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Who is the Best Meteorologist in OKC? · The Dry Line Podcast

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Dry Line Podcast,
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: OKC's home for thoughtful analysis on its culture and its mercurial weather,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: sacred sports, and damn fine people.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hosted by me, The Dry Line's Editor-in-Chief, Ryan Fightmaster.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Last week, I was tapped by our editorial team to host this podcast.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I don't know.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why is CC's Pizza still in business?
• 0:38
  No.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: But here on this show,
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  SPEAKER_00: every couple of weeks,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll be exploring an underappreciated side of Oklahoma City's awesome culture.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if I think about it, I guess I am qualified for the job.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I grew up in Oklahoma City, South Oklahoma City to be exact.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Some would call that more professional.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I would not call it more.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I then went to OU for undergrad, then medical school at OU again.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, I'm a doctor.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not an orthopedic surgeon.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I actually was actually a psychiatrist.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I did my residency in Southern California where I lived for five years with my wife
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: before we moved to North Carolina for two more years.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Across those seven years,
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  SPEAKER_00: I came to the realization Then I enjoyed just about anything more than I did
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  SPEAKER_00: the practice of medicine.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I quit,
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: started riding,
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  SPEAKER_00: kept surfing, even opened up a furniture refinishing company to pay the bills.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I moved back to Oklahoma City six months ago, mostly because we just wanted to.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, because we missed the weather.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: For real.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot imagine how boring 365 days a year of 75 degrees can get.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: it makes you want an August day at 102 worse than I currently want another one
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: of those Brahms orange sherbet freezes that they've been advertising everywhere.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever I was offered this chance to manage this thing,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: we're calling The Dry Line, I jumped at it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're calling it a search through articles,
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: profiles,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: interviews, essays,
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: and our podcast for a deeper, truer Understanding of Oklahoma City's culture.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: But really,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: we're doing this because it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to write
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: about what it's like to live and love Oklahoma City.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: That simple.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're one of those people who can still read,
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: you are welcome to subscribe to our writing on Substack.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: The link is in the show notes.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: We promise our emails, our writing will never be boring.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: We are here for a good time.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, enough though with all the boring background shit.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to the subject at hand.
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  SPEAKER_00: The subject that has dominated my life for approximately the last three weeks ever
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: since I decided I was actually going to go out and write a power ranking of
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  SPEAKER_00: the most consequential people in the state of Oklahoma are meteorologists.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier this week,
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  SPEAKER_00: I published an absurdly detailed examination of these people,
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: which basically involved me watching weeks of weather broadcasts that went back to
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: the 90s.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I watched the weather All of last spring.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: On every station.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Except Fox 25.
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  SPEAKER_00: I mean, come on.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be real.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched regular old morning, midday,
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: and nighttime forecasts for all 15 of the meteorologists at KFOR, KOCO, and KWTV.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: That would be 4, 5, and 9.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Was it fun?
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was a ton of fun.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Will my YouTube algorithm ever be the same?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, it will not.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: somebody had to make the sacrifice to do this power ranking that nobody was asking
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: for, but that I really wanted to do.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: This power ranking,
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  SPEAKER_00: I will say,
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  SPEAKER_00: was completely serious, but based upon the following entirely subjective guidelines.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, likability.
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  SPEAKER_00: Matters the most for any of my meteorologists.
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  SPEAKER_00: And why is that?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because likability leads to trust.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trust leads to action.
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  SPEAKER_00: And action,
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  SPEAKER_00: I think,
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  SPEAKER_00: can be the difference between life or death when
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  SPEAKER_00: the carnage machine starts churning up earth and livelihoods,
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  SPEAKER_00: which tends to happen here just about more than anywhere else in the world.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number two, I'm staring you eye to eye here.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we need to be honest from the start.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if you approach weather the same way that I do.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: About 9% of the weather I consume concerns actual decision making for my family,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: which means the other 91% of the weather that I watch has to do with entertainment
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: and pure entertainment alone.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm being honest,
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys feel the same way about weather that I do,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I watch a lot of weather.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thus, charisma and humor and my meteorologist really matter.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want a robot telling me to get below ground.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our weather is cataclysmic.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: If my meteorologist can't make me feel that this is a do or die,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: live or die, stakes, why would I watch them?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've lived through May 3, 1999, May 20, 2013.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are important moments, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Kind of need to feel some life or death.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Three.
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  SPEAKER_00: My memories of those days contain Gary England's voice, David Payne's voice.
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  SPEAKER_00: These people are permanently etched into my hippocampus forever.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about these days,
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  SPEAKER_00: I think about the people who were calling the shots and telling me where
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: the storm was gonna go.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Given that these people are so personally involved with our lives and our memories,
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  SPEAKER_00: I personally like my meteorologist humble.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mind a little ambition, That's fine.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But unbridled, unchecked ego?
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  SPEAKER_00: Not behind my weather desk.
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  SPEAKER_00: Please, go be the governor.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number four in my priorities or I guess guidelines for doing this whole ranking thing.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And last one, I'm not a weather nerd.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know the words mesocyclon, hook, screaming eagle, hell band, all that stuff.
