Full of hot air
Page 2

 ...also serves as a perch for his sunglasses. Despite his comeliness, people dread the arrival of the hurricane hottie in their town. For Frances, he hunkered down in Palm Bay in southern Brevard County, Fla. He missed the hurricane by a few miles -- Frances actually made landfall near Ft. Pierce. Saturday, he returned to Punta Gorda, a town flattened by Hurricane Charley and a potential victim of Ivan, which loomed in the Caribbean over the weekend.

During Frances, viewers emailed CNN to object to reporters giving live updates as errant 2x4’s practically soared behind them. Anchor Miles O’Brien responded from the air-conditioned comfort of the Atlanta studio by saying that no reporter was required to report from the eye of the hurricane. Nevertheless, high-profile talking heads such as Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Bill Hemmer and Chad Myers donned flimsy windbreakers and took their spots in front of the shaking camera in Melbourne. One reporter noted that Dan Rather cut his teeth reporting on a Texas hurricane.

While the cable news channels can occasionally switch to other breaking stories, the people at the Weather Channel live for hurricanes. An Ivan promo noted how well its field reporters told the news from the middle of Charley and Frances. For Frances, they sent a reporter on a WC-130 chaser plane, where she filed her unintelligible report by telephone above the hurricane. The channel promised the same eyewall-to-eyewall coverage with Ivan. But for all of the Weather Channel’s expertise, they still act like the little kid on the block who wants to tag along with the big kids. During Frances, one of their reporters was doing a live shot on the beach when he was tackled by the formerly zaftig NBC weather guy, Al Roker. The pair clutched one another as they struggled to stay upright in the bracing wind. After somewhat homoerotic comments about man-hugs, the Weather Channel’s reporter ended his segment by suggesting that he and ol’ Al lay down in the sand together. The Weather Channel kept replaying the clip all day long, happy to be associated with a big-shot weather man, despite the odd conditions.