Facing Fall-Out from Recession and Popularity of Web Forecasts, Weathercasters See Evolving Profession

“The TV weatherman has always been one of the best, most secure jobs,” NBC legend Willard Scott told BusinessWeek recently. “They change anchors, they change the set, producers come and go. But the weather person hangs on forever!”

Weathercasters’ bullet-proof job security may be a thing of the past, though, as the economic downturn and the growing popularity of web-based forecasts have seemingly caused stations to rethink the value of their radar jockeys.

BusinessWeek presents some troubling statistics in a recent article on the evolving profession:

According to a 2010 poll by media consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates, while the majority of [people] check local forecasts on TV, 87 percent also seek updates on the Internet–a number likely to rise in the coming years.

The National Weather Assn., an organization of professional meteorologists, has seen a downturn in membership renewals over the past few years, from approximately 3,000 in 2006 to about 2,700 in 2010

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