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  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what any of these terms actually mean and I do not pretend
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  SPEAKER_00: to understand what meteorology is.
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  SPEAKER_00: But I do want my meteorologist to understand these things really well.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: That said, Degrees are nice.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: The more meteorological
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  SPEAKER_00: seals that one can have, the better.
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  SPEAKER_00: I want degrees.
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  SPEAKER_00: I want people who know what they're doing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Also, to be eligible, a meteorologist has to be currently employed by one of the big three.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not a retrospective analysis of everybody who's ever done weather in Oklahoma City.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Although maybe that's something we'll do in the future.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Before we start, gotta say something.
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  SPEAKER_00: I respect these people a lot.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really hard to be good at the weather.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And as you might expect,
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: those weeks of weather watching that I did
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  SPEAKER_00: on YouTube permanently disfigured my algorithm.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in the process, I started getting recommended meteorologists from all over the country.
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  SPEAKER_00: And because I'm a psycho, I watch those people.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And all I could say about that Is that we're very lucky people.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Compared to these other places, we have unreal depth on our roster of meteorologists.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's like Presti put together this lineup we have here.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our bench is deep.
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  SPEAKER_00: Michaela Smith,
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  SPEAKER_00: for example,
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  SPEAKER_00: KOC is weekend meteorologist and occasional fill-in morning meteorologist.
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  SPEAKER_00: She didn't even make the rankings and would have easily been the top meteorologist
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  SPEAKER_00: in several of these markets.
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  SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that from the top.
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  SPEAKER_00: These are a bunch of very impressive people and I think we need to enjoy it.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like this current OKC run of dominance.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I knew I was walking into the hornet's nest with this project,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I didn't know how strongly people would respond to
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  SPEAKER_00: where I put individual meteorologists.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: You'd have thought me placing Emily Sutton at number four,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'd have just like walked into like downtown Yukon and told people
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: that Garth Brooks actually wasn't that talented.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're talking like that level of disgust with me personally
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  SPEAKER_00: for only ranking Emily Sutton at number four on the list.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is why I did this list because I love weather just as much
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  SPEAKER_00: as all these other people love weather, just as much as all of us do.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm humbled by our weather in this state.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I hear sirens go off and it's April and May, I mean, I get my skin crawls.
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  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is an important part of our lives and it's been a big part of honestly just
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  SPEAKER_00: the making of my life here.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if you also feel that way, hope you get a lot out of this.
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  SPEAKER_00: This was a ton of fun.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: This project was something I've been thinking about doing for years.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I also just appreciate everybody who's reached out this week and said that they enjoyed this.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it meant a lot.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a really cool week.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to get in with the rest of us here on the ground floor of this project,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: which means you're probably also on the top floor owing to,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: ranch-style constructions in Oklahoma, you are welcome to subscribe on Substack.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that's going to be linked at the bottom of the show.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Notes.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, honorable mentions.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I already talked about Michaela Smith.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Got to give a shout out to Jed Castles, Aaron Brackett, John Slater, Andrew Adams, Tim Boyd.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: All these people do good work.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just want to throw those names out there.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Watch a lot of their weather.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's excellent, but not everybody could make the top 10.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number 10, we got Joseph Neubauer.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's KOCO's weekend evening meteorologist.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta say, man, I really like Neubauer's game.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's got the weatherman it,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: nails the transitions,
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: improvises easily with the anchors,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: knows his stuff, doesn't flaunt the jargon like a show-off.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd say developmentally,
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: he's really benefited from working alongside KOCOs Michael Armstrong,
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Condor, Damon Lane.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's got their steadying presence on screen, their focus simplicity in the script writing.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: His suit and tie combos are classic, like his colleague's.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: I respect the discipline to refrain and to not draw attention away from
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: the weather like some of the other people on this list do.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times,
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: when I watch a young meteorologist do the weekend weather, I get nervous.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Feels like they're getting fed to the green screen sharks.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of space up there.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of graphics.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of radar movement.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: If they get lost even for a second,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I swear,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean myself watching them,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm about to have a panic attack because I start to see them get behind
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: on the teleprompter and then you can usually watch them just shrink by
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: the PowerPoint slides.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're getting lost, they're way behind, they're like a slide behind.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: But not Neubauer.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: This dude is good and really likable, knows his weather, consummate professional.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, he seems like a pretty normal-ass person.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: so I could see him just enjoying himself out at chicken and pickle with the boys,
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: watching football, drinking Cowboy Colts.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I really only see one vulnerability, though, in Neubauer's game.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's his last name.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because in this market,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: if you hope to be a chief meteorologist,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: your surname at a maximum can only be three syllables.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Newbauer, well, I guess not the surname, full name.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: So think about like Mike Morgan, Damon Lane, David Payne.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: These are three syllable names.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Newbauer's got one extra syllable.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is the only hole in this game, though.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think he could go with maybe something like Joseph Rain.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Might be a little bit too on the nose.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, like Joseph Fox.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys have some good ideas, maybe you can shoot them over to him.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of, I guess, you know, this is the news.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the brand matters the most.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is also something I'm going to do for everybody else inside the list.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I did a career projection for each person where I think some of these are jokes.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these are serious.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think you all be able to tell the difference.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I did a career projection for each person and where I think they're going.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so for Neubauer,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that this guy actually has like chief meteorologist
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: in Oklahoma City potential now.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: When this might happen,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea because we get a new chief meteorologist as often as the world gets
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: a pope.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I really don't know when that's going to happen for him, but I could actually see it, man.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: This guy is like a maybe even more even killed Rick Mitchell.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: High praise.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine, Justin Rudosell, KWTV's weekday, middle of the day meteorologist.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: This dude uprooted his family from Indiana and moved to Lawton
