May 17, 2024 • 8 mins
The iconic Central Ohio personality looks back at his career and how he forecasted the weather. It's a great way he did it, and he will always be one of the greats!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
At seven forty one and we'll switchgears and pivot. Also on the Legacy
Retirement Group dot com phone line,ABC six meteorologist, My buddy, your
pal Jim Gonnall, Jimmy, goodmorning, Thanks for getting up early.
Ike. How are you this morning? I'm doing well. Jim? What
the heck? You didn't give mea heads up. You all of a
sudden decided you're going to retire,and you made the announcement on Wednesday.
(00:22):
Congratulations. Well, thank you verymuch. One of the pinnacles for me
actually was getting on six ten WTVNradio to do the weather after Johnny Hill
does traffic. So thank you forthat opportunity. Well, I don't know
if you know you follow Johnny Hillor Johnny Hill should follow you. I
mean, Johnny's been doing it fora while, but you've been doing it
(00:43):
for almost sixty years. Jim doingdoing When? How did you first get
interested in weather? I was twelveand I was hating that the guys on
TV you were missing the snow forecastdays and I still had to go to
school. I wanted to be offduel, and when I was twelve,
I started studying the weather every day. That was my main focus. And
(01:08):
when I was seventeen, I walkedinto a TV station in Iowa and so
that I can do this job betterthan the guy that can do it,
which was kind of rare for mebecause I was a quiet kid and they
decided to give me a chance atage seventeen. What was your first job?
What was the TV station KWWL inWaterloo, Iowa? And when were
(01:30):
you on? What were eighteen sixtysix to nineteen seventy eight in the night
shows? So I had night showsall my career except for the wonderful Edgy
Noon Show with Terry Sullivan. Andthat's where that's where you are now speaking
with Jim Gonnall, ABC six meteorologistand hanging up, hanging up the I
(01:52):
guess the green screen gym. When'syour last day? I'm done? Now
you're done, You're out, You'reyep, talk about a mic drop,
Just kick the door. My dadtold me never to brag on myself,
so I don't like to talk aboutmyself, So I just kind of oozed
on out of there, I guess. But I certainly love being in Central
(02:15):
Ohio all these decades. Everywhere Igo, it's like family. People will
apologize when they come up to me, but I love it. I love
to hear their stories. I lovehow everybody is so friendly to me all
the time. It's like a hugefamily around here. And ABC six is
giving me seven of the best yearsof my career. Mister D'Angelo and Jamie
(02:42):
Justice took a chance on me becauseI was kind of old. I retired
after fifty years, right, andthese last seven years with them has been
the best of my broadcasting career.We've absolutely enjoyed talking to you. I
know you spend time on The BlazerShow with Mark and Josh and love to
hear you when you are in onthat show. And you know, Jim,
one of the things that I thinkpeople love about you and there's people
(03:06):
you are beloved in this community thatmake no I know you don't like to
talk about yourself and it compliments aresometimes hard, but people love you,
Jim. And I think one ofthe reasons why is you know meteorology today
there are so many tools, there'sso much science involved now, and I
think you are really good at usingmother Nature to predict mother nature and the
(03:28):
weather. I mean, when Ifirst heard how the peeper frogs can predict
the weather. I was hooked,Jim, And tell us about the paper
frogs for a second. What what'syour next cicada is? That's right here,
cicadas. It's ninety days to frost. Okay, and mark that on
your calendar. That'll be coming upprobably in five weeks or so. And
(03:52):
then next it's crickets. If youcount the number of chirps that a cricket
makes in fourteen seconds and add forty, that's the temperature fahrenheit. Is that
the folklore always has been a staplefor me, And you're the best in
the business at it, so thatthat cricket temperature method is accurate, absolutely
(04:16):
perfectly. Count the number of tripsin fourteen seconds and add forty, and
that's the temperature fahrenheit. And what'sthe what's the folklore with the woolyworms?
Oh my gosh. The color ofthe woolyworms is basically an age of the
worms. But in general, theblack areas reflect the cold and the brown
areas reflect the mild. So iftheir ends are black, the beginning and
(04:41):
the end of winter will be cold. See you, I love all this
stuff well, and you just can'tget this anywhere else. That's That's that's
the thing, Jim is no oneelse is doing that. They're all they're
looking at their you know, triplelayer double doppler radars, which is great
and accurate. But this is thestuff that I think people can really attach
themselves to. Jim Gannall, nowretired from ABC six First Warning Weather.
(05:06):
So, Jim, you're not stillmaking snow in the backyard, are you?
