For 12-27-92 
Boycott Baseball? Ok, Fine -- But You Go First 
It Doesn't Seem So Long Ago That Kirby Puckett Created A Fuss By Becoming The 
First Baseball Player To Collect A $3 Million Salary.

What About 
Those Raises?

By KIM STROSNIDER; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Monday, December 21, 1992 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





Of course there were naysayers, those who scoffed at the idea of an
around-the-clock cable television channel devoted solely to the weather. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And the appropriately-named Weather Channel did suffer some storms in its
early years. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It initially lost money hand over fist, close to a million dollars a month.
By late 1983, some thought it might be forced out of business. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But 10 years after its launch, The Weather Channel is prospering. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Some 53.3 million American households, including those locally who buy
basic cable, can tune in to the station -- compared to around 3 million in the
beginning. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Atlanta-based Weather Channel, which employs 5,000, has earned a profit
for about the last seven years for its owner, Landmark Communications Inc.,
according to a Weather Channel spokeswoman. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We have indeed survived. And we've survived handsomely," says Ray Ban, a
Pittsburgh native and Penn State meteorology graduate who is The Weather
Channel's operations director. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ban has been with The Weather Channel since a few months before its first
broadcast, in May of 1982. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 With a team of more than 65 meteorologists, The Weather Channel develops
regional and national forecasts, and offers special feature segments for
business travelers, skiers, boaters and parents trying to decide how to dress
their children. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Weather Channel also provides periodic local forecasts for each of the
areas it serves, including Northeast Pennsylvania. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The most widely used of The Weather Channel's programming, these forecasts
are based on locally-collected data from the National Weather Service that is
updated at least four times a day (more frequently during severe weather). &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ban says The Weather Channel basically attracts two types of viewers. Light
users tune in for just a few minutes to get local weather information. Heavy
users, however, might watch the station for hours and "just get jampacked"
with all the weather information they can. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The latter category includes farmers and construction workers, whose
business depends on the weather; travelers, and those who enjoy
weather-dependent recreation like skiing and boating. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You certainly have weather junkies," says Ban, "and I say that with a lot
of reverence." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ban is excited about the next decade for The Weather Channel. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Among other things, modernizations by the National Weather Service --
including a new generations of satellites to gather weather data, a
highly-sophisticated computer system and new radars -- will allow Weather
Channel meteorologists access to better, more timely weather observations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The National Weather Service also is in the process of breaking down its
weather zones into smaller areas, which Ban says should theoretically make
more accurate the local weather forecasts that The Weather Channel transmits. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The amount of information," Ban says, "is going to dramatically enhance
the ability to diagnose and therefore prognose (predict) what the weather is
going to do." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It's going to cause the discipline to take a quantum leap forward." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The result, Ban says, is people will likely come to depend more on weather
forecasts. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And that translates into a sunny forecast for The Weather Channel.

Ran 3b Dec. 21 After A Stormy Start, The Skies Have Cleared For Weather Channel