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: for his first weather gig just because he wanted to be near Tornado Alley.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: That is commitment.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Weather there in Lawton for four years.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Four years in southwestern Oklahoma.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I like to give respect where respect is due.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: This guy, this guy did it and he got the gig in the middle of the day at KWTV News 9.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Rudacel actually is in a really challenging television slot.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: One that nobody watches, really, outside the assisted living center.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because being he goes on at noon,
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: he also happens to be working on the threshold of the worst part of the day,
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: which is the afternoon.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Redisail cannot just tell people to have a great day like
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: the morning meteorologist can, because the greatest part of the day is over.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Most people's day has already gone off the rails.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no sunshine pumping in the middle of the day.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got to play it straight down the middle,
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: deliver his forecast smoothly, no risk of indigestion.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a tough job.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really hard time of the day.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's really no hope at the noon slot.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And his forecasts, they are smooth, honestly.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: About as smooth as the ice cream at those assisted living centers that they serve for dessert.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Man, every so often, he'll go off the rails.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: He'll go a little brick tamland,
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: repeat some words,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: fumble the handoff from the anchors, and when this happens, it gets awkward.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: To Redisels' credit,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: he smiles through it,
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: and so do the anchors, because they're all professionals at KWTV.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: He keeps us cool, and eventually, you know, He gets to the weather.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the whole time, I never really stopped liking the guy.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: He gives me some ASMR vibes when I watch him,
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: which I think means that he legitimately cares about us as the viewers of
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: the weather.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a good sign.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, this guy cares so much about the weather, he moved his family to Lotton, Oklahoma.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Rotacell also has the best taste of any weatherman in the region.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: His dog is literally named Chanel.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: His tie game is so clean.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: He sets the lean just right.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: The dimples are deep.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Keeps his hair crisp in that mid-fade, very Presti-esque.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think his clear-rimmed glasses are probably
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: the single most audacious fashion choice in the metro.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day,
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: the way I see it,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: in the midday, what you say doesn't matter as much as how you look while you say it.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Owing to the fact that most of the people watching can't hear what you're actually saying.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: RetoCell trusts in the fundamentals though.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just be kind, care about the people, and look like a G. Career projection.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, this was tough.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see him as a chief meteorologist here.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: For one, he's not crazy enough.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: For two, he's not Oklahoman enough.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And three, I just don't think he's quite smooth enough.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have that Mike Morgan,
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: David Payne vibe that can carry the weather on a boring February night.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Many are called All right.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: To do weather in Oklahoma, but few were chosen, especially for that chief meteorologist role.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I could see him being the head honcho like back home in Indianapolis down the line.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think he's really good.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, like he's got a great gig.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's got the midday slot.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's got it on lock.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's a great fit at KWTV.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Number eight, Mike Morgan, chief meteorologist at KFOR.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, I do this thing after a big storm passes through.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm all jacked up on adrenaline, has to go somewhere, so I go walk around the neighborhood.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: The dry lines pass through,
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: temperature cooler,
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: and as I pass by my neighbor's homes,
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I will occasionally look through their blinds and at their 60-inch televisions.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't judge me.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing it consciously.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard not to look at the light, you know, when you're in the dark.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know you do it too.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Don't judge me.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And more often than not,
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: To my surprise,
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: to my consistent surprise,
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, after all of these storms, I see Mike Morgan on those televisions.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to a question.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Which is, why are people still watching this guy?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Growing up in my house, we were an NBC house, Seinfeld, ER, friends.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: When I was successful in convincing my parents to stay up past my bedtime,
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: my reward was getting to watch one of the ogles.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can't ever remember which ogles on KFOR and which one's on KWTV,
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: but I got to watch Mike Morgan do the weather.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I watched Mike do the weather, tell me about snow risk, tell me about storm risk.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've watched this dude like thousands of times in my life.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say this.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have not had one emotionally resonant experience with Mike Morgan.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that might be harsh.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've probably had some emotionally resonant experiences with the guy.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But again, this brings me to an important question.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why are people still watching this guy?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm being generous and compassionate when I call him quirky and corny.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: The dude wears bedazzled ties.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's not doing it quite as much as he used to,
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: but I think he still sneaks some in there,
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: which I will say,
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: that brand,
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: that idea was so weird that it was kind of funny for, I don't know, 10 years.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it kind of just grown into something really ridiculous,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: like a grown man would wear rhinestones on his tie on television.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's just done it for a little too long.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: He also kind of reminds me of Jay Leno for some reason.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Someone else, NBC guy too, that I never really connected with.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I do believe Mike does care about Oklahomans,
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: obviously,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: or he wouldn't drive ratings, wouldn't still be KFOR's chief meteorologist.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's also from Tulsa, so he's an Okie.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's from Tulsa though.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, OKC people know Tulsa people are different.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tulsa people know Oklahoma City people are different.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing, and this is just a guess, all right?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a reason why I don't connect with Mike Morgan,
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: and I think it's because there's a level of self-preoccupation and self-advancement
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: that kind of overpowers his ability to connect with his viewers genuinely.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, Mike, sorry, I had to do it, is really good.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's the best in the business at the green screen.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: In the article,
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: I linked some of his forecasts from the 90s and they are like so,
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: so, so silky smooth.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: With a pointer in this dude's hand,
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: he is the best the city has ever had navigating slide to slide,
