Most Important Skills For A Broadcast Meteorologist At A TV Broadcasting Company
A broadcast meteorologist's success hinges on a blend of academic foundation, "experience...learning from something before and making something better," and crucial soft skills like patience, time management, and quick thinking under pressure. The role also demands strong interpersonal skills, including networking and the ability to receive constructive criticism, all while creatively connecting with viewers and building trust through a reliable on-air presence and social media engagement.
Communication, Time Management, Problem-Solving, Networking, Research
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Meredith Garofalo
Broadcast Meteorologist
TV Broadcasting Company
Valparaiso University
NA
Environmental & Related Sciences
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Communication and Marketing
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Develop strong time management and quick-thinking skills to meet daily deadlines and adapt to unexpected situations, such as severe weather alerts.
2. Build a professional network by reaching out to people for interviews and collaborations, and be open to constructive criticism to continuously improve your work.
3. Cultivate creativity to connect with viewers and build trust by finding unique ways to present weather information beyond simple forecasts, and improve your writing skills for clear and effective communication
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
That's a really good question, and it's a lot of different things that come together. My background, my schooling, getting my degree and taking classes with things I'm learning early on all play a part.
But then it's also experience. It's taking everything day to day and learning from something before to make something better the next time. Or having done something multiple times where you know how to handle a typical situation. Patience is a huge thing.
Time management skills are also very important. When you have a deadline every day, like the five o'clock news, it isn't going to wait. So you have to make sure you are staying on track and getting everything done.
Sometimes it's thinking on your feet. It's quick thinking because something won't go the way you were hoping it would go. Or all of a sudden there's a severe thunderstorm warning and you can't finish preparing the show you wanted for five o'clock because you have to go on the air to report the warning.
It takes a lot of research and interacting with people, networking. When you're doing a news story and need to find someone to interview, you need that contact list in your phone. You need to be comfortable texting or calling someone you don't know.
You have to be able to say, "Hey, I really want to make this story the best I can. I don't know you, but can you help me? And if you can't help me, can you please get me to somebody who can?" So it takes a lot of personality.
It also takes knowing what you want out of a workday and creativity, especially for weather. Anybody can get the forecast from an app on their phone. So it's coming up with ways to connect with viewers and having a platform, whether on social media or out in the community.
This helps people become comfortable with you and trust you. For journalism, it's improving your writing skills and being open to an editor saying, "I don't like the way you worded this. Can you word this a little better?"
Receiving constructive criticism is so important. You have to be humble enough to know that you're never going to be perfect at what you do and that people are there to help you.
Once you understand that and remind yourself every day, "This is what I'm doing. I love what I'm doing. This is the contribution I have to society," you'll be better. Stay humble and remember every single day that you're just like everybody else. You have a special role that you play, and you're serving people with that role.