Flubbing The Forecast

Why does WCAX-TV keep showing botched clips on its weather forecast subchannel?

The embedded video shows a WCAX-TV weather forecaster Dan Dowling messing up his line, walking off screen, and then returning to try it again. It aired today in the evening -- repeatedly.

What's amusing about this clip is that it wasn't live, it was recorded and put in rotation on the WCAX sub-channel 3.2 . Apparently no one at Channel 3 in Burlington, VT believes in doing a retake, replacing the flubbed forecast with an error-free one. This clip could've have been edited, cutting out the misspoken line in the beginning.

This isn't the first time I'm see a bad clip repeated on 3.2 . About a couple of weeks ago another forecaster, Sharon Meyer, had her own problematic segment that was shown more than once. Unfortunately, I didn't catch it in time to record it but it was funnier than this one. In the botched take Sharon walked out but the blue screen in the background didn't show the temps. She stopped, complaining that her clicker didn't work. She walked off, came back, and started the forecast again, this time the proper background showing up. Suddenly she decided nothing was working and so she walked off, disgusted, leaving some dead air behind. If anyone has a copy of that one, please share.

OK, TV reporters are human and make mistakes. But why keep running a ruined take over and over again? Digital ain't that hard to edit or redo. That's the kind of unprofessionalism I would expect from WPTZ, Plattsburgh's TV station.