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: running through the prompts, reading off the teleprompter.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: He is like, he's the best.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's like the smoothest guy in the business.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: One thing, though,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: how has KFOR gotten by with using the exact same font on their broadcasts,
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: on their PowerPoint slides for my entire life?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: 30 years, the font has not changed.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: You guys know which one I'm talking about.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's their lead-in to the weather when they show the high temperatures across
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: the whole state, and Mike starts and he says, Over in Gaiman.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and he starts out the broadcasting points there.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's 94 in Gaiman today, and it was 96 in Tulsa.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that chart thing,
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: it still looks the same as it did like 30 years ago,
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: and they're still using the same font.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's kind of cool, but also kind of concerning, maybe more concerning.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the dude's won five Emmys, numerous national awards.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So perhaps I'm the one that just doesn't get it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's a cultural gem.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like Route 66 that one day we'll honor with these big celebrations.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Mike is just one of those guys who works really hard at his job for the power,
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: status, and attention it provides.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't necessarily unethical, I suppose.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of people work jobs for money, power, status, including physicians, I might say.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it is a reason why I would choose to watch somebody else for my weather.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Mike leaves KFOR after a coup from within to plant Emily Sutton on top of
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: the throne,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: circuit 2035,
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: then quickly becomes Oklahoma's preeminent car magnate,
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: entering into an ugly, protracted war with Seth Wadley for the I-35 corridor.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: We can only hope.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: We can only hope.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: All right, number seven, Michael Armstrong, KOCO's field meteorologist.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love this guy.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Michael doesn't acre a weekday or weekend weather slot,
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: but he does fill in admirably from time to time.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: His main title is KOCO's first alert storm command leader.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Consequently, Michael Armstrong has the most kick-ass job title in Oklahoma.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you,
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think more kids should want to be storm command leaders when they grow up one day.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: If this ranking were purely about one's passion for the weather and
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: about one's ability to discuss the weather for the longest amount
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: of time Armstrong would rank number one in these rankings forever.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: No one can pass this man for the love of the weather.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite clips is from last January when Armstrong is covering the January blizzard.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's out at
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: a four-way stop and Damon Lane is covering the storm back in studio.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Armstrong's interviewing somebody.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Armstrong actually gets out.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And pushes the car off the ice and gets their car going.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And he stands there and talks about the weather for like 10 minutes straight.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Damon is just laughing in the studio.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Damon thinks it's hilarious.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, it's five degrees outside, Michael.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm thinking.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Damon's thinking.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's five degrees outside, man.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing outside?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Armstrong gets wound up and excited.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously,
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: wants to keep the coverage on the tracks,
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: but also obviously appreciates this guy's passion so much.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Armstrong,
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: as a storm chaser,
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, is so impressive because he's a dual threat quarterback.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: He tracks.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: He shoots and play-by-plays the storm just as well as any other storm chaser in the state.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason he's so good is his ability to translate what he sees
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: into what it means in the moment simultaneously.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's a well-trained, degreed, sealed meteorologist that is in the storm.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's way different than what other...
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess Emily Sutton has done that before for KFOR.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: David Payne used to do that for KFOR and KWTV.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I think he's just really good in the field.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: He can, though,
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: at times,
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: in kind of like a David Paine-y kind of way,
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: in the middle of a chase, run really hot under the collar and get a little panicky.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: But over the last few years,
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's become more composed in those higher energy moments,
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: and I think he's actually become more relatable with the audience because of it.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's also led to Damon having to cut him off a lot less in the last few years.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: When people say that Damon Lane is their favorite OKC meteorologist,
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: and I hear people say this so often that I'm pretty surprised
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: when Lane is not somebody's favorite meteorologist,
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think Michael Armstrong deserves his share of the credit.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: All of his passionate interjections and monologues about weather are the supply of
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: the energy that Lane has become so beloved for being a calming presence inside.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think them as a pair, they're awesome.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Armstrong, that guy, he could be the Weather Channel's Storm Command Leader.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's that good.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think he'd be great in that role.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number six.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Megan Gold, KWTV, fill-in meteorologist.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: News 9, I will say, gets local TV in ratings like the Republican Party gets elections.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: If the goal is to win the election,
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: then every dollar should be spent on winning the election,
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: no matter how ruthless the tactics have to be.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: News 9 Studio is ridiculous.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is so nice.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Their technology seems like NASA level shit.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And their people are usually blindingly attractive.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is all for ratings.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Megan Gold is yet another one of those Machiavellian arrows slung by KWTV at
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: the ratings target.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And her resume is amazing.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: It reads like an AI-generated candidate for Griffin Media.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: She's from Edmond.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: She was a PyFight OU where she studied meteorology and broadcast journalism.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: More on that in a second.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And she's a former Miss Oklahoma.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: For real.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how KWTV is that?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Her voice is lyrical and at the same time, I think, engaging, activating.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: While possessing that same particular accent, brand,
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: side of the mouth,
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Kristen Chenoweth twang that News 9 also covets,
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: her smile is so sublime, it dissipates mesocyclones.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just like that,
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: throw it up in the tornado and see what happens technology from Twister
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: and Twisters.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, though,
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: it appears that she's been so adored for her looks for so long that the thought
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: of her own presence on television seems to shoot endorphins through her body
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: and cause her to have these random bursts of smiling.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've got links to all this stuff, by the way.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I've talked about, examples, there's links in the article to all of this.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: But when I watch her, this is a problem, I think, for News 9.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: When I watch her, I think Gold is...
