Windbag
by Scott Hardie on July 3, 2007
I don't know what Polaroids he has of whom, but somehow Tom Skilling has elevated himself to some kind of all-important weather-broadcasting god. When I grew up in Chicago, I watched him gradually get a bigger and bigger budget for his animated graphics, and gradually get a larger and larger timeframe to deliver his dull reports. By the time I left town, he had a whole 20 minutes of the hour-long midday newscast for the fucking weather, and boy did he find trivia to fill it: Average dew points across Cook County on this day in 1854, theta-e temperature predictions for every Cubs home game next season, you name it. Minutes would drag on while he blathered about a topic that is the very definition of "small talk," apparenty self-convinced of his critical importance to Chicagoans.
That said, imagine my reaction today while scanning the concise, no-nonsense, three-paragraph bios of the rest of the WGN news staff when I came upon Skilling's bio. Can you imagine being trapped in an elevator with this asshole?
Six Replies to Windbag
Aaron Shurtleff | July 3, 2007
I don't know nothin' about nothin' when it comes to this man, but I would not parade around that I had worked on a "special" which was called "Ten Inches of Partly Sunny".
That's not right!
But seriously, yeah, that's horrible!
Anna Gregoline | July 3, 2007
I couldn't even get through half of it without wanting to puke. Yeah. I turn to him to figure out the mysteries of freaking nature. What a blow-hard.
Scott Hardie | July 3, 2007
Hehe, well put.
Lori, forgive my hazy memory on this, but didn't you once meet Skilling and like him? I remember a female friend telling me about it, but that was many years ago and the details escape me now.
Anyway, to Lori or anyone else, sorry if I've caused offense. The guy gets on my nerves but I know he has a fan base across Chicagoland.
Anna Gregoline | July 4, 2007
My favorite news name? Dane Placko! That's a real name!!!!
I don't watch the news though, if I can possibly help it - I like to read the news.
Amy Austin | July 5, 2007
Ditto on what Aaron said, but *skimming* the bio gave me a chuckle on the phrase "weatherman's weatherman" -- ha!
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
2012
What a great year. Kelly and I got engaged. Kelly gained permanent employment and health benefits. Go »Powerless
Going without electricity in Florida can be a miserable affair. You sweat non-stop. You sleep fitfully at best, waking up in pools of your own body fluid. Go »Moved In
We are moved in and settled, or as settled as we can be with little money and way too much stuff for a two-bedroom apartment. The final move will come in April when we transfer to a house. We have our eye on a house in Ruskin, 30 minutes from here – four bedrooms, two-car garage, cable included, never lived in, all for $50 less a month than I pay now. Go »Back in Black
Is it already the end of December? It feels like it's been three days since Thanksgiving. Between late nights at work, holiday parties, and shopping for the big day, this month has been a blur. Go »The Revised Revised Revised Story
Last spring, This Modern World ran a great parody charting the decline of civil liberties in recent years, after the then-shocking revelation that the government was building a database of every call made in the country: (link) I was reminded of that over the weekend as the latest shocking revelation came out, that the FBI has vastly abused its new ability to request confidential information in the interest of national security (link), almost as if it was the next panel in the strip. Except I'm not laughing. Oh, what I'd have given to be the reporter at Alberto Gonzales's press conference this morning. Go »
Scott Hardie | July 3, 2007
Footnote: Way to go, Robin Baumgarten. I got ready for school every morning listening to her brief traffic reports and thinking that this woman was way too charismatic and savvy to keep cooped up in a helicopter. Sure enough, today she anchors the entire morning broadcast.
And Paul Konrad is a very funny man.