NBC Boston will be making a run at ratings leader WCVB Ch. 5 starting on New Year’s Eve, and it is betting big on its weather coverage, which will feature the StormRanger, an armored car-like vehicle with mobile radar that will be deployed at the first sign of a major storm.
NBC Boston will debut in the Hub on Ch. 10 on most providers with six hours of live New Year’s Eve coverage.
Its weather coverage will feature what station bigs boast is the largest team of meteorologists in the market, including ex-WHDH mainstay Pete Bouchard and former NECN weatherman Matt Noyes.
Then there’s the StormRanger, which NBC Boston will share with its sister stations in Hartford and New York.
“When you put all those things together — people, technology — everybody does weather,” says NBC Boston GM Mike St. Peter. “Everybody does a good job. But we want to be the best in class.”
The StormRanger is a Dodge Ram 550 truck with a mobile doppler weather radar on top. Inside is a camera that can show the meteorologist in the vehicle the conditions outside.
The front dashboard houses all controls for the vehicle, including the LED lighting and communications devices.
The rear seat is an operating station, where the meteorologist can assume full control of the radar, adjusting the tilt angle and radar beam pulse, and link that live data back to the studio for broadcast on-air.
In addition to the StormRanger, NBC Boston will use a storm-chasing vehicle called the Weather Warrior, which it will send out to areas hit hardest by severe storms. Both vehicles can feed live video and reports from multiple cameras while moving through rough weather.
The station will also offer a 10-day weather model as opposed to the standard seven-day forecast.
WCVB bigs say they welcome the challenge. They boast that they use a live radar and feature the only anchor in Boston, J.C. Monahan, who used to be a meteorologist.
News director Andrew Vrees says he has an all-star cast.
“I’ve got five meteorologists with 140 years of combined experience,” he said. “Harvey Leonard is the dean of meteorologists in Boston. He called the Blizzard of ’78. He’s gotten most of the storms right ever since.”
It’s no secret that local newscasts are struggling to maintain a foothold in today’s hyper-paced media environment. According to Pew Research, local TV news lost audience in every major time slot last year.
But St. Peter says focusing on weather is the best way to buck the trend.
“We’re putting emphasis on weather,” he says. “Research shows that weather is still one of the No. 1 reasons people tune to local news — even in today’s day and age with technology available. People like the context and detail you can get on local television compared to just seeing an icon on your smartphone.”
Since NBC Boston is launching at the start of winter, its first crack at covering a major New England snowstorm likely won’t be far away.
Its strategy of doubling down on weather will soon be put to the test.
