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''Weather Center Live'' (previously named ''Weather Center'' from its relaunch in March 2009 until May 2011) was an American weather news
television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
on
The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...
. Airing in various timeslots throughout the daytime (and sometimes nighttime) hours and serving as The Weather Channel's de facto flagship forecast program, it features weather forecasts, analysis and weather-related feature segments. This program, the current incarnation of ''Weather Center'' (which differs in format from the version that debuted in 1998), debuted on March 2, 2009.


Program history


1998–2006

''
Weather Center ''Weather Center'' (originally ''WeatherScope'') was a news and weather program produced by The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia. Initially, ''Weather Center'' was the lone program for The Weather Channel. By 2000, the show had started being ...
'' debuted in 1998 (replacing ''WeatherScope'') and was originally formatted as a program devoted to hard weather news. It had three main blocks: ''Weather Center AM'' (focusing on business and leisure weather) from 5am to noon, ''Weather Center'' (focusing on ongoing conditions) from noon to 7pm, and ''Weather Center PM'' (focusing on coming days' forecasts) from 7pm to 5am. In 2000, with the additions of ''
First Outlook First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
'' and ''
Your Weather Today ''America's Morning Headquarters'' (formerly ''Your Weather Today'', ''Morning Rush'' and ''AMHQ'') is an American morning television program on The Weather Channel. Airing every morning from 6  a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Time, the program ...
'', the program was reduced to daytime and evening broadcasts. ''Weather Center''s presence on The Weather Channel's schedule decreased even further as additional forecast and long-form programs debuted; by the end of 2008, the program aired for only one hour a day during the week.


2007–2009

In February 2009, The Weather Channel's media kit began showing a different logo for the program; the most notable change to come from this, however, was the retitling of the program to ''Weather Center with Abrams & Bettes''. Changes to
electronic program guide Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...
schedules revealed that ''Weather Center'' would absorb the repeating overnight hour on weeknights, and that ''Weather Center'' would also be added to evenings (correlating with the merger of ''
Evening Edition ''Evening Edition'' is an American weather program broadcast by The Weather Channel. ''Evening Edition'' included multiple hours of programming, cut into by long-form programs such as '' When Weather Changed History'', as well as a repeating over ...
'' and ''Abrams & Bettes''). The expansion of ''Weather Center'' reversed a trend of partitioning that took place between 1998 and 2003. The changes themselves were some of the most far-reaching since the 2003 addition of '' Day Planner'', '' Afternoon Outlook'' and ''
Weekend Outlook ''Weekend Outlook'' was a weekend morning weather program on The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are ...
'', itself a casualty, being replaced by '' Weekend View''.


2009–2011

From May 5 to June 12, 2009, Mike Bettes left the studio to report on the Vortex 2 project, a project in which researchers spent five weeks in
Tornado Alley Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, ...
(the region comprising the Great Plains and
South Central United States The South Central United States or South Central states is a region in the south central portion of the Southern United States. It evolved out of the Old Southwest, which originally was the western portion of the South. The states of Arkansas, ...
that is the most climatologically favorable for tornado development) tracking
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 ...
es with weather researchers in an attempt to discover more information about the formation of these storms. Throughout the entire duration of the project, Bettes reported live in the field during ''Weather Center with Abrams & Bettes'' each evening, except for instances in which the Vortex 2 project was suspended for the day due to lack of tornadic activity. Several editions of the show featured Bettes and the Vortex 2 crew actively chasing potential tornado-producing supercells; on June 5, 2009, the crew caught its first and only tornado of the year live on '' PM Edition'', the coverage of which spilled over into the beginning of ''Weather Center''; both programs covered the entire tornado event without commercial interruption. While Bettes was reporting with the project crew, TWC on-camera meteorologist Adam Berg substituted for him in the studio. The final edition of ''Weather Center with Abrams & Bettes'' aired 1½ weeks earlier on June 12, 2009, allowing Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes to take a week off from studio work prior to assuming their new duties as co-anchors of ''Your Weather Today'' starting on June 22, 2009. Alexandra Steele and Jim Cantore replaced them as anchors of the 7 p.m. Eastern hour of ''Weather Center'' on June 15, 2009 (although television listing services such as Zap2it stated that the changeover would occur one week later on June 22). Kevin Robinson, a former host of ''Your Weather Today'', was added as an additional co-anchor of the program on June 22, 2009. On the same day, meteorologist Nicole Mitchell became Paul Goodloe's permanent co-host on the 10 p.m. Eastern hour of ''Weather Center''. The 7–10 p.m. ET block at this time was called ''Weather Center with Cantore and Steele'', similar to ''Your Weather Today''s new subtitling as ''Your Weather Today with Abrams & Bettes''. In December 2009, Kevin Robinson left ''Weather Center with Cantore and Steele'' to become a meteorologist at
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate
WLWT WLWT (channel 5) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the ...
, and was replaced by Chris Warren. In late September 2010, Crystal Egger joined ''Weather Center'' as a full-time co-anchor. Jim Cantore was reassigned to report on breaking weather news from the channel's newsroom. In September 2010, ''Weather Center'' co-host Alexandra Steele left the network, and later became an on-camera meteorologist for CNN in early 2011. Nicole Mitchell left the program in November 2010, and was replaced by Kelly Cass.


