Last week - after publishing Mike Morgan's silly email - Steve Lackmeyer asked some of our local TV meteorologists some "hardball" questions related to severe weather coverage:
Having some final thoughts about this weekend's discussion. Why not throw some hardball questions not just at Mike Morgan, but also at Rick Mitchell, Gary England and Brady Brus?
Give Mike credit for at least firing back. Now let's see if the others do as well. Maybe we can understand them better. Or maybe they'll end up with a better understanding of their viewers' concerns.
Not surprisingly, none of the weatherman Steve listed responded to his request. He did, however, get a response from KOKH morning weatherman Jon Slater. What's funny about Jon's email is that he didn't even try to answer any of Steve's questions. He just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that some people think he was fired from his last job in Tulsa.
I was pointed to one of your blogs on weather from a friend of mine the other day. For the most part harmless folks talking about stuff. I do have a question for you though. Do you moderate these things at all? I mean everyone has their own thoughts about things...I get that....but when folks start making statements about other people that can't be verified by you then what's the point of this? Where is the responsibility here? Can I write anything I want and defame folks and you just let it go through? I'm not talking about opinions, I'm talking about facts.
Example....Some person going by the name "weather watcher"...says I was let go from FOX 23 in Tulsa for grandstanding. First off I have been doing TV weather for over 21 years now and have never been laid off or fired from any TV station. I'm sure my time is coming one of these days but so far I'm sliding by. Second, I don't even know what grandstanding is? Yes, I forecast the weather the way I think it's going to play out. That's my job. Thirdly, he says weathercasters with seals have meteorology degrees. That's another false statement. The AMS seal is something you can get without actually having a degreee in meteorology. In fact several TV weather folks right here in OKC have seals but do NOT have degrees in meteorology. I'm not here to out anyone but I would like you to set my record straight. Obviously that "weather watcher" person has no idea what they are talking about and that post should be removed.
Thanks, Jon Slater...
I don't know about you, but it has to be pretty deflating to ask some of Oklahoma's finest meteorologists some hardball questions and then to only get a reply from a guy who looks like a grown up version of the kid from Jerry McGuire. It's probably a lot like creating a profile at Match.com and only getting "winks" from ugly people.
Anyway, maybe this fiasco will teach Steve Lackmeyer a lesson. The lesson would be to leave the weatherman reporting to us, and instead focus his dangerous obsessions on more important things like which hot girls in the Montgomery are single, what do they drink for happy hour, and are they actively using Twitter.