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is an anchor, and it's clear as day.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think she's a meteorologist, though.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: On camera,
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: she is amazing with the readouts,
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: flawless with the slides, good at the slow walk-up to the camera.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the thing.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Her enthusiasm seems directed at the camera, not necessarily at the weather.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think News 9 actually has the same problem with gold that OU has with Jon Mintz here.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is Jon Mintz here really a quarterback, or is he actually just the team's best running back?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, if I were Griffin Media, I'd let her do both.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor the news, then do the weather, then anchor again.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's also a cost cutter.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: They could also try putting her in the field,
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: on the scene, and then have her report back to herself when she's in the studio.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's only one way to figure out how much gold can handle, you know?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Gold is tremendously skilled.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's definitely ambitious.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's got the kind of natural talent you can't teach.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: She's just really good.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I think to get where she wants to go,
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: though, she needs to continue growing her congeniality.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: She can be a bit stilted at times, but still, for somebody so young, The laughs are there.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much every time she improvises with the anchors,
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: she's able to bring in something spontaneous.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, I don't know, man.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: She's really good with the morning weather when she's given the chance.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, hold on.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: I saw this last week.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't put this in the article, but I thought this was kind of controversial.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit of tea.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, obviously, Lacey Swope is a dog.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: She is a legit meteorologist.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about her in a second.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I was driving up Broadway Extension, and I saw...
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: A News 9 ad for the morning weather.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it didn't just have Lacey Swope on the ad.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: It has Megan Gold and Lacey Swope now.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's some stuff brewing long term.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how it's all going to work out.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I have no doubts that eventually Gold's likability is eventually going
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: to catch up to our virality.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think News 9 has a star at backup quarterback.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor and meteorologist for Fox and Friends.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right, number five, Jonathan Condor, KOCO's weekday morning meteorologist.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Condor...
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: is one hell of a prolific producer of content.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy mans like KOC's Morning Weather,
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: does a daily what-to-wear segment for YouTube and for like the mid-morning show.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Podcasts,
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: frequently,
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: he's always doing some kind of like weather,
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: like teach me about the weather thing that they publish to onto YouTube
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: and podcasts.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: He also does this amazing,
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: during like severe storm season,
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: timeline breakdown of when the storm's gonna actually show up and what
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: the chances are I think Conor,
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: when you take a look back,
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: you take a step back and look at his game, I think he's kind of like Shea.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's like no one thing about this guy that's distinguishing,
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: but he's really, really,
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: really good at getting to his spots and Of the Metro's meteorologists,
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think Condor is probably the best at keeping the audience's needs front of mind,
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: then given to us only the useful information about the weather.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: He gets to like, what should you wear today?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: A breathable t-shirt.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: He'll tell you.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: He'll actually tell you like if you're poolside, wear this, wear that at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of detail,
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: but I guess there's some people out there that need to be told what to wear
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: in Oklahoma in August.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: He'll tell you like what's the actual risk OKC gets a tornado tonight.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's not high, he will tell you it is like not high.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he'll tell you like when is the storm going to hit?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: If it's going to be through the metro before 5 o'clock, he's like, dude, don't watch.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Actually go live your life.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your primetime evening experience watching weather that's not going
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: to turn into anything but rain and maybe a little bit of hell.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I will also say, Conor, he hedges the least.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: He tells you what's going to happen.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a video I linked in the article where he actually tells us not to watch
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: the weather into primetime.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, man.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: He sacrificed his ratings.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you get the trustability part.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, sidebar.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm ever stuck at the DMV off I-240 again for like three hours,
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: cut off from civilization,
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: desperate for an experience that's humane, I will happily...
