When did you start watching The Weather Channel?

[Eric]

1985. Cable was installed in my neighborhood, I noticed there was a Weather Channel and I started watching. There were some really nice backgrounds used during the locals in the 1986-1987 general time period (some stationary, others in motion) until they were later discontinued.

Finally... someone who's been watching longer than I have!

As I understand it, the backgrounds were discontinued because many people found it difficult to read the WeatherStar III's text over them.  However, I think the backgrounds were also for the benefit of (the few, at the time) satellite viewers or those whose WeatherStar was malfunctioning.  Back then, there wasn't the "Travel Cities Forecast" on the national feed, so, without the backgrounds, you just saw a black picture while hearing the local forecast music (and narration!).

[BOLT96]

As young as I was I definitely remember first watching around 1999.

[WeatherSTARIII]

1985. Cable was installed in my neighborhood, I noticed there was a Weather Channel and I started watching. There were some really nice backgrounds used during the locals in the 1986-1987 general time period (some stationary, others in motion) until they were later discontinued.

Finally... someone who's been watching longer than I have!

As I understand it, the backgrounds were discontinued because many people found it difficult to read the WeatherStar III's text over them.  However, I think the backgrounds were also for the benefit of (the few, at the time) satellite viewers or those whose WeatherStar was malfunctioning.  Back then, there wasn't the "Travel Cities Forecast" on the national feed, so, without the backgrounds, you just saw a black picture while hearing the local forecast music (and narration!).

I always woundered what had happened durring the Local Forecasts if the local WeatherSTAR fails back in 1982-85.

[Eric]

I always woundered what had happened durring the Local Forecasts if the local WeatherSTAR fails back in 1982-85.

It's written somewhere on the "TWC Classics" homepage, but I believe it was around 1987 or 1988 when the earliest version of "Travel Cities Forecast" appeared on the national feed "underneath" the WeatherStar.  Back then, it was just a black screen with white text that literally appeared line by line and scrolled up - nothing physically attractive at all, even by WeatherStar III standards.  (And it didn't look like it was Star technology that was producing this.)  It quickly mellowed out into the WeatherStar 4000-style text version, before converting to the graphics version at the same time the local WeatherStar 4000 text "Travel Cities Forecast" became the graphic "Travel Forecast for..." page.

Off the top of my head, I'm trying to think when this was replaced with specially-produced maps that were broadcast on the national feed.  1995 at the absolute latest, I believe.

Oh, and how about "Tri-State Weather" and "Prime Time Tonight"?  I always found myself hoping for a Star failure at :27 and :57 past the hour.  And, yes, sometimes it happened!   Amazing to think that TWC could devote THREE minutes to a local forecast back then!!

[CartoonJazzLover]

March 2003. Was good for 5 and a half years before NBCU started doing bad changes to it.

[TWCToday]

Probably around 1995-1996 but not on a regular basis

[twcclassics]

I think the backgrounds were also for the benefit of (the few, at the time) satellite viewers or those whose WeatherStar was malfunctioning.  Back then, there wasn't the "Travel Cities Forecast" on the national feed, so, without the backgrounds, you just saw a black picture while hearing the local forecast music (and narration!).

Wow, really? I didn't know that (or maybe I did and just forgot ).

[WeatherSTARIII]

I always woundered what had happened durring the Local Forecasts if the local WeatherSTAR fails back in 1982-85.

It's written somewhere on the "TWC Classics" homepage, but I believe it was around 1987 or 1988 when the earliest version of "Travel Cities Forecast" appeared on the national feed "underneath" the WeatherStar.  Back then, it was just a black screen with white text that literally appeared line by line and scrolled up - nothing physically attractive at all, even by WeatherStar III standards.  (And it didn't look like it was Star technology that was producing this.)  It quickly mellowed out into the WeatherStar 4000-style text version, before converting to the graphics version at the same time the local WeatherStar 4000 text "Travel Cities Forecast" became the graphic "Travel Forecast for..." page.

Off the top of my head, I'm trying to think when this was replaced with specially-produced maps that were broadcast on the national feed.  1995 at the absolute latest, I believe.

Oh, and how about "Tri-State Weather" and "Prime Time Tonight"?  I always found myself hoping for a Star failure at :27 and :57 past the hour.  And, yes, sometimes it happened!   Amazing to think that TWC could devote THREE minutes to a local forecast back then!!

At the earliest for the satellite version of the looping "Travel Cities Forecast" WeatherSTAR 4000, I beleve it came out some time between August-September 1990 (likely around the same time when the local cable version of the 4000 started displaying the "Travel Cities Forecast" banner on top of the screen around mid-August 1990). I think TWC would continue using the satellite 4000 up until either 1998 or 1999.
 
As for the early days of the LFs, maybe it was just a plain black screen with only audio playing durring the LFs if there was either no WeatherSTAR I/II hooked up or if it fails to cue its LF.

[Eric]

At the earliest for the satellite version of the looping "Travel Cities Forecast" WeatherSTAR 4000, I beleve it came out some time between August-September 1990 (likely around the same time when the local cable version of the 4000 started displaying the "Travel Cities Forecast" banner on top of the screen around mid-August 1990). I think TWC would continue using the satellite 4000 up until either 1998 or 1999.
 
As for the early days of the LFs, maybe it was just a plain black screen with only audio playing durring the LFs if there was either no WeatherSTAR I/II hooked up or if it fails to cue its LF.

I could have sworn the "Travel Cities Forecast" started earlier.  In fact, I'm sure of it.  Maybe the WeatherStar 4000-style "TCF" started in 1990, but a different format certainly existed before - I've actually seen it.  At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but after a while I figured out that the "regular" local forecast wasn't working, so I'm seeing this instead.

As for ending the "TCF" in 1998 or 1999, that's definitely too late.  Again, I know this from personal experience.  During summer vacation I visited my grandparents, I specifically remember seeing a map-based national broadcast instead of a WeatherStar while in one of their guest rooms.  The last time I stayed in that particular guest room was either 1996 or 1997 at the absolute latest.

And I've already said that, before the animated local forecast backgrounds and before the "Travel Cities Forecast," viewers with a malfunctioning WeatherStar or no WeatherStar at all saw only a black screen and heard the local forecast music with narration, since that was broadcast along with the music nationally.

[Mike]

The TCF scroll (with the large block letters and grayish background) started showing up in my area on the wxStar 3000 as early as 1989 and continued with the upgrade to the 4000 in 1990. I think it was discontinued sometime in 1995.

[Jonathon]

It was 2003 when I started watching. Back when we had the XL.

[Eric]

I do sometimes wonder how people interpret TWC and the changes that take place on a short-term scale without having the bigger picture.  For example, I can still see similarities between the IntelliStar and the WeatherStar III, some of which actually seem a little out of date now.  For example, the "Current Conditions" screen, in my opinion, is a little superfluous now, since the same information can be presented on the LDL and on local maps.  However, in the days of the WeatherStar III, there were no maps, and the line-by-line "Latest Hourly Observations" and "Regional Conditions" were the best that could be done otherwise.  But, 25 years later, the legacy continues...