think that's in there too.

And while we sometimes talk about the weather in terms of its danger, I like to think-- most of the time, the weather isn't dangerous at all.

The weather is fun, and that's part of the appeal.

Yeah, yeah.

Let us not forget the personalities who present the weather.

Mm-hmm.

[chuckling] Well, and we appreciate that, but we always felt, Kathleen, that the weather is the star.

So we design things around the fact that folks want to know about the weather.

Right.

And if we happen to add a little bit of pizzazz to it, all the better.

Let's talk a little bit, Marisa, about how Weather World, and Penn State meteorology, has made an impact nationwide.

No matter where you travel around the country, there is a former Penn State meteorologist there in front of the cameras, but also in other places.

So talk about that.

Yeah.

We actually keep a database of broadcast meteorologists, and there are over 100 across the nation, and many of those people had been a part of Weather World.

And yeah, it's-- the neat thing about the weather is, like Fred and Paul both said, weather happens everywhere.

And so meteorologists really are needed everywhere.

And people who graduate from Penn State want to go to exciting places and see what kind of weather there is, and they want to talk about that weather and forecast the weather.

And so I think we are just really lucky to have students who are adventurous and willing to go to other places.

Yes.

And they're also very bright because meteorology is not an easy major.

And so they go out there and they take their brains and they mix it with their passion and they represent us really well.

Mm-hmm.

It's one of the many impacts Penn State has had across the country.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Rob, Weather World also tackles important continuing issues, like climate change.

How is it addressing that?

And how may it have to change to address It in future?

Yeah, I think one of the most important things is that we stick with the science.

And so we're not sensationalizing things.

We're sticking with the facts.

Basically, you'll see some of these outlets, or maybe some folks in the media who maybe try to attribute, this particular event was caused by climate change.

And we're like, well, let's actually look at the peer reviewed science here, stick with the science and evaluate.

Maybe this was made more likely to occur by a change in climate, but not specifically by climate change.

And because it's such a hot topic, it's something that's impacted-- so many different industries are being impacted by a changing climate.

That's why it's so easy for our students to find topics that they're really passionate about and talk about.

Maybe how this is having an impact on the equine industry, or on surfers in different aspects of that culture.

It's fascinating to me that through all of the changes, technological meteorology, et cetera, that Weather World remains highly relevant today.

Why is that, do you suppose?

Do you want to start, Fred?

Well, as Rob has said, the need for weather is always there, and therefore, it's relevant.

I don't think it will ever go away.

I mean, we may build buildings to protect ourselves, but we do have to go outside, maybe less than we used to, but we still have to go outside, and we still need to deal with this aspect of nature that always is going to have its unpredictable aspect.

And to have someone out there watching it for you and helping you cope with it, I think that keeps it relevant.

Yeah.

I think that makes sense.

Having someone with knowledge to keep an eye on it.

Is it perhaps, Paul, our closest connection to nature, is through the weather?

Well, it certainly has a lot to do with it.

And the weather and the features that Fred and I produced over the course of 20 years plus, many of them dealt with weather in nature, and farming, and all sorts of other-- folklore was a big one.

KATHLEEN PAVELKO: Oh, yeah.

PAUL KNIGHT: Yeah, many folks wondered, well, I see the woolly worm is bigger this year, or the there were more acorns.

So those sort of things, which just keep coming back, are an opportunity to say, how has the science changed?

How has nature changing?

And how can we connect those two?

Yeah.

Rob, Penn State aspires to be the leader in an infinite number of areas, academic and other.

Is it true, do you think, that Weather World and the department of meteorology here are a leading light and a model for other institutions around the country?

I certainly believe that.

I've actually attended the American Meteorological Society conferences, and I'm constantly talking to folks who are from other programs, other universities.

And it's really remarkable, to say the least, that they aspire to be Weather World.

Mm-hmm.

So they actually look to Weather World for inspiration.

They watch the program.

They see, not just a show that's been on for 40 years, but a legacy that goes on all the way back to the 1950s.

And so looking at those techniques, looking at the style, looking at what's important, the fact that weather is the driver of the show, that it's the main focus of the show.

It's really something to see how it-- it's the benchmark.

OK, I'm going to lay on a little speculative questioning here, and that is, predict how the show may change, or may need to change, in the next five years or so in order to accommodate audience changes, technology changes, forecasting changes.

Pick one or more.

Go ahead.

Well, I think one of the things that has-- that we're sitting here tonight, is the fact that the show has been adaptable over the changing technology, the changing people, faces, you name it.

And I think that we'll have to continue to do that as we look ahead.

And I think that's-- we owe that to our students, actually, as well, to be training them to be broadcasters, communicators, and meteorologists.

We need to be looking ahead at what that may mean in terms of, do we make our content more accessible through apps or social media, some other ways that we've discussed behind the scenes.

Maybe we need to look at other things to make things accessible.

That's great because the continuation is so important.

I want to say thank you to Paul Knight, Fred Gadomski, Marisa Ferger, Rob Lydick, Jon Nese, and Charlie Gudeman for all of you to take the time to celebrate the storied history of Weather World, just as weather and climate evolves and transcends generations.

So too will this legendary show in format, in technology, in the science of meteorology, and in its impact.

And we couldn't possibly sign off without saying thank you to you, our loyal Weather World viewers.

Thank you.

And now, as we've done for 40 years, we'll see you tomorrow with the Pennsylvania forecast.

[music playing] Start to slice.

We'll do it together.

All right.

CREW: Thank you so much.

Go ahead and cut it.

[laughter] [music playing]