Weather Channel

by Frank Batten and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank

Book Overview

In 1982, Frank Batten flipped a switch and began what he called "a weather forecast that will never end." There's probably no better emblem of niche media than the Weather Channel and its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578515599
• ISBN13: 9781578515592
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Great Management and Personal Lesson

I know the senior author and the Landmark newspaper in Norfolk well. At least I thought I did. This book was an eye-opener about Frank Batten, Landmark,and The Weather Channel. Although the story is clearly facinating from a business and weather junkie perspective, its main lesson is how Landmark deals with its own people. Giving key employees responsibility and trusting their decisions is backed with a piece of the financial action. This message eclipses all of the financial, media, and marketing information about the amazing development of The Weather Channel. The book is a refreshing story of business success based on individual player's skills and the stellar reputation of a relatively small privately held communication company.

An Invaluable Component of "The Age of Information"

Although I agree with others that tighter editing would have eliminated repetitions and the photos provided should have offered a better visual presentation of the channel's development and (especially) its operations, I still rate this book as highly as I do for several reasons. First, Batten (with Jeffrey L. Cruikshank) provides a compelling analysis of the challenges and problems he and his associates had to overcome to achieve the improbable business success of "a media phenomenon." Also, after having read this book, I had a much better understanding and appreciation of the value of what the Weather Channel now offers in this so-called "Age of Information." What if advanced warnings about severely inclement weather had been easily accessible in years past? How many lives would have been spared from natural disasters such as the hurricane which devastated Galveston Island in 1900? For many people I personally know (including my wife), the Weather Channel is "must viewing" at the beginning and end of of each day. For them and countless others, it is the modern day equivalent of a crystal ball. For business travelers, which clothing to pack? For parents, what should the children wear to school? For those about to be involved in an outdoor activity (e.g. a Little League game, family picnic, or round of golf), "what's it going to be like?" Of course, born and raised in Chicago, I know how unpredictable the weather can often be. Years later, while living in Boston, I recall an elderly woman who called the meteorologist at a local television station to complain that "I now have four inches of `partly cloudy' in my basement!" In this book, Batten brilliantly achieves two major objectives: To tell a unique "business success story," and in process, thereby to explain why the Weather Channel has become so important to so many people.

An outstanding business book

I've been a friend and admirer of the author for almost thirty years. But I can be objective enough to say that you won't read a better business book this year than The Weather Channel. It tells an amazing story: how a very small company, centered around the newspapers in Norfolk, Va., and Greensboro, N.C., took a gigantic risk. Competing with the largest communications companies, Landmark Communications started one of the first national cable channels. And almost failed (you can't come closer to failing than this one). And, in the end, succeeded gloriously.Though the impossibly modest author almost paints himself off the stage altogether, you will also meet one of the most decent and admirable executives in American business, Frank Batten. Because Mr. Batten's company is private, almost no one knows of this remarkable man. Although he's reticent about himself (a life-threatening and life-altering cancer that occurred at the time of the Weather Channel launch is dismissed in a paragraph),you'll understand how lucky the citizens of Norfolk and Greensboro have been to have him in charge of their newspapers the last 40 years.This is a book about business, not weather. But if business interests you at all, it's a hell of a book.

Raindate: My life before The Weather Channel

I'd like to predict the future, but I am psychically challenged, so the next best thing is The Weather Channel. I'm a single mother with three children, I work at two (other) jobs and until recently, I was a graduate student. That is enough chaos for anyone. One of my money-saving schemes was to not subscribe to cable tv, although I had enjoyed it in the past. It made things much easier at home-work time. But when two of the kids left for college, I splurged and had cable installed. What grabbed my attention the most? The great recent movies on the premium channel, the Soprano's, the endless round of sports? History Channel, Discovery Channel, cooking shows or home remodeling how-tos. No, it was The Weather Channel. It became my guide. What to wear to work, what to bring to that football game. When to take a short car trip. I especially learned when NOT to take a vacation in those hurricane plagued Outer Banks. The Weather Channel simplifies my life. It is the first thing I watch in the morning, the last thing at night. I sneak peaks in-between and check the website. I feel closer to my sons when I know how much it's snowing in Ithaca, or raining in Philadelphia. And the kids love it. My surfer doesn't have to check the ocean, he can tell by watching "TWC". He tells me "The high tide is at 6:30 and there is a south-wind so there should be waves." Inspiring! Frank Batten and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank explain the why and how of starting a cable network that seemed to have only niche appeal. Intelligent programming and savvy public relations have turned it into a "must have" for the 21st century. Buy this book and admit you are a weather junkie!

A great read--recommended!

I'd recommend this book to anyone who regularly tunes into The Weather Channel for their weather forecasts. It's a fun read and great look at how this cable channel began and how it was run back in the early years of cable TV. It's a story that few people know about. The founder of TWC takes readers through all of the early struggles he had in the beginning and shows how the small start-up cable network became a media giant with millions of followers that have become die-hard fans. This is far from a CEO-memoir--it's truly an amazing story. Take this book to the beach with you this summmer!