John Coleman (meteorologist)
This article is about the news weathercaster. For other people with the same name, see John Coleman (disambiguation).
John Coleman | |
|---|---|
 John Coleman, KUSI News Weathercaster | |
| Born | John Coleman October 15, 1934 |
| Status | Married |
| Occupation | Television Weathercaster |
| Spouse | Linda Coleman |
| Relatives | Parents: Claude & Hazel Coleman |
| Website | http://www.kusi.com/about/bios/weather/1838191.html |
John Coleman is an American news weathercaster. He founded The Weather Channel (but is no longer affiliated with it), and presently works as an on-camera weathercaster at KUSI-TV in San Diego.
Professional career
Coleman started his career at WCIA (TV) in Champaign, Illinois, doing the early evening weathercast and a local bandstand show called At The Hop while he was a student at University of Illinois. After receiving his degree in 1957, he became the weather anchor for WCIA's sister station WMBD-TV in Peoria, Illinois. Coleman was also a weather anchor for KETV in Omaha, WISN-TV in Milwaukee and then WBBM-TV and WLS-TV in Chicago.[1]
At WLS, Coleman was teamed with Fahey Flynn, Joel Daly and Bill Frink to form the Eyewitness News Team, creating a news brand name and establishing a highly successful new local news format dubbed "happy talk" by a local television columnist. This style of local news has been widely copied. The team dominated Chicago television news ratings for more than a decade. During his time at Chicago's WLS-TV, Coleman was one of Chicago's most popular weathercasters, famous for his amusing and irreverent style. It was then that Coleman became the original weathercaster on what was then the brand-new ABC network morning program, Good Morning America. He stayed seven years with this top-rated program anchored by David Hartman and Joan Lunden. [2]
He then founded The Weather Channel, serving as its CEO and President during the startup and its first year of operation. After being forced out at TWC, Coleman became weather anchor at WCBS-TV in New York and then at WMAQ-TV in Chicago, before moving to Southern California to join the independent television station, KUSI-TV in San Diego, in what Coleman fondly calls, "his retirement job".[2]
Views on global warming
In fall of 2007 Coleman described the current concern over global warming "a fictional, manufactured crisis, and a total scam." [3] His postings assessing the science behind global warming can be read at www.kusi.com.
Contrary to reports, Coleman announced that he will not be launching a lawsuit against Al Gore.[4] However, he has expressed hope that Gore will be sued for fraud, because he has allegedly sold carbon credits which he knew to be worthless.[citation needed]
Coleman is of the opinion that a debate on Global Warming should be pursued as his expertise as a meteorologist and scientist is in conflict with the assertions that Vice President Gore makes in his oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". Gore has turned down the challenge to debate Coleman claiming "The debate on Global Warming is over." Coleman claims that Gore's movie is based on junk-science and that "Global Warming Alarmism" is some ploy for purposes that are anything but science.[citation needed]
Personal life
Coleman was born in 1934 in Alpine, Texas, the fifth child of a college professor and his math teacher wife, Claude and Hazel Coleman. He is married to Linda Coleman, and lives in a retirement community in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo.
References
- ^ "Former WMBD-TV On-Air Staff" from The WMBD Blog, retrieved 2006-09-05
- ^ a b John Coleman biography on KUSI-TV web site, retrieved 2006-09-05
- ^ Comments about global warming
- ^ "Glenn Beck - Interviews - Weather Channel founder suing Gore?". Retrieved 2008-03-09.
External links
- John Coleman at IMDb