2011–2013

On January 31, 2011, TWC unveiled a major shift in its evening programming. It began airing ''Weather Center'' in three one-hour blocks each night (at 7 p.m., 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Eastern) surrounding the channel's long-form programming (a term referring to The Weather Channel's original documentary and reality programs). ''Weather Center'' was subsequently expanded to weekends on February 5, 2011. Chris Warren and Crystal Egger hosted the weekday editions; Paul Goodloe and Kelly Cass anchored on weekends. In May 2011, ''Weather Center'' was officially retitled as ''Weather Center Live''. On November 16 of that year, ''Weather Center Live'' debuted the "Winter Weather Update" segment, as a replacement for the "Tropical Update" segment usually seen at 50 minutes past each hour from June to November. The segment lasted until March 24, after which the slot is taken over by the "Severe Weather Update" segment, which airs at 50 minutes past the hour until the start of the Atlantic hurricane season on June 1. An afternoon edition of ''Weather Center Live'' began airing at 4 p.m. Eastern starting on March 26, 2012. Six days later on March 31, the weekend edition also expanded to the 4 p.m. slot, effectively canceling '' PM Edition Weekend''. The late afternoon edition of ''Weather Center Live'' was shifted to 5–7 p.m. Eastern on November 12, 2012.


2013–2018

In July 2013, Todd Santos left the program and The Weather Channel, and was replaced by Keith Carson. Crystal Egger left the channel on September 6, 2013; Egger returned on September 12 to anchor an extended ''Weather Center Live'' edition from 1 to 3 a.m. ET due to severe weather, before leaving the network for good. Alexandra Wilson was reassigned from the weekend 4 p.m. edition of ''Weather Center Live'' to weeknights as Egger's replacement, being paired with Chris Warren and Jim Cantore during the 7 p.m. Eastern hour of the broadcast. On November 12, 2013, ''Weather Center Live'' (presented by Jen Carfagno and Alex Wallace) debuted at 4 a.m. (as part of the show's expansion) and The Weather Channel's extensive rebranding started at this point (which included a revised graphics package, the introduction of a new set for its forecast programs and the permanent expansion of the Lower Display Line throughout national commercial breaks and long-form programming to provide local weather information). This was highlighted again during '' Morning Rush'', which debuted at 7 a.m. the same day. Also, as a result of the changing schedule, ''First Forecast'', ''On the Radar'', ''Day Planner'', '' Sunrise Weather'', ''Weekend View'' and ''Weekend Now'' were all absorbed into WCL (weekdays 4–5:30 a.m., 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5–8 p.m.; weekends 4:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Eastern). As a consequence, the nightly 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Eastern, and weekend 4 and 7 p.m. Eastern editions of ''Weather Center Live'' were replaced with long-form programming (effectively removing regularly scheduled forecast programs from the channel's nighttime schedule for the first time in its history, and also limiting forecast programming on weekends to morning and early afternoon timeslots). The show's duration can be extended, ultimately canceling longform original programs, and have its logo changed to red throughout major weather events. On February 24, 2014, the 2–5 p.m. ET block now showed ''Weather Center Live''. This addition occurred almost a month after The Weather Channel was removed from satellite provider
DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
due to a
carriage dispute A carriage dispute is a disagreement over the right to "carry", that is, retransmit, a broadcaster's signal. Carriage disputes first occurred between broadcasters and cable companies and now include direct broadcast satellite and other multicha ...
, citing complaints over the channel's increased reliance on long-form programs over forecast programming; with the change, the channel's schedule consists solely of forecast programming during the daytime hours and long-form programs during nighttime hours on weekdays. When ''Weather Center Live'' was expanded, Vivian Brown anchored the show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET with (Mon-Wed) Nick Walker and (Thu-Fri) Keith Carson. In July, Walker moved to primetime to cover breaking weather news and Carson went on to host WCL's 4–7 a.m. weekend edition and report for '' Wake Up With Al'' Monday through Wednesdays. Jennifer Delgado replaced them as Brown's co-host. In April 2014, Dave Schwartz returned to the Weather Channel for the first time since 2008. He and Alex Wilson would anchor ''Weather Center Live'' from 2 to 5 p.m. ET (3 to 7 p.m. ET during severe weather) weekdays for the next two years. On Thursday, November 6, 2014, the weekday 4–5:30 a.m. ET edition of ''Weather Center Live'' was replaced by long-form programming (from 4 to 5 a.m. ET) and an expanded ''Wake Up With Al'' (from 5 to 5:30 a.m. ET). On November 8, the weekend 4–5 a.m. and noon-2 p.m. ET editions of the show were also replaced by long-form programming. As a result of these changes, ''Weather Center Live'' aired from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on weekdays and 5 a.m.