Mike, here’s your twin from your young years:
I loved it! Thanks!
My 1st year on the tv job at WEHT in Evansville, IN, I took many comments joking about our profession personally.
I would defend the science, forecasting skill and other elements of meteorology to critics and jokers.
Then, I evolved, adjusted and lightened up.
My favorite line would be a response to a heckler type person, almost always males, in a crowd that would yell out, “hey weatherman ,what’s the weather going to be”
They would pause long enough for me to give a response, then say something like
”you have the only job in the world where you mess up 50% of the time and you don’t get fired!!”
Then the crowd would laugh.
In my later years, when I would hear “hey Mr. Weatherman, what’s the weather lookin like?”
My response would be “why are you asking me?? I’m a weatherman and you know I‘m just going to lie to you!!
Then everybody would laugh and I stole the hecklers thunder!
thanks, Larry!
Ill be 68 shortly and haven’t looked like that for decades.
speaking of which.
Our 50 year reunion is coming up.
Everybody remembers the way everybody else looked 5, 10, 20 or even 50 years ago…...the last time we saw them.
Then, all at once we have to dial in 10 or 20+ years of aging instead of 1 day at a time looking at ourselves in the mirror.
Shocking for some!
You know that I'm just kidding!!
We have the best weather prognosticators right here on Market Forum!
For sure I know that cutworm and I enjoyed it tremendously.
I greatly appreciate your contributions and friendship here too.
Despite our differences on a few issues, like those related to Trump, you have ALWAYS displayed professionalism and never made a personal attack, NEVER!
No matter how strongly you disagree, despite my extreme attacking of positions that you have had.
The fact that you followed up to make sure that I understood your positive mindset of the first post, is just another example of your integrity.
Larry,
You're going to love this.
I'm so glad that you brought this up. It caused me to look for this guy on the Weather Channel that my wife would call the Black Figgity because he looked very much like me but with darker skin.
Our nick name for each other was Figgity Diggity(long story).
I couldn't find the guy but did find this wonderful link with past anchors, some of whom I did know or who played a role in my career.
I'm betting Larry knows who most of these people are.
https://twcclassics.com/information/former-ocms.html
In 1981, President Reagan put on a job hiring freeze for all Federal employees, including the National Weather Service, that I was going to work for.
So when I graduated in 1981, I started looking at television, even though I was a horrible public speaker.
My youngest sister went to MSU, 70 miles north of the UM campus. and knew about a cable station that had a 6pm news run by the MSU communications department. They needed weather people because everybody could read news and sports from a script/teleprompter but nobody could talk about the weather for 5 minutes(they had no meteorology department).
I drove up there, 140 mile round trip, every Friday, sometimes on a Monday(in my rusted out, 1972 LTD Ford with 180,000 miles on it-that I bought for $100) for almost a year to do a 5 minute weather cast with the MSU communications department. I used to have huge migraine headaches on the drive back because of being so nervous.........even though the number of people watching, none who knew me was very small.
In late 1981, I found out about a new national tv station that was going to broadcast nothing but weather, 24 hours a day that was hiring dozens of meteorologists. The Weather Channel, was founded by famous weather personality, John Coleman, who sold it within 2 years of its debut because he didn't understand how to sell advertising to make money (and it was LOSING money).
I applied in late 1981 and talked to a couple people there, mainly to Ray Ban(below) but they decided to hire only people with real on air experience and to reapply when I had that. I would have flopped anyways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_The_Weather_Channel
Current status:Retired / Atlanta, GA
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Degree: B.S. in Meteorology
College: Pennsylvania State University
++++++++
As it turns out, the Weather Channel caused me to get my first break. In February 1982, one of the people they did hire was Dale Dackus who was working at "The Weather Scene" a private weather service inside of WLWT-tv in Cincinnati.
Current status: Retired / New Smyrna Beach, FL
Hometown: Akron, OH
Degree: B.S. in Meteorology
College: Pennsylvania State University
++++++++++++++
When Dale Dockus left WLWT/Weather Scene they needed to replace him with somebody. Turns out that I had sent my resume to every small/mid sized tv station in the country. One of them, had just landed in the lap of a Weather Scene meteorologist that had graduated from UM 3 years earlier and he insisted they hire me.
Yippee! In February, 1982 I got my first real job in the business. I loaded up my worldly possessions, that fit into the 1972, rusted out Ford, with a mattress tied to the roof and drove to Cincinnati, Ohio. The pay was equivalent to less than $10,000/year but more than enough for a single guy to pay off his $1,000 student loan and start saving money.
