WHDH-TV Weather 1959

[Kevin Vahey]

In Boston I believe Fred B Cole was the Atlantic Weatherman.

At WMUR the Atantic Weatherman was Gus Bernier. His talent fee alone from
Atlantic was more than what the station paid him.

Atlantic provided the set and everything was handled by a Philadelphia ad
agency N.W.Ayer.

In 1968 there was a problem. Ayer wanted the weather do be done in color or
they would cancel. While WMUR could show film and slides in color they
could not air video tape or live studio. Gus was furious because he stood
to lose a lot of money.

WMUR GM Sam Phillips thought he could trick N W Ayer. During the 1968 New
Hampshire primary both CBS and ABC set up shop at 1819 Elm Street and Sam
begged the CBS people to shoot one weather segment in color and have the
truck record it so he could send it to Philadelphia. It actually worked for
awhile but finally somebody from Ayer was on vacation in NH and saw it was
still in black and white.

Video exists of a similar weather show in Harrisburg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr74zll5ZxE

On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Jim Hall <aerie.ma@comcast.net> wrote:

> I seem to remember one station had their weather man dressed up in a gas
> station pump jockey costume (I think it was Atlantic Richfield oil
> company).
> Oh...for the days when there WERE gas station attendants!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org
> [mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf
> Of
> Maureen Carney
> Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 7:56 AM
> To: Donna Halper
> Cc: Boston Radio Group
> Subject: Re: WHDH-TV Weather 1959
>
> It caught my eye because of Barney. I was always under the impression that
> for the most part early Boston TV news and weather avoided most of the
> gimmicks that seemed prevalent in other markets (like puppets, weather
> girls
> and the "funny" weatherman).
>
>