-noon ET on weekends. On Monday, November 17, 2014, ''Weather Center Live'' added an extra edition on the 10 a.m. hour, replacing the rebroadcast of ''Wake Up with Al''. On February 7, 2015, the weekend 5–9 a.m. ET edition of the program was replaced by a new '' AMHQ Weekend'', hosted by Reynolds Wolf and Kait Parker. On March 14, 2015, the weekend 9 a.m.-noon ET edition was replaced by a new weekend show called '' Weekend Recharge'', hosted by Maria LaRosa and Paul Goodloe, alongside expert Greg Postel. As a result, ''Weather Center Live'' became a weekday-only show, airing from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. On August 24, the 6-8pm timeslot was replaced by a show called Weather Underground, hosted by Mike Bettes and Alex Wilson. From the week of October 5, 2015, '' Wake Up with Al''s timeslot was replaced with ''Weather Center Live''. During severe weather events, The Weather Channel may opt to replace the normal color scheme (blue, white and dark gray) of its graphics to become black-and-red (known as the "Storm Alert" mode), with the one-third of the "R"-bar featuring in-depth information of the event instead of the regular "rundown" list of segments. TWC has not used the ''Weather Center Live'' banner during such events since roughly 2015; instead, an alternative name that explicitly states the events (Winter Storm/Severe Storm/Hurricane Central) is used on-air. For rating purposes, WCL continues to be utilized as the umbrella title for TWC's extended broadcasts being done in this manner. On July 30, 2016, Dave Schwartz died after a long battle with cancer. He had continued to appear as co-anchor almost until his death. He was 63. On October 26, 2016, Liana Brackett joined The Weather Channel as an on-camera meteorologist working with Chris Warren from 3-6pm on weekdays. On June 4, 2018, ''Weather Center Live'' was shortened an hour, now ending at 5pm ET with ''
Weather Underground The Weather Underground was a far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organized as a faction of Students for a Democr ...
'' taking over that hour. Mark Elliot and Alex Wallace host from 9am-1pm ET and Chris Warren and Liana Brackett host from 1pm-5pm ET. On June 9, 2018, ''Weekend Recharge'', the weekend version of ''Weather Center Live'', was extended to another hour, ending at 1pm. This is due to ''AMHQ'' shortened by one hour, now starting at 6am. On December 2, 2018, ''Weather Center Live'' began to be known as ''The Weather Channel Live'' on, and only on, electronic program guide schedules. On June 14, 2021, The show was shortened to noon to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time as America's Morning Headquarters got extended until noon. Also, Weather Underground was extended to four hours, starting at 4pm. On November 15, 2021, the show was replaced by ''Storm Center'' with a slightly different presentation, featuring on the schedule as Weather Underground's successor rather than predecessor.


Notable on-air staff


Former

*
Stephanie Abrams Stephanie Abrams (born October 27, 1978) is an American television meteorologist who has worked for The Weather Channel (TWC) since 2003. She currently co-hosts '' AMHQ'' with Jen Carfagno and Jim Cantore early weekday mornings. She is also empl ...
(currently co-anchors ''AMHQ'') *
Mike Bettes Michael Bettes (born January 9, 1972) is an American television meteorologist and storm chaser who works for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a co-host of '' AMHQ: America's Morning Headquarters''. He hosts Weather Underground TV ...
(currently hosts ''Weather Underground TV'') * Vivian Brown (left TWC) * Crystal Egger (currently at KNBC-TV; TWC Correspondent) * Dave Schwartz (deceased) * Jim Cantore – Storm Specialist (currently co-hosts ''AMHQ'') *
Bryan Norcross Bryan S. Norcross (born November 24, 1950) is a television meteorologist, hurricane specialist, and contributor in the United States. He works for Fox Weather in New York City, the free ad-supported streaming television weather service, and serv ...
– Senior Hurricane Expert/Storm Specialist, now at
WPLG WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembrok ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weather Center (2009-Present) The Weather Channel original programming 2009 American television series debuts 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows English-language television shows