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Small talk next to me with every single one of KOC's meteorologists.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lane, Condor, Armstrong, Neubauer, Smith.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Bunch of normal ass people.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just in your mind though.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: In your mind.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Think about trying to sit there.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: At the DMV with KFOR's meteorologist.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's being mean.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's being mean.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: So career projection for Condor.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we're really that far away from this happening.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: So just try to follow along.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ignore all the unethical stuff.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think Jonathan Condor is the Kirk Herbstreet of Oklahoma City's weather.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the next time that the National Weather Service issues
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: a particularly dangerous situation day for the metro,
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: The network should join forces and host a college game day like show
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: that runs all day.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: I want an Ogle in Reece Davis' spot.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want Eddie Radasevich in the McAfee slot.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want Jed Castles as Corso.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: I want Jonathan Condor as Kirk Herbstreit.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Bring on Reba as the guest tornado path picker.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Get Carrie Underwood, perform like Blown Away or something as the sun sets.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Just imagine the ratings.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: But for real, same as Verodacel, I think Condor could be a chief meteorologist, but...
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure where.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe KOCO one day if Lane were to step away.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just does he have that star power magnetism to him?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's their prototype.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I just wonder if he's on that level or if he would be
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: a chief meteorologist somewhere where weather isn't people's lives and
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: a religion like it is here in Oklahoma.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like the guy a lot, though.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Condor's awesome.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, Emily Sutton, KFOR's morning meteorologist and storm chaser.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta say this first, to criticize Emily at all feels like a crime against humanity.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: And for that, I'm very sorry.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: My criticism in this article of Emily Sutton made a lot of people genuinely upset.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I just gotta say,
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: I love Emily too,
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: but I felt I could not talk about the elephant in the room with her, which is this.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: KFOR, intentionally,
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: it seems to me, places Emily Sutton in these bizarre situations all the time.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Emily is a genuinely office person.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: She's a genuinely awesome person.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I think these eccentrically produced segments kind of always work because of that.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: But then again, they also kind of don't ever work.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because too often when I'm watching News 4, I find myself asking, what was that?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why are they making Emily look up at a drone from the middle of Douglas Park
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: and explain QLCS tornadoes through like a bunch of these Microsoft Word graphics,
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: smart art images and graphics?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Emily Sutton wrote out the May 2013 El Reno tornado on air.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: She's the only meteorologist in Oklahoma City with both of the seals.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: She has been profiled by both the New York Times and the New Yorker.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Emily is the most interesting meteorologist alive, which again causes me to ask a big question.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like all we do is ask questions about KFOR.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: How is Emily Sutton not a chief meteorologist yet?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the part that got me in trouble with some people.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're now into the elephant in the room part.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, taking a deep breath.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if I really think about Emily's career arc,
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to let my mind go here, but just this once, I'm letting it go here.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: To when she first started doing the mornings on KFOR.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think she moved here from Missouri, and she always wanted to be a weather person.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: She was so charming in whatever congeniality that we talked about with gold
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: that might be missing.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Sutton's had that from the jump.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: She is the beloved daughter of Oklahoma City.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: The beloved adopted daughter of Oklahoma City.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I must say,
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: if she hasn't advanced past that mourning role to this point,
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: there has to be a reason.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that reason is that there's a decent chance that all of
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: the strange segments that happen are actually Emily's ideas and not KFOR's ideas.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can live with that.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm okay with that.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: The mainstream masses might not be ready yet for Emily's unflinching vulnerability
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: and sense of self every night.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think,
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: it's wrong of me,
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: maybe you've thought it too,
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: to ask Emily to be Fassler Hall when she is clearly the powerhouse.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: While not as popular of a bar, sure, the powerhouse is a much better place to hang out.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's infinitely more cultured, always more intriguing.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, does something happen at the powerhouse that usually makes me feel like
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit uncomfortable?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Makes me think about calling the police, you know, just about every time I go there.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't know what I'd do if the powerhouse didn't exist.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I really don't know what I'd do if Emily wasn't being Emily
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: in whatever slot she gets to do the weather in over at KFOR.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love her.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just throwing a hypothesis out there for why she's not a chief meteorologist yet.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: She could also not want to be a chief meteorologist, and that's cool.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, I just want her in a part of our weather scene.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe, which is the most likely cause here, there are no chief meteorologist roles open.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: The last one opened in 2012 when Rick Mitchell left for Dallas.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was the last one.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: Damon Lane got that.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe she'll get the next one.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: But again, who knows when that day is going to come.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Career projections.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: When Mike Morgan buys out the naming rights after that long war with Seth Wadley
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: to Seth Wadley's dealership in 2032, Emily becomes the chief meteorologist at KFOR.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, Lacey Swope, KWTV's morning meteorologist.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Check off her News 9 resume bullet points with me.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: She's an Okie, small town roots in Kiefer.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's a University of Oklahoma meteorology grad.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's a lover of all things Oklahoma, rodeoing, camping, fishing.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: She actually did a forecast from a bass boat.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Last week in the morning at Lake Arcadia, which I thought that was pretty badass.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she has that Kristen Chenoweth accent thing that KWTV loves.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier, we discussed how Lane and Armstrong complement each other.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Payne and Swope's pairing...
