Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Time for some more classic Channel 3 photos. This batch features some of our various news anchor teams over the year here at WKYC. All pictures are courtesy of Bob Keyes. If you have any pictures you would like to share for the blog, please email me at fmacek@wkyc.com     Weeknight Team: (Back) Al Roker (weather), Mona Scott (weather) (Front) Doug Adair (anchor), Amanda Arnold (anchor), Tom Ryther (sports)     Weekend Team:  (L-R) Leon Bibb (anchor), John Henk (sports), Sheryl Browne (anchor), Paul Edmunds (weather) (L-R) Steve Taylor (sports), Connie Dieken (anchor), Tom Sweeney (anchor), Terry Burhans (weather)

Al Roker, the weather anchor for NBC’s “Today,” and Hoda Kotb, co-host of “Today’s” fourth hour, will welcome 2017 co-hosting NBC’s live, high-definition coverage of the “128th Rose Parade” from Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 2 (11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET) This year marks the milestone 90-year anniversary of NBC broadcasting the parade, beginning on radio in 1927 and then televising the popular annual event beginning in 1954. This will be Roker’s twentieth year as host and the fourth year for Kotb. The event will be held on January 2 this year due to the parade’s ‘Never on a Sunday’ rule. “Echoes of Success” is the theme of the 2017 Rose Parade, the most popular New Year’s celebration in the world. Three Olympic legends are honored as this year’s Grand Marshals – six-time Olympic gold medalist and track and field star Allyson Felix, five-time Olympic medalist and long distance swimmer Janet Evans and five-time Olympic medalist and diver Greg Louganis. The fun kicks of...

Channel 3's Hollie Giangreco was live at the "Today" show set in New York City Wednesday morning to help the show wish a happy 60th birthday to weatherman Al Roker. Roker, who worked for WKYC for five years in the late '70s and early '80s, sent his well wishes back to Cleveland, remarking that he misses the West Side Market. Giangreco gave Roker a birthday present -- a Cleveland five-day forecast T-shirt mocking the city's vastly different weather from day to day. Roker joked that he wasn't looking forward to the birthday but conceded "any anniversary you can spend about ground is a good thing.""And to have all these people come down … that's very, very nice," he said, joking with fans gathered on the plaza that he was old enough to be their grandfather. Upon learning that anchors Russ Mitchell and Kris Pickel are in town as well, he couldn't help but crack a joke. "You've got to relish a name like that,...

By Frank Macek NBC Weatherman Al Roker was back in town Tuesday evening as part of the Dave Thomas Celebrity Cookoff at Benihana's in Beachwood and will bring the entire nation the weather from the West Side Market in Cleveland on Wednesday morning as part of the market's centennial anniversary celebrations. As many of you know, Al is a Channel 3 alumnus. He started working for NBC when WKYC was an owned and operated station in 1978. He remained with us for 5 years before being promoted to the network's flagship station, WNBC-TV, and moving back home to New York City where he was born. Today, Al is the main weather anchor for the "Today Show" and hosts "Wake Up With Al" on "The Weather Channel" from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m. Our own WKYC Chief Meterologist Betsy Kling had the chance to interview Al before the cookoff this evening and shares his funny senses of humor. Click the video to watch:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Former WKYC weatherman Al Roker is on the move again. Man does he stay busy! ----- Al Roker, widely recognized as America's favorite weatherman, has been named host of Wake Up With Al, a new weekday morning program on The Weather Channel. Roker will join The Weather Channel's Stephanie Abrams, who will serve as his co-host. The announcement was made today by Lisa Gersh, interim CEO of The Weather Channel. The one-hour program will air weekdays from 6-7 a.m. ET and premiere this summer. "Simply put - Al Roker is synonymous with weather. He has an energy and a style that jumps off the screen, and we already know that people want to wake up with him in the morning," said Gersh. "We have spent months coming up with the right way to integrate Al into The Weather Channel's programming, and I think, alongside Stephanie, we've come up with the perfect formula with this announcement." Wake Up with Al will explore all aspects of the day'...

The Director's Cut Blog proudly presents another brand new & exclusive feature called "Meet the Stars" - our insider information on the TV stars you see on NBC and WKYC-TV. We'll kick it off with our hometown favorite Al Roker, who was a big hit here at WKYC before leaving for the network in 1983. Al Roker has been the weather and feature reporter on NBC News' "Today" since January 1996. Until January of 2000, Roker also served as the weekday weather forecaster for News Channel 4's early evening newscast "Live at 5" on WNBC-TV, NBC's flagship owned and operated station in New York City. New York magazine has twice named Roker Best Weatherman. He came to WNBC-TV as a weekend weathercaster in December 1983 from WKYC-TV, the NBC Television Station in Cleveland. Roker began his broadcasting career while still in college by landing a job as a weekend weatherman WTVH-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1974. After graduation he moved on to weatherca...