Phoning In It...
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KOSA (Odessa, Texas) Chief Meteorologist Tom Tefertiller fell in the studio and broke his kneecap at the Gray station.
“I slipped on some cables and I usually catch myself, but I didn’t this time and I landed square on my kneecap on the left side and busted it in three places,” he said. “The fall occurred on a Thursday after our 10 o’clock show.”
The doctors told him he could not head back to the station until September, but that is not keeping him off the air.
Using Skype and a set up in his living room, Tefertiller is forecasting the weather for the viewers.
“He’s a huge, integral part of what we do every day,” CBS 7 News Director Scott Pickey said. “We didn’t want him to be off the air for six weeks and we asked if he’d be up to Skype from home like we do on Facebook live on the camera in the weather office.”
Tefertiller utilizes two laptops to work remotely, one for Skype and one for accessing the station’s computers and forecast information. An iPad is also in the mix to help Tefertiller reference additional weather data.
“It’s like I’m here in the studio but I’m not,” Tefertiller said. “I can actually make graphics or switch weather graphics from here at home.”
“I’ve gotten direct emails from viewers saying they’re glad I’m back on air and they had missed me doing the weather,” he said.
Pickey said technology has given Tefertiller a way to be included in the newscast in a way that was not possible even a decade ago.
“I leave it up to him day-to-day,” Pickey said. “If he has physical therapy one day and doesn’t feel like it, we’ve got him covered back here at the station. This is his passion and I think he loves just being able to be a part of the newscast from home while he’s out.”
H/T KOSA