No, that's because of my loveof snow. I bought a snowmaking
machine like the ski Resorts hat,and I had snow up to the second
floor windows of my house. Schoolbuses would stop, and then for over
(05:27):
fifty years, I had an icedrink in my backyard. Even the Columbus
Chill came over and played on myice drink with me, and so against
wnci's Morning Crew. And so Ijust love the ice and I love the
snow. And I could tell whenkids were out of school because I'd be
getting up, I'd be hearing allthe neighbor kids out on the ice playing
(05:50):
hockey. As a father of ahockey player, and he has been begging
me for an outdoor rink for years, I just don't have the space to
do it. But uh, thatis very cool. That is that is
it's one of the easiest things todo. It is just set up a
frame, put it like a plasticand fill it with water. Then let
mother nature to or thing. AbsolutelyI know. So Jim, what's next
(06:13):
you got You're gonna spend some timewith the grandkids. Then one daughter has
seven grandkids. My best friend hastwo godkids, Elia and Eli, who
are on their way to school thismorning and listening to the show, and
so yes, I have plenty ofkids to take my attention all the time.
(06:34):
Will I see you at the poolthis summer? Yes, you will.
We've got our memberships and Elliet iscounting down the days. I think
we're down to fourteen or something beforethe pool opens. Well, I look
forward to seeing it there. Myson's a lifeguard there now, so it'll
be it'll be great to catch upwith you. Jim, talk to me.
I will. I will. Itis too So anything else you want
(06:56):
to know about the weather? Uh, well, yeah, it's got a
great year. We've had a solareclipse, the northern life were so spectacular
and the next thing there's gonna bea nova explosion in the vicinity of Saturday.
That's gonna look like that's gonna happenin the next few weeks. It's
different than it's supernova, which isjust a bright explosion. This will be
(07:18):
flashes from a binary star that heatsup, but we'll be able to see
it with an acred eye. Andthat's in a couple of weeks. You
say, yep, you know wehave to. I don't know if you
how retired are you going to be? Jim? Can we give you a
call from time to time and talkabout things like that. I would love
to be on the air every daywith you if you wanted me to.
(07:41):
And Syx. I hope coming backin on major weather events or if there's
a need if people are on vacation. But actually, I don't feel like
I could be retired because I'm stillmentally with it. I still love it
every day. It's the only thingI think of and so, but I
(08:05):
just felt it's almost seventy six Ineeded to do this.
At seven forty one and we'll switchgears and pivot. Also on the Legacy
Retirement Group dot com phone line,ABC six meteorologist, My buddy, your
pal Jim Gonnall, Jimmy, goodmorning, Thanks for getting up early.
Ike. How are you this morning? I'm doing well. Jim? What
the heck? You didn't give mea heads up. You all of a
sudden decided you're going to retire,and you made the announcement on Wednesday.
(00:22):
Congratulations. Well, thank you verymuch. One of the pinnacles for me
actually was getting on six ten WTVNradio to do the weather after Johnny Hill
does traffic. So thank you forthat opportunity. Well, I don't know
if you know you follow Johnny Hillor Johnny Hill should follow you. I
mean, Johnny's been doing it fora while, but you've been doing it
(00:43):
for almost sixty years. Jim doingdoing When? How did you first get
interested in weather? I was twelveand I was hating that the guys on
TV you were missing the snow forecastdays and I still had to go to
school. I wanted to be offduel, and when I was twelve,
I started studying the weather every day. That was my main focus. And
(01:08):
when I was seventeen, I walkedinto a TV station in Iowa and so
that I can do this job betterthan the guy that can do it,
which was kind of rare for mebecause I was a quiet kid and they
decided to give me a chance atage seventeen. What was your first job?