I worked with Gary Rizzo for my 7 months at WLWT and he was the best operational/forecasting meteologist I've even known. He taught me everything he knew and was a wonderful friend. He was a marathon runner but as a competitive body builder, I got him into lifting weights, his nickname for me was "Muscles". This is him several years later in Louisville.
+++++++++++++++++++
I spent most of my time on the radio(stations in IN, OH and KY) and forecasting for agricultural and utility companies while in Cincinnati. On the radio for hours a day and suddenly, I had a couple years worth of experience in 6 months.
The first 9 weeks, I worked 7 days/week. This also helped me stay away from a fatal attraction to excessive use of alcohol in those days. During that time, being on the radio every morning at numerous stations, I was transformed from a nervous, horrible public speaker with no confidence to somebody that was starting to find their groove and actually enjoying it.
I used their tv studios in the afternoon to practice, then make resume tapes to send around the country (including Fairbanks, AK) during my 11pm to 7am shift.
One of those resume tapes hit the GM's desk at WEHT-Evansville, IN right after their meteorologist, John Bernier gave his 2 week notice..........going to Cleveland.
https://www.wric.com/author/john-bernier/
https://prabook.com/web/john_gerard.bernier/3495239
This was the guy just before John Bernier at WEHT who quickly went to my hometown, Detroit and what I thought would be a great endpoint for me. The GM at WEHT changed his name for the air to Chuck Gavin because he thought Gaidica was "too ethnic". He met his wife down here......just like me.
Weathering Change | Chuck Gaidica | Talks at Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLGi3-tUtxY
++++++++++++++++++++
The general manager had a son that was a body builder which is one of the reasons he decided to hire me in September 1982 and of course I was good looking waaaaay back then.
I had my first and only real job in television from 1982-1993.
The first year, I was still having periodic migraine headaches from nerves, knowing how many thousands were watching but I started REALLY having fun with it as that year went on. Getting really crazy and flamboyant on the air(in early 1985, research showed that I was the top tv personality-tied with the long lived WFIE anchor-David James).
However, some viewers disliked my over the top style and complaints came in to the general manager, Ernie Madden. He, in turn brought in a talent coach to "tone me down" and insisted that I listen to his advise. I hated doing this but had no choice. Numerous viewers inquired about whether I was sick and what was wrong with me the following year. This was 1 of many lessons in how management can completely control the people in front of the camera if they want.
This was me, 6 years after starting that job.
Regardless, I was still having great fun applying my first love, meteorology(since 2nd grade) to a new love......broadcasting and now REALLY enjoying speaking to groups of people on and off the air.
In those days, there were mainly just 3 tv stations that people watched, ABC, CBS and NBC. The local news anchors were treated like movie stars. Everybody knew us and we were invited everywhere. I was grand marshall for several parades and rode in a vehicle that had huge magnetic signs on each side that said "Meterologist Mike Maguire". Tons of other times, with fellow anchors in other parades. Rode an elephant and introduced the ring master at Hadi Shrine Circus's. Flew into Hurricane Gloria in September 1985. Judged all sorts of contests. Spoke at 100+ different schools to kids that were studying the weather in their science class. Did the Easter Seals and Santa Clothes telethons to help the disabled and the poor kids. Active in Operation City Beautiful. Many dozens of other events that I can't think of at the moment.
I've never NOT enjoyed every moment analyzing weather but back in those days, it was a blast to be showered with affection from complete strangers, just because of being a tv celebrity.
When my parents came to visit, Moms favorite part would be when we would go out to a restaurant and strangers would come up to our table, all exited that they were meeting Mike Maguire, sometimes ask for an autograph. She would always stand up and say loudly "That's my son!"
I was single and had women chasing after me all the time. Unfortunately, I also had at least 1 stalker. My apartment was broken into during the Santa Clothes telethon in December 1983 by a male stalker and they stole all my photo albums and the dirty underwear in my laundry basket. A month later, they broke in again and burned it down. I got there just in time to wake up the couple living upstairs so they could escape. Never caught the person. There were 5 other less serious stalker incidents leading up to this.
In 1987, somebody took a shot at me from the bushes in front of Bosse High School on Highway 41 when I was driving home at 60 mph, after the 10 pm news. The bullet hit the roof of the car, exactly 6 inches, above my head.
