John Bolaris
John Bolaris | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Bolaris June 27, 1957 Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Suffolk County Community College (AAS) |
| Occupation(s) | Television Meteorologist Realtor |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
| Children | 1 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  Air National Guard |
John Bolaris (born June 27, 1957) is an American television meteorologist and realtor. He has worked as the Chief Meteorologist for Weekend Today, NBC 10, WCBS and Fox 29. Bolaris currently works as the President of BlackLabel Luxury Real Estate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bolaris is a four time Emmy Award winner.
Early Life
Bolaris was born on Long Island and was avid about meteorology from a young age. His father was a truck driver and his mother was a housewife.[1] He went on to graduate from Connetquot High School in 1975 and Suffolk County Community College in 1980.[2] After getting an associate degree, Bolaris enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He attended their Weather Technical School and served three years in the Air National Guard where he advised pilots on weather conditions.[3]
Career
Meteorology
Bolaris started his career as a meteorologist at Metro Weather Service in 1982.[3] Five years later, he became a television meteorologist for News 12 Long Island where he shined. After a week at News 12 Long Island, Bolaris was named the weekend television meteorologist for WCBS.[4] While at WCBS, Bolaris served as a forecaster on the weather for the New York Yankees and their owner, George Steinbrenner.[5] Bolaris served as a reporter on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather during Hurricane Hugo.[6]
In 1990, Bolaris was relocated to Philadelphia by CBS executives, who wanted to revitalize then CBS affiliated, WCAU-TV.[7]
In 2001, Bolaris drew major criticism after predicting a major blizzard, which he dubbed the "storm of the century" would hit Philadelphia. Leading up to the storm, Bolaris' segments featured custom theme music and he often compared the emerging storm to the North American blizzard of 1996.[8] Bolaris urged viewers to stay home from work and Philadelphia area schools were closed. However, the storm resulted in less than an inch of snow.[9] As a result, Bolaris received more than 1,000 angry emails and multiple death threats. A year later, Bolaris left Philadelphia and returned to WCBS where he worked for six years as a meteorologist.[10]
In 2009, Bolaris returned to Philadelphia as the Chief Meteorologist at Fox 29.[11] However, Bolaris ran into trouble with Fox 29's management after they refused to conduct an interview with Bolaris' friend and former Phillies star, Lenny Dykstra. In December 2011, was suspended after he took part in a profile in Playboy magazine, which presented him in a negative light and was he fired a month later.[12][13]
Following his departure at Fox 29, Bolaris served as a weather columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer and launched a weather website known as Weather Savior. The website was shut down after a little over a year.[14] He served served as a meteorologist for The Howard Stern Show during Hurricane Sandy.[15]
Real Estate
In 2016, John Bolaris retired from meteorology and co-founded BlackLabel Luxury Real Estate. As a realtor, he specializes in selling homes to celebrities, athletes and CEOs. He served as the listing agent for an estate on Long Island where F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly wrote The Great Gatsby.[16][17][18]
Bolaris' high-profile clients include Joel Embiid and Michael Raffl.[19]
Personal Life
Bolaris has one daughter, Reina, who he had with Tiffany McElroy, a former reporter. Bolaris is known in the Philadelphia media for being a "ladies man." He has been in relationships with Lauren Hart, Jane Robelot and Nicole Miller.[20]
In 2010, while in Miami, Bolaris was drugged and charged for $43,000 on his American Express card. Bolaris contacted the FBI, who connected Bolaris' story to a crime ring run by a bar owner. 17 arrests were made in connection with the crime ring. The story was the subject of investigations on ABC’s 20/20 and American Greed.[21][22]
References
- ^ "One of Us: John Bolaris". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "John Bolaris: Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ a b "Little Boy Lost: John Bolaris Has Some Regrets". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Meteorologist Receives Hate Mail". Greek News. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Crossing Streams (Episode 8): What's Wrong with Pink Eye?". Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Hurricane Hugo (1989) TV coverage 1/3". Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Broadcast Pioneers: John Bolaris". Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader". Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "The Philadelphia Area Weather Book". Temple University Press. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Weather on the Air: A History of Broadcast Meteorology". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Once-stormy Bolaris shows a sunnier side". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "John Bolaris suspended by Fox 29". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "John Bolaris no longer employed by Fox 29". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Bolaris pulls plug on website". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "JOHN BOLARIS' 'SUPER CLYCLONE'". Howard Stern Show. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Ex-weatherman John Bolaris sees fair skies in real estate". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "John Bolaris wants to sell Kanye West a house". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Ex-weatherman John Bolaris sees fair skies in real estate". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Ex-weatherman John Bolaris starts new gig in real estate". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Zoren: The John Bolaris firing: Should it be a surprise?". Delco Times. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Drugged, Scammed by Beautiful Women: Weatherman Tells His Story". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
- ^ "Weatherman John Bolaris tells story of being drugged and swindled out of $40K by Russian beauties in Miami". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2020-06-28.