March 23rd, 2023 is World Meteorological Day. A day set aside to raise awareness for and pay attention to the importance of the weather.

Over the years the way that weather is presented on television has changed a lot! This is how it looks today...

That is so different from how it looked nearly 60 years ago.

Presenting the Weather in 1966

I found an old 11 pm newcast from WZZM TV-13 from December 27th, 1966 on YouTube. Let's take a look at how the weather was presented back then...

Television stations didn't have staff meteorologists back then. Instead a staff member would read the weather forecast that was issued by the National Weather Service. At TV 13, David Compton was the "weatherman" back in the mid 1960.

David Compton - Weatherman at TV-13
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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David left TV-13 in 1973 when they hired their very first meteorologist, Craig James. David went on to be a longtime news anchor in Canada. His Linked In page makes no mention of his time spent at TV 13.

Today, meteorologist have very colorful computer graphics to show us what it going on across the country. Back in the 60s, they just had a map mounted to a post with either magnetic or bulletin board letters to indicate temperatures and weather conditions...

1966 Weather Map
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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I love the little "arrow" pointer that was being used to point out highlights on the map. I wonder how many times -- just before a newscast -- you'd hear "Where is my pointer?".

Weather Map
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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The Michigan map looks so misshapen. Look at how big Saginaw Bay and Grand Traverse Bay appears.

Michigan Weather Map 1966
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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Even the forecast was presented using those magnetic or bulletin board letters along with the special pointer so you can follow along as David read the forecast...

Weather Forecast 1966
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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A television station's weather set looks so different today, with most meteorologists just standing in front of a green chroma key screen so that computer graphics can be added behind them.

Weather Forecast Wall
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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If you want to see the entire video of the weather forecast for December 27th, 1966, here is the video...

You can watch the entire 30 minute newscast, featuring Hal Douglas anchoring the news, David Compton with weather, and Don Michaels with sports here...

It was fun to see some of the old commercials. It looks like the news was brought to you by Yankee Stores.

Amway Grand?
Photo: NewsActive3 via YouTube
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Did you notice the graphic they used for the story about population control? At first I thought it was a picture of the Amway Grand Plaza hotel, but that building didn't exist in 1966.

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