+++++++++++
Backing up a bit to my favorite weather Channel connection and dear friend, Paul Emmick:
Current status:Deceased / Louisville, KY
Hometown: Owensboro, KY
Degree: B.S. in Meteorology
College: Western Kentucky University
+++++++++++
I described Paul here recently:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/99397/#100073
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/99397/#100087
When Paul came to the tv station to show me his resume tape in 1985, at just 19 years old, I couldn't believe how polished he was for such a young age. More polished than me in many ways(but not the same, sometime flamboyant personality) who'd been in the business for several years.
+++++++++++++
In September 1985, the weather channel wanted to hire me since I had 3 years of on air experience. That would have been a dream job! Working with dozens of other meteorologists and exchanging knowledge. Using the best equipment. They offered me a job, starting on the midnight shift, then promising to move me to days when something opened up.
One problem for my career then. I got married to my wonderful wife in August 1985 and she had a great job and 6 year old daughter that was going to Cynthia Heights. Deb's big family all live here and so did her ex husbands parents, that watched our daughter after school.
Deb said that she would move to Atlanta for my career if that's what I wanted. I decided to stay in Evansville because family had become more important than my career.
Smart decision but not as smart as realizing that Deb and I would make a wonderful match as partners for life.
It's been 40 years since I met Deb in January 1984 at Funkies 2. She asked me to dance. We talked for hours in the car after the bar closed. She asked me out on our first date to her place a few days later when I bumped into her at the Pit Barbell Club(I was used to women doing that).
I changed it to include roller skating with her 4 year old daughter(soon to become OUR daughter) that was her world back then.
+++++++++++
We had 2 more children in 1988 and 1990 to go with our daughter, born in 1979 and they became my top priority. I got hooked on phonics and taught both of them to read at 2nd grade level..........before they started Kindergarten! We did everything together. We had them in afternoon pre school so I could be with them the first half of the day, before going to the tv station.
The job of chief meteorologist (I was doing the 5pm., 6pm and 10pm shows) meant you no longer see your kids on M-F weekdays once they start kindergarten. They watch you on tv, like everybody else.
I got my college transcripts and planned to take classes so that I could get certified to start a new career as a teacher(physics, science or math in high school, I thought) to be on their schedule.
Then........I discovered commodities trading using the weather(mainly energy markets and things that grow). Long story but I opened my first account in 1992 with $2,000. Back in those days, there was no internet. The big traders used a private weather service to interpret the weather and it often took 30 minutes before the updated weather maps, got interpreted and sent to those traders. I could do it instantly as a meteorologist/trader. I would identify big changes on the just updated NGM model during key time periods for the grains(July) , for instance, load the boat with a position, then just wait for the market to react and watch my account grow by massive amounts. For almost a decade, I became one of the world's most successful weather traders.
NOTE: In 2011, Jon Corzine used all the money in segregated accounts, like mine to meet a huge margin call on a speculative bond positive at MF Global and bankrupted the company on Halloween, October 31, 2011. I borrowed money and opened a new account with PFG Best and they went bankrupt in July 2012 from the owners corruption. I went from a 6 figure account to less than nothing because of the borrowed money. I've never been able to come back with the dynamics much different in todays trading.
In September 1993, our $2,000 had grown to $8,000 in just over a year and I was having the weather information faxed to me at home, instead of driving to the tv station to look at the weather data/products that came in via a satellite dish there. I was still loving my tv job but knowing what was coming. My oldest son was starting kindergarten at Scott School in September, 1993.
On his first day of school, early that morning, I took Quinn to the bus and cried for much of that morning. I would no longer see him M-F. When he got home, I would be at work and not get home until long after his new bedtime(the boys would stay up with me until after midnight when they were doing afternoon preschool).
With my daughter, I married into that arrangement and from day 1. She was already going to school and I was doing the Noon, 5p, 6p and 10p shows in those days, so I was a weekend dad, outside of a half dozen times a year when I would see her in between the Noon-5m or 6-10p shows.
At the start of Quinn's 2nd week of school, I went into the GM's office, expecting to renew my contract at WEHT(we needed both our incomes then) and was stunned to find out they had replaced me. A guy high up in corporate never liked me and we had a talented new, news director who didn't either. He'd just come from Louisville and worked with an extremely talented meteorologist, Wayne Hart and decided to offer him my job.
