As I was growing up, KELO TV was a very popular channel at our house. Mostly because long time anchorman, Steve Hemmingsen, is from my home town of Morgan, MN and it’s always exciting to see someone you know on the tube. Imagine my family’s delight when they learned that I, too, would be hitting the airwaves of KELOLAND.

That little bit of fun lasted about two weeks. My family was able to watch me do the weather on three newscasts before they pulled the plug. KELO was gone… off the local UHF tower, off the local cable system. There were already two CBS affiliates in that area and they didn’t see a need for a third. So, for the next thirteen years, my mom and the rest of the family were without their family weatherman. The people of my hometown were left with one memory of me on TV: The poor, nervous guy that dropped the clicker. One lady even told me that she and her husband assumed that I walked off camera and wet my pants after each show. I didn’t, but let’s face it, the first couple of years were pretty rough. I like to think that I’ve gotten at least a little better since then.

Even though KELO was gone, KSFY stayed and very quickly became a favorite. Sometimes I think I underestimate how important our coverage is to people in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Even though my hometown and a lot of our southern and western Minnesota viewers are technically in the Minneapolis TV market, the folks there love getting their news, and especially weather, from Sioux Falls. I’ve heard many, many times that, “when watching KSFY, we know what weather is coming. If we were to wait for the Twin Cities stations, the barn would be long blown away before we heard about it on TV.”

The past thirteen years, every time I’d go home, my mother would talk about how much she loved watching Phil’s weather. Phil Schreck is a rock star at my parent’s house. Now, after thirteen years, mom is finally able to watch her son on TV again. She tells me how fun it is to be able to have her coffee with me each morning. I know she’s excited about my joining KSFY, but I’m still not sure if the bulk of her excitement comes from being able to watch me every day or from knowing that now I can get Phil to sign an 8 x 10 glossy for her to stick on her fridge.