John Oldshue is a current fill-in meteorologist for

WKRG WKRG-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed CW o ...

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. Formerly a meteorologist and storm chaser for

ABC 33/40 WBMA-LD (channel 58) is a low-power television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WABM (channel 68) and Homewood-licensed CW affiliate W ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, from 1997 to 2011, he retired to run a small business. He won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

award for coverage of the Tuscaloosa tornado on December 16, 2000, alongside meteorologist

James Spann James Max Spann Jr. (born June 6, 1956) is a television meteorologist and podcast host based in Birmingham, Alabama. He currently works for WBMA-LD (''ABC 33/40''), Birmingham's ABC affiliate. Spann has worked in the field since 1978, and is often ...

. A decade later, he was the first storm spotter/meteorologist to capture video of the April 27, 2011, Tuscaloosa tornado and transmit that to ABC 33/40, approximately 30 minutes before the tornado struck the city. Spann later called Oldshue one of the “unsung heroes of April 27,” later saying, “He captured that big wedge tornado on the ground when it was still 30 miles south of Tuscaloosa. That dramatic video convinced a lot of people to take cover."

Personal life

He was born and raised in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

. His mother, Isabel Oldshue, is a retired family practice doctor. His father, Jerry Oldshue Sr., was the historian of the University of Alabama and died in November 2015. In June 2011, he relocated from Tuscaloosa to

Fairhope Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2020 Census lists the population of the city as 22,477. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolita ...

Education

He graduated from

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

in 1993, with a BS in Geosciences majoring in meteorology. He completed his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

in 1998.

Career

Oldshue worked at

WDBB WDBB (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Bessemer, Alabama, United States, serving Tuscaloosa and west Alabama as a satellite of Birmingham-based CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21, licensed to Homewood). It is owned by Cunningham Broadc ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

as the Chief Meteorologist from 1993 to 1995 and at

WALA __NOTOC__ Wala may refer to: Places *Wala (island), a small island in Vanuatu, and a popular destination for cruise ships * Wala, Panama, a community in Kuna de Wargandí, Panama *Kingdom of Wala a pre-colonial polity in the north of modern Ghana ...

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

as the morning meteorologist from 1995 until January 1997. He joined ABC 33/40 as weekend meteorologist and storm chaser from January 1997 until January 2011. He won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

with

from the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

for live coverage of a deadly

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

in Tuscaloosa on December 16, 2000. (A camera mounted on the transmitter tower of the former Channel 33 captured live images of the tornado as it moved through the community.) The station won an Edward R. Murrow Award for this coverage. John is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the Atmospheric sciences, atmospheric, Oceanography, oceanic, and Hydrology, hydr ...

and has the

National Weather Association The National Weather Association (NWA), founded in 1975, is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities. Background The National Weather Association is, ...

Seal of Approval. He was voted best small market weather anchor in Alabama for 1994 and 1995 by the Associated Press. In 2011, he retired from working as a meteorologist in pursuit of several online businesses including LowCards.com, SaveOnPhone.com, and SaveOnInsurance.com. In 2012 John Oldshue and

sold their weather forecasting business, "The Weather Company" to IBM and The Weather Channel for an undisclosed sum. He later became a fill-in meteorologist for WKRG in Mobile. In 2016 he became one of the first FAA approved aerial drone pilots and created SoutheastSky.com for aerial imaging and videography. He has been part of teams winning two Addy awards for his aerial videography work on Alabama tourism commercials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldshue, John Living people People from Tuscaloosa, Alabama American television meteorologists Mississippi State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)