What was the TV station KWWL inWaterloo, Iowa? And when were
(01:30):
you on? What were eighteen sixtysix to nineteen seventy eight in the night
shows? So I had night showsall my career except for the wonderful Edgy
Noon Show with Terry Sullivan. Andthat's where that's where you are now speaking
with Jim Gonnall, ABC six meteorologistand hanging up, hanging up the I
(01:52):
guess the green screen gym. When'syour last day? I'm done? Now
you're done, You're out, You'reyep, talk about a mic drop,
Just kick the door. My dadtold me never to brag on myself,
so I don't like to talk aboutmyself, So I just kind of oozed
on out of there, I guess. But I certainly love being in Central
(02:15):
Ohio all these decades. Everywhere Igo, it's like family. People will
apologize when they come up to me, but I love it. I love
to hear their stories. I lovehow everybody is so friendly to me all
the time. It's like a hugefamily around here. And ABC six is
giving me seven of the best yearsof my career. Mister D'Angelo and Jamie
(02:42):
Justice took a chance on me becauseI was kind of old. I retired
after fifty years, right, andthese last seven years with them has been
the best of my broadcasting career.We've absolutely enjoyed talking to you. I
know you spend time on The BlazerShow with Mark and Josh and love to
hear you when you are in onthat show. And you know, Jim,
one of the things that I thinkpeople love about you and there's people
(03:06):
you are beloved in this community thatmake no I know you don't like to
talk about yourself and it compliments aresometimes hard, but people love you,
Jim. And I think one ofthe reasons why is you know meteorology today
there are so many tools, there'sso much science involved now, and I
think you are really good at usingmother Nature to predict mother nature and the
(03:28):
weather. I mean, when Ifirst heard how the peeper frogs can predict
the weather. I was hooked,Jim, And tell us about the paper
frogs for a second. What what'syour next cicada is? That's right here,
cicadas. It's ninety days to frost. Okay, and mark that on
your calendar. That'll be coming upprobably in five weeks or so. And
(03:52):
then next it's crickets. If youcount the number of chirps that a cricket
makes in fourteen seconds and add forty, that's the temperature fahrenheit. Is that
the folklore always has been a staplefor me, And you're the best in
the business at it, so thatthat cricket temperature method is accurate, absolutely
(04:16):
perfectly. Count the number of tripsin fourteen seconds and add forty, and
that's the temperature fahrenheit. And what'sthe what's the folklore with the woolyworms?
Oh my gosh. The color ofthe woolyworms is basically an age of the
worms. But in general, theblack areas reflect the cold and the brown
areas reflect the mild. So iftheir ends are black, the beginning and
(04:41):
the end of winter will be cold. See you, I love all this
stuff well, and you just can'tget this anywhere else. That's That's that's
the thing, Jim is no oneelse is doing that. They're all they're
looking at their you know, triplelayer double doppler radars, which is great
and accurate. But this is thestuff that I think people can really attach
themselves to. Jim Gannall, nowretired from ABC six First Warning Weather.
(05:06):
So, Jim, you're not stillmaking snow in the backyard, are you?
No, that's because of my loveof snow. I bought a snowmaking
machine like the ski Resorts hat,and I had snow up to the second
floor windows of my house. Schoolbuses would stop, and then for over
(05:27):
fifty years, I had an icedrink in my backyard. Even the Columbus
Chill came over and played on myice drink with me, and so against
wnci's Morning Crew. And so Ijust love the ice and I love the
snow. And I could tell whenkids were out of school because I'd be
getting up, I'd be hearing allthe neighbor kids out on the ice playing
(05:50):
hockey. As a father of ahockey player, and he has been begging
me for an outdoor rink for years, I just don't have the space to
do it. But uh, thatis very cool. That is that is
it's one of the easiest things todo. It is just set up a
frame, put it like a plasticand fill it with water. Then let
mother nature to or thing. AbsolutelyI know. So Jim, what's next
(06:13):
you got You're gonna spend some timewith the grandkids. Then one daughter has
seven grandkids. My best friend hastwo godkids, Elia and Eli, who
are on their way to school thismorning and listening to the show, and
so yes, I have plenty ofkids to take my attention all the time.
(06:34):
Will I see you at the poolthis summer? Yes, you will.
We've got our memberships and Elliet iscounting down the days. I think
we're down to fourteen or something beforethe pool opens. Well, I look
forward to seeing it there. Myson's a lifeguard there now, so it'll
be it'll be great to catch upwith you. Jim, talk to me.
I will. I will. Itis too So anything else you want
(06:56):
to know about the weather? Uh, well, yeah, it's got a
great year. We've had a solareclipse, the northern life were so spectacular
and the next thing there's gonna bea nova explosion in the vicinity of Saturday.
That's gonna look like that's gonna happenin the next few weeks. It's
different than it's supernova, which isjust a bright explosion. This will be
(07:18):
flashes from a binary star that heatsup, but we'll be able to see
it with an acred eye. Andthat's in a couple of weeks. You
say, yep, you know wehave to. I don't know if you
how retired are you going to be? Jim? Can we give you a
call from time to time and talkabout things like that. I would love
to be on the air every daywith you if you wanted me to.
(07:41):
And Syx. I hope coming backin on major weather events or if there's
a need if people are on vacation. But actually, I don't feel like
I could be retired because I'm stillmentally with it. I still love it
every day. It's the only thingI think of and so, but I
(08:05):
just felt it's almost seventy six Ineeded to do this.
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