Holding On To History: The birth of Northland TV weather in the 50s

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) - The first television weathercast in history happened 83 years ago last October.

The first Northland weathercast happened 70 years ago last March.

People back then had some strange ideas about how the weather should be presented.

Commercial television began in June 1941 and nobody knew how to present programs at first.

Legend has it that the first TV weather forecast that October was presented by a puppet or cartoon character named Wooly Lamb.

Things got more scientific when the end of World War II found military meteorologists looking for work like Air Force veteran Jack McKenna.

“447th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, Third Division,” said McKenna while remembering his old unit.

McKenna was with WDSM when it started Channel 6 in 1954.

“They needed a weatherman and I said well isn’t that a coincidence,” said McKenna.

World War II merchant marine veteran Carl Casperson was with KDAL when they started Channel 3 the same year.

There, management decided who would do what for the new medium.

“We were selected to do certain things and I was selected to host a weather show,” said Casperson.

At Channel 6, McKenna was allowed to make his own forecast with the limited data available then.

Graphics consisted of magnets on sheet metal maps.

At Channel 3, Casperson presented the weather on a chalkboard and used data from the National Weather Service.

Channel 3’s weather contained a little bit of trickery.

In the 50s, they told folks the weather came from the Shell Weather Tower high above the building.

In reality, it sat right on the studio floor.

“A piece of film panned up to the top of the weather tower but the top of the weather tower was sitting on the floor of the studio in the second story of the Bradley Building,” said Casperson.

By the late 50s, Casperson moved into KDAL management and Gordy Paymar took over the weather desk until the start of the Heatwave Berler era.

In the early 60s, McKenna would leave WDSM for bigger markets for a couple of years which allowed Ray Paulsen to take over.

Memories of both remain in the minds of many Northlanders even today.

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