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually more effective because they aren't as complimentary.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Swope is really comfortable deferring to Payne in the heat of the moment,
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: less so than Armstrong is for Lane whenever he overtalks Lane.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Swope also clears out space really well for Payne to cook and shrill and panic
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: the populace up into a froth.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: This has been well documented.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: And of the behind the desk meteorologist in the city,
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's actually the best at finding the most intriguing data point within all
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: of the storm data during a big severe storm and then sharing it with David Payne
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: during the broadcast, which again makes her just really good for ratings purposes.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: But, and this is really interesting, I think long term and what it means for a career.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: We already talked about gold, you know, and her impact on the morning weather situation.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: I get the sense that Lacey Swope sometimes is the leader of the KWTV weather operation.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Given the egos involved at that station,
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: this dynamic does result in the occasional power struggle.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can see it on air,
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit of pain versus Swope,
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: power dynamic like who's the alpha, a little bit of KD and Westbrook stuff going on.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: But again,
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: if ratings are the goal and they are always the goal at news time,
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: these desktops are probably a feature of Not a bug to their broadcast.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, compared to her morning meteorology competition,
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that Swope Seeds may be a little bit of charm to Sutton,
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit of likability to Condor,
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: but I think she more than compensates by being the baddest meteorologist in
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: the state.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think she takes this job more seriously than anyone else does.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I watch her, I find myself nodding, furrowing my brow, thinking, hmm, this.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very serious situation.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot reasonably stop watching the weather right now.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Anything could happen.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of energy in the air.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Swope has this Westbrookian intensity and gravity to her.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of sucks you in.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: And when the air gets kinetic, thick,
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: and fishy,
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: this is the exact kind of person I want telling me where the storm is going.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Swope has no holes in her game.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's a plug-and-play chief meteorologist just waiting on
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: the next chief meteorologist conclave.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection,
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: in 2043,
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lacey Swope becomes our first relatively competent governor since Brad Henry.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: One can dream.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: One can dream.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, Damon Lane, KOCO's chief meteorologist.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta say it, because nobody else is.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: If Damon Lane's friends don't call him the DL, I'm going to be pissed.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because I expect everything about this dude's life to be low-key cool.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably like the drummer in a cross-Canadian ragweed covered band.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Probably skis double black diamonds only.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Probably drives like a 78 Corvette.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Probably already know this,
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: and it should go without saying,
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: but I cannot conceive of a future where anyone ever jumps Lane and
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: the meteorologist I'd most like to get a beer with at the powerhouse rankings.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing we might do later.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: But that said, Damon Lane.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: Has a serious flaw.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: The guy's not Oklahoman.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's actually from Virginia.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: Got his meteorology degree at UNC Asheville.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out Asheville, by the way, where I used to live as of like six months ago.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: But Lane also has no twang.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: These are serious limitations in this market.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right, we've already talked about how KWTV targets the accent.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: So how has Lane risen so far in the rankings, in the hearts of us Okies then?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: By living in Tornado Alley, Moore, Oklahoma.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: During the May 20th,
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: 2013 tornado,
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: during the coverage,
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: the last EF5 that hit the metro,
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: probably the scariest day of my life personally,
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lane was doing KOCO's coverage as the storm went directly over his own neighborhood.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: His wife and children were there in the storm shelter riding it out as he was
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: on air listening to him.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Their house didn't end up having significant damage as far as I can remember,
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: but I think portions of their neighborhood were wiped clean off the foundation like
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: a block away from their house.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: So again, there's no way Lane could have known this in the moment.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: I linked a video in the article of him talking about the day like 10 years after the fact.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: And God,
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: if you don't tear up watching that video,
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you're doing with your life.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lane to me has the most Gary England in him of any of the current meteorologists.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Gary was the best because he cared deeply about the people first.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: And was willing to sacrifice ratings for long-term trust.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that was Gary England's long-term competitive advantage.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the playbook that KOCO has been operating out of really ever
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: since England retired.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: In the long shadow that is KWTV's growing theatricality with the weather,
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think KOCO has thrived in becoming competitive.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like Oklahoma City's home for reasonable people,
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: giving them reasonable information about the weather.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as News 9 keeps displaying EnviroDispose ads during their coverage,
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: and as long as News 4 keeps displaying Salazar roofing ads during the coverage,
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: I expect KOC's strategy of being this reasonable offering for everybody else.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is another sidebar.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing they put up on their weather screens whenever...
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big, severe storm day.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is there weather rate certification, meaning they have the most accurate forecast in the metro?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Actions tell a lot about a TV station.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if I have one knock on Damon Lane,
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: it's that when the carnage machine is on the ground,
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: he's maybe not quite demonstrative enough for me.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know people love him because he's a really calm guy on air, and I do too.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it's just a normal weather day, I'll probably go to Damon Lane first.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: This was a toss up between him and David Payne number one.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when it's one of those days,
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: a particularly dangerous situation day, I like a little crazy in my meteorologist.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: I want to understand the danger of the situation and not with a dose of levity.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: I want my systolic blood pressure above 160 as I'm panicking,
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: not walking toward the storm shelter.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: But in this life, we can't expect to get everything.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: We must grant these meteorological gods the grace we wish to receive ourselves,
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: and we must pray that Dallas doesn't come for the DL too.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection,
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: in 2040,
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Lane retires from KOCO and leads the Moore Lions to their first state championship
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: in football.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: 1.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: David Payne, KWTV's Chief Meteorologist.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: My wife's not an Oklahoman.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know who David Payne was until last spring.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were watching the weather during one of last year's first storms and she looked
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: at me and she asked, does this guy just make you nervous?