No notice, no warning, not even a hint. Instead of renewing the contract as promised, they told me, "you've been replaced" When I asked if we could discuss this more they said "he's already been hired and has moved to Evansville, with his wife".
They were going to just say bye bye forever after that meeting, and have the morning guy, good friend Paul Emmick(who got his job thanks to me) train Wayne on our graphics and other systems.
But Paul and I had our own secret for the past several months. He had enrolled in Cooley law school in Lansing, MI but didn't want anybody to know. He had just handed in his resignation and was leaving immediately. Now, they had nobody to train Wayne except me.
They actually offered me Paul's job at 30% of my salary and I knew some things related to Paul's departure that caused me to reject that offer out of principle. Then, they were forced to offer me a 7 week severance package if I agree to stay for 2 weeks to train Wayne.
I agreed, especially since it would give me an opportunity to say some good byes to great friends that I had at WEHT.
The first 24 hours after this shocking news, I felt devastated, I wasn't making enough $$$ trading yet to come close to replacing my income and still didn't know if that would continue. Then, on day 2 I woke up and realized......whatever I do next, it's going to be my choice and it will be a job that means I get to be a dad 7 days a week. Always there for my 3 children. I became incredibly euphoric because getting fired had actually solved my looming dilemma
When I went to work, training Wayne during those 2 weeks, I was the happiest guy at the tv station and expressed this outwardly. Friends were like, "wow, you're really taking this well and being very professional" while I was thinking......that this was the best thing that could have ever happened.
I still wasn't sure that trading futures would replace my income, so I started studying to be a meteorological consultant. Working on getting my AMS(American Meteorological Society) seal of approval as a meteorological consultant. I already had the seal for broadcast television and also the NWA(National Weather Association).
As I worked on that, my commodities account at IRA Epstein exploded higher. Then I got a call from WFIE-Evansville, wanting to hire me to do their weather. We talked for a week. We agreed on the early morning shift, so that I would be on my kids schedule but it also meant doing some weekend weather. I liked being with my family on weekends but we still had a money shortage after my severance and unemployment ran out.
Jerry Grimes at WFIE, finally told me he needed an answer by the following Monday. I was torn, especially since it was so much fun doing tv weather.
That weekend, I had a margined out position on in heating oil. When the market gapped higher on Monday, I made as much money as WFIE was offering me for an entire year! The choice was easy.
I opened accounts at a couple of other firms and paid 10K to get a satellite dish on our roof to get all the weather data the NWS had, instantly delivered to our house, 24 hours a day. All of a sudden we had more money than either my wife and I dreamed of.
I became a room mom for both my son's classes, their basketball coach/commissioner, baseball coach/treasurer and went to coaching clinic to be their soccer coach. Their cub scout den leader/boy scout adult leader and taught different merit badge classes. Ran the Troop 350 Fall Festival booth for 2 decades. All sorts of volunteer positions.
All those things have come and gone and my kids are in their 30's and 40's now. We have 3 wonderful grandkids, the oldest starts college later this year. But the most profound activity of all, that happened by a fluke is still the biggest part of my life now.
Scott School had a chess team when my 2 sons were very young.
I tell the story here:
Chess Coach Stories
16 responses |
Started by metmike - July 29, 2021, 7:23 p.m.
Hey Mike,
The stories of how things evolved for you over the decades are amazing.
I remember Ray Ban and Paul Emmick well. I got a kick out of Ray Ban’s name because it was the same as the Ray-Ban sunglasses company. At the time I wondered if that was his real name. I bet his name has made for some interesting conversations.
Thanks, Larry!
For sure there are people on tv with changed names.
Chuck Gaidica, the weather man that was on before the previous one before me in Evansville was known as Chuck Gavin (from the redneck GM not wanting a person with an ethnic name on the air).
David James from WFIE-Evansville, the most popular news anchor here for 4 decades, had a real name of James Longest.
https://indianabroadcastpioneers.org/james-david-longest/
I signed a 3 year contract in September 1982, totally expecting to move on to a larger market when it expired in 1985. When I had the stalker incidents in 1983/early 1984 that almost killed 2 people and cost me all my photo albums, I decided to use a fake name when I moved on.
When I got here in 1982, I was completely ignorant about what celebrities deal with and got a listed phone number and immediately started to get phone calls from whacko's, 1 in particular that called all day and night.
I actually had South Central Bell put a tracer on the calls to identify who it was.
