Modern Meterology

Careers in Meteorology

How hard is it to become a meteorologist who is a radio or television broadcaster?

If your goal is to specifically become a television weatherman or weatherwoman, then, ideally, you need to combine training in meteorology with education in communications and/or the broadcast arts. You should be comfortable appearing on camera, and it helps if you have completed an internship in broadcasting while in school. As with anyone who wishes to pursue a television or radio career, you will have to sell yourself as an appealing on-air personality. Prepare professional demo tapes of yourself doing a broadcast and send these to news directors at the stations for which you wish to work. You should prepare yourself to start at the bottom of the career ladder, which means working shifts in the very early morning or very late evening hours, as well as working for low pay in a town or city that has a small market. Don’t expect to work right away for a big network in New York City or Los Angeles. It could be years before you manage to get a job in a big market, and in the meantime you will likely move frequently while you search for better and better opportunities. Today’s media world is especially challenging, as stations and newspapers across the United States are cutting their budgets and centralizing operations. Weather broadcasting is probably the hardest specialty to get into these days, and many other fields within meteorology offer better opportunities.