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that, my friends, is the point.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we must remember, News 9 never misses the point.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: People watch the weather to see if they're in the line of the storm.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: But most of us watch the weather to feel something.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: And David Payne...
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Michael Jordan of making people feel something.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he gets a ton of shit.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: And most of it's earned.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: This guy is happy to breathe life into a thunderstorm long after it's pronounced dead.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: But still, despite his propensity to wail and squeal, I just simply like the dude.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I trust the guy.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a dark sense of humor that seems to show up in those days of destruction
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: where if he finds a little bit of light,
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: he has a way of spinning it in a way where the joke lands.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think his humor is underappreciated.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think his accent is probably going to be preserved as Oklahoman at
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: the Smithsonian one day out in the future.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it must be said, this is the most important thing.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: He deserves more credit for letting the hairline fade without getting hair plugs.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: Respect.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: In Boomtown,
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: the New York Times columnist Sam Anderson,
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: he profiled and told the story of Oklahoma City,
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: which if you haven't read it yet and you have ties to Oklahoma or Oklahoma City,
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: it's an awesome read.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about our weather for, I don't know, a third of the book probably.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's an awesome, awesome read.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: I can't believe he spent this much time in this place.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty cool.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Made me love our city even more.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: But he describes David,
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: this was back when he was at KFOR in the transition,
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: coming from KFOR to KWTV before Gary England had retired,
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: but KWTV was setting up a succession plan for Gary England.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: And They had brought on David to run the morning weather and be their lord.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: To be their storm chaser, kind of like Emily Sutton is currently for KFOR.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very similar role to what she has currently.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: But Sam Anderson paints him as this storm chaser who only cares about portraying
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: the weather in this sensationalistic fashion.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, he says that he's Glenn Powell's character from Twisters.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I strongly believe that this is an incomplete understanding about David Payne.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because just tell me DP isn't another one of us Oklahomans with
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: a completely unhealthy and occasionally toxic fascination with the weather.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many people do you know around here?
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Once the tornado sirens start howling, how many people do you know like act normally?
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I hear a siren and I want to lose my mind.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is a crazy place.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you could design a meteorologist to represent the full range of emotion
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: and trauma that comes with living here in Oklahoma every single spring,
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: that person would look, act, and sound like David Payne.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's hysterical.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's volatile.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and he is the lived experience of these storms year after year.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: After all, man, Turnpike said it best.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's shadows dancing on the wall, waiting on the sky to fall.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: I watched him do the play-by-play of this year's Memorial Marathon from
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: a strapped-down chair in the back of a News 9 F-150 for two hours straight.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: David Payne was sincerely interested and engaged in the outcome of the race.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think there had been a severe storm.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was either coming that night or the day before.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: He had reasons to be distracted.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is storm season.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is late April.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: But he was totally engaged, locked in.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: It reminded me of when he used to man in the morning weather for KFOR
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: during my childhood,
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: when he'd make me laugh at these jokes while I was eating my frosted mini-wheats
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: before school.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what makes him so unique is...
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually a sidebar too.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I was talking to my uncle back in the spring and my uncle is a pretty critical guy.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: His high standards,
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: you know, I think I've received like three compliments from my uncle in my life.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when I'm having a bad day, I think about one of these compliments.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these have this kind of effect on a person.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I was telling him that David Payne was kind of driving me crazy during one of
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: the broadcasts,
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: you know, and my uncle was like, you know, I don't think David Payne's that bad.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're like the first person that hasn't said that David Payne cries like a girl on the air.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's a very common refrain here in the city.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, yeah,
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: whenever I was in college at OU, we were a part of some of the same organizations.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he was one of the, like, nicest, funniest people down to earth.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he was like life of the party at OU in college.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Always made people laugh.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, I actually, I think he's still kind of the same guy.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I've always liked him.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: And given this came from my uncle, this shifted my opinion a little bit.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: David does undoubtedly enjoy his local celebrity,
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: but I don't get the sense that he enjoys it more than his job's responsibility.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: In that regard, I think he's kind of Switzer-like.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's so relatable,
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: still really good,
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: and just as interesting to watch on a boring night of weather in January as he is
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: during a storm.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, hate the guy or not, I stand by this.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get the News 9, chief meteorologist you need.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: You get the News 9 chief meteorologist you deserve.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you can bet your ass the next time you walk past my house after a big storm,
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: David Payne will be in view through my blinds,
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: his twang echoing off the walls and hanging in the air.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: Career projection.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: This.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Only this.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this podcast today, we have more coming.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: We got the State Fair coming up.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: We got football in Oklahoma coming up.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to take a look at the food scene.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to profile some really interesting people
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: that I think need more attention inside this city.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we hope you stick around.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: So feel free to subscribe to The Dry Line Podcast.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anywhere you listen to podcasts, you can also catch all of our writing on Substack.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: That link is in the show notes below.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're also everywhere on social media at The Dry Line.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: Until the next one, we'll expect to see you at the powerhouse.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, God.