WANE TV gets rid of Sandy Thompson

[Mrs.Slotz]

I was wondering what happened to her. I can't believe they let her go. I loved her.

http://www.journalgazette.net/articl...09952/1007/ENT

[ebbieday]

Ok, they led us to believe she was retiring. We knew she was leaving about a week before. What the...?

[Mrs.Slotz]

Ok, they led us to believe she was retiring. We knew she was leaving about a week before. What the...?

Yeah, right. You can clearly see that she is just "sick" about their decision. If they were going to get rid of anybody, it should have been Tara.

[ebbieday]

She had such grace about it too. We moved to this area almost 20 years ago and I've been watching her since then. I don't care for the personalities on 21...I find them very drab and dry. The WANE people seem to have fun while delivering the news and I like that, but JMO. Not sure what I think about the new meteorologist yet.

[evilkumquat]

Am I being overly cynical if I predict she will get replaced with either a man or an attractive, younger woman (probably blonde)?

[ebbieday]

Am I being overly cynical if I predict she will get replaced with either a man or an attractive, younger woman (probably blonde)?

It appears she has been replaced...with a young, good looking guy.

[Mrs.Slotz]

It appears she has been replaced...with a young, good looking guy.

Yeah, go figure. The article made Sandy look uneducated with no experience. 20+ years of on the job experience beats the experience of someone fresh out of college.

[TheBigB]

Yeah, go figure. The article made Sandy look uneducated with no experience. 20+ years of on the job experience beats the experience of someone fresh out of college.

They aren't doing the same job. Sandy was a weather broadcaster; this guy is a meteorologist.

[Mrs.Slotz]

They aren't doing the same job. Sandy was a weather broadcaster; this guy is a meteorologist.

They should have kept Sandy on!!

[TheBigB]

They should have kept Sandy on!!

That may be so, but her on-the-job experience is not in making forecasts, crunching numbers, doing weather models, etc. WANE obviously wanted their weather person to do that as well, maybe to save some bucks (I'm sure that Sandy was well paid), or maybe because they think people want to see the weather geek on TV. Asking Sandy Thompson to do that job would be like asking a high school biology teacher with 20 years experience to teach a graduate level college course in genetics.

As an aside, this reminds me of my visits home - my mother *constantly* has one of those local weather stations running on a TV. For her, digital TV broadcast is a dream come true.

[hideaway70]

This isn't surprising. Remember, the world we live in is one in which Lady Ga Ga and Miley Cyrus are considered to be "artists", by virtue of their immense talent, of course. They're atttractive and, therefore marketable. Sandy is kind of "average" looking, so her days were numbered.

[jennyk]

Yeah, go figure. The article made Sandy look uneducated with no experience. 20+ years of on the job experience beats the experience of someone fresh out of college.

Actually, the new guy, Jonathan Conder, isn't fresh out of college - he has been working in weather for at least 5 years after getting out of college, including a stints in the much larger markets of Oklahoma City and Minneapolis. He also is an award-winning meteorologist, having won awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. My guess is that WANE wanted to have someone who has that scientific training to accurately predict the weather. I was never a huge fan of Sandy Thompson anyway, and I think Conder does a good job.

[Mrs.Slotz]

Actually, the new guy, Jonathan Conder, isn't fresh out of college - he has been working in weather for at least 5 years after getting out of college, including a stints in the much larger markets of Oklahoma City and Minneapolis. He also is an award-winning meteorologist, having won awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. My guess is that WANE wanted to have someone who has that scientific training to accurately predict the weather. I was never a huge fan of Sandy Thompson anyway, and I think Conder does a good job.

I was just used to Sandy and I liked how she got out in the community and helped out with things. I will get used to the new guy and perhaps he is better but what is so wrong with WANE TV being loyal to Sandy. She was loyal to them for many years. I know, I am old school.

[ebbieday]

I met Sandy in person about 9 years ago at a Women's Fair in Ft Wayne (when I was in massage school) and she is just as pleasant and friendly off camera as she was on. I loved the interactions between her, Mark and Heather on the 5 and 6 o'clock news. It's not there, as of yet, with the new guy. However, I am sure he knows his stuff and hopefully that will evolve in time.

[HoosierHelen]

I sure wish Sandy the very best going forward. I always enjoyed her personality. Pretty sure that Sandy had expected this day to come...as weather women go, she lasted much longer than most. That says alot about her popularity in this area.

Best wishes Sandy!!

[evilkumquat]

Refresh my memory, but didn't WANE-TV come under new management a few years ago and purged practically everyone from their news division except Thompson?

Or am I getting my stations confused?

ON EDIT: Whoops. My bad. It was WPTA/WISE and the only one they kept was Linda Jackson.

[Copycatted]

I found her. Working at PBS

[hairypumper]

I found her. Working at PBS

You beat me to it. She's doing Senior Spotlight live on Wednesday evenings. I'm wondering if it's something to keep busy between jobs or something to keep busy in retirement.

[HoosierHelen]

You beat me to it. She's doing Senior Spotlight live on Wednesday evenings. I'm wondering if it's something to keep busy between jobs or something to keep busy in retirement.

I celebrate that she keeps herself active in her field. She strikes me as a lady that would not be happy doing nothing.

[nan0803]

Sandy is so articulate. The new guy could take lessons.