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| Bruce Edwards (L) and Andre Bernier (R) |
WKYC's Bruce Kalinowski has a reason to celebrate this week as it was 30 years ago that he and WJW Meteorologist Andre Bernier kicked off a brand new cable channel called "The Weather Channel" out of its new studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
Under the on-air name Bruce Edwards, the channel began broadcasting on May 2, 1982, airing weather forecasts and weather-related news, 24 hours a day.
"We Take The Weather Seriously, But Not Ourselves" was the on-air slogan used from the launch in 1982 to 1984 before moving on with other witty weather branding over the years.
On January 3, 2008, it was reported that The Weather Channel and its assets were put up for sale by its original owner, Landmark Communications. On July 6, 2008, NBC Universal, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group agreed to purchase the Weather Channel from Landmark and was finalized on September 12, 2008.
A 30 year reunion was held last Saturday night with many of the original members of The Weather Channel in Atlanta although Bruce had to work and wasn't able to attend.
After leaving "The Weather Channel," Bruce returned to his hometown of Cleveland as Chief Meteorologist at WOIO-TV/19 & WUAB-TV/43 and eventually joined WKYC for Noon and Weekend morning duties. Recently, Bruce took over the weekend 6 & 11 PM weather position. Every show, you'll see Bruce with one of his favorite mugs that promotes our local teams and the city of Cleveland.
Bruce still says it proudly that Cleveland IS "The best location in the nation!" - even with the snow and cold temperatures during the winter.
Here is that first broadcast, courtesy of Andre Bernier back on May 2nd, 1982.