They told me that the call had to last at least 2 minutes, so in order for that to happen, I realized the need to stay on the phone with this guy. So I stayed on with him 10 different times for several minutes to make sure they could get him. He was obsessed. Wanting to know what I was wearing. Telling me all sorts of things I won't repeat here. Then, I would unplug the phone to get some sleep. As soon as I plugged it back in...........it was ringing again.
Then, I got an unlisted number. South Central Bell then told me none of the calls could be traced. Later on, I suspected they were protecting somebody that was related to an important person.
I had my car vandalized 2 times. 1 time, they actually took some things out of my car/glove compartment when it was at the tv station parking lot, then put it in my mailbox, where I lived.
I filed 7 different incidents with the Henderson Ky police and found out later they only started an investigation after the house/apartment was burned down and 2 people were almost killed and they botched that too.
When I was in Detroit for a week for Christmas, 1983, I told them I was concerned about somebody breaking in again(as they did earlier in the month). I gave them a 2 week time frame. They claimed to be watching over the apartment. So I got back early and didn't tell them and they didn't notice me back. Then, 2 weeks after the place was burned down and I was living in Evansvile, having my mail forwarded I got a lett from them that's paraphrased below:
Dear Mr. Maguire
"We were happy to protect your apartment and property between December 23, 1983 and January 5, 1984 while you were out of town. During that time, the Henderson Police Department did an inspection of the perimeter during each shift, 3 times a day and also noted no suspicious activity inside."
I had just lost everything because they DIDN'T do any of that and they were sending me a letter, bragging about the protection they DIDN'T provide. I was furious.
I tried to hire the tv station attorneys to sue the Henderson police for doing nothing all that time. They were jaw dropping stunned when I typed out in detail, 10 pages describing what had been going on the past year+. Turns out, they told me that you can't sue the cops in the state of KY for lack of protection.
In retrospect, as a much older and wiser man, they probably realized that a tv celebrity at the tv station they represented, suing the Henderson police (WEHT was located in Henderson, KY which is why I lived there) would cause an off the charts amount of contravesy and confrontation with the police/juristiction that would permanently label and harm their relationship with police in the future.........and they wanted to avoid that.
I had pages of details for that attorneys about the incidents, what cops came out and what detectives I spoke with........and not 1 investigation was opened. Today, I'm left with the assumption that this had to be intentional by the Henderson Police.
One time, I had a cop come to the tv station to file an incident report about my car, when it was parked there and his response was that I wasn't close enough to the Lord, Jesus Christ. All these bad things were happening to me because I didn't have religion. The main female anchor, Ann Komis (who was wiser than me at the time) was in the newsroom for this discussion. After the cop left, she went ballistic and wanted me to file a complaint about the cop.
Anyways, I became convinced that the solution would be to be much smarter when I accepted a job in a larger market. Change my tv name, have an unlisted phone number from the get go. I turned down the Weather Channel and a couple of other offers in 1985 because family had become more important than my career and it was the right choice.
Retrospectively, after gaining objective discernment from analyzing key factors which were roots causes, related to just me.
You've heard this expression before:
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/face+for+radio
Probably the biggest reason that I got hired as an unpolished talent in 1982 was my appearance.
An extremely good looking body builder. My mom was a twin of Elizabeth Taylor and drop dead gorgeous. I was a male version of her but not quite as attractive.
Don't get the wrong impression. This is not to brag (about something God given not earned) but to understand the dynamics.
I also had a tremendous amount of charisma and personality.
So despite my lack of polish and serious problems with delivery and communication skills that remained (skills that most people in broadcasting are gifted at-not me) my appearance, charisma and for many people, likeability overwhelmed everything and vaulted me to the top for local celebrities.
Research showed, however that my flamboyant UNPOLISHED/FLAWED style also caused a small number of people to hate me.
I had all the personality features to attract deranged viewers that hate and love people on tv in pathological ways.
These delusional people watching at home establish a relationship with you that doesn't exist.
In the real world, I'd found a great deal of women and gay men going after me in an acceptable manner, since I was in college(after getting contact lenses and becoming a bodybuilder).
It makes complete sense for somebody like me, quirky and very attractive, when seen in the living rooms of whackos to have a much stronger impact to the imagination of their neurotic minds than the average, run of the mill, mainstream, polished tv personality.
So the thing that gifted me with traits that compensated for lack of speaking ability and a positive for the majority of viewers was even more defining of the traits that deranged people watching at home are most attracted to.