Fox Weather scholarship entices meteorology students to TV industry – TheDesk.net
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On a late November evening in 2022, meteorology student Haley Meier was on a conference call with Fox Weather President Sharri Berg and a member of the channel’s human resources department when she heard a loud noise in the background.
A student at Mississippi State University (MSU), Meier had an intense passion for all things weather, and going to school in the South meant running up against all types of climate science — from humid summers to severe thunderstorms.
But the sound she heard that night was different — a thunderous roar, followed by an alert that warned of a possible tornado in the area. Had it been any other call, it would have ended right there, but Berg saw it as an opportunity to give Meier some real-world experience.
“Haley said, ‘Oh we just heard loud thunder — I think we have a tornado,’” Berg recalled during a phone interview with The Desk last week. “And I said, ‘Oh okay. Wait a minute, we’re going to put you on the air. We’re going to transfer you, we’re going to put you on the air.’ That’s just how we roll.”
It was not Meier’s first time on air — she had worked in a part-time role at WTVA (Channel 9), the dual ABC-NBC affiliate serving the Tupelo market, for about a year, and had freelance roles at other local TV stations throughout her college career. But it was one of the first times that Meier had delivered a weather report before a national audience, thanks to Fox Weather’s massive reach on free, ad-supported streaming TV platforms like YouTube TV and The Roku Channel.
Meier and Fox were not new to each other: Earlier in the year, shortly after Fox Weather launched, Berg and other executives approached MSU’s broadcast meteorology program with an interest in working with some of their students.
“One day, Fox Weather set up a Zoom call with us — (meteorologist) Janice Dean was on the call, some of Fox’s newer meteorologists were there, and Sharri was also there, speaking about how great Fox Weather was going to be and the ethos behind the channel,” Meier recalled in an interview.
She continued: “They shared that there was a scholarship opportunity — I was in the car when they were having this meeting, and I pulled over to the side of the road, listening to the call, and I thought, I have to join this.”
“I texted my mom and a couple of friends, and I was like, I’m applying to this, this is happening, I can’t forget about it,” Meier said. “So with me, scatterbrained at times, I wrote it down, stuck it on my mirror — I made sure I always looked at it. And, when the time came to apply, I applied.”
Her tenacity paid off. In April, Fox Weather announced Meier was the first recipient of its scholarship. As part of the program, the channel committed to a paid internship at its studios in New York City — in the same Sixth Avenue building as the Fox News Channel and other parts of Fox’s business — an opportunity that also came with a stipend, financial aid and a direct mentorship with a Fox Weather meteorologist.
Meier couldn’t take advantage of the in-person internship right away — she had already committed to a part-time role at WTVA. But Fox Weather was flexible with Meier, allowing her to continue working and attending school until she was ready to come out to New York. Six months after being awarded the scholarship, she was on the air, delivering reports about the tornado and its subsequent damage for Fox Weather.
“It was the hands-on experience that was truly incredible,” she remarked.
The scholarship is now in its third year, and has been awarded to four broadcast meteorology students, including some that Meier knows personally. The scholarship is now in its third year, and has been awarded to four broadcast meteorology students, including some that Meier knows personally.
When the students arrive in New York City, they are instantly paired with a Fox Weather meteorologist, who serves as a direct mentor during their internship. One recent recipient, Sadie Morris, was connected with Jane Minar, who said mentoring Morris was her way of recognizing the various ways mentors had prepared her for the job.
“When I was asked to be Sadie’s mentor, I couldn’t have been more excited to give back in the same way,” Minar told Fox Weather earlier this year. “We connected almost immediately on our love for weather and zest for life.”
Meier, who now works full-time as a Fox Weather meteorologist, also serves as an advocate for the program that jump-started her career out of college. In our interview, she credited Berg with not only encouraging students to take advantage of behind-the-scenes internships, but finding ways to make those programs practical and possible.
“Internships are so key,” Meier said. “Getting experience is paramount when you’re applying for jobs, any kind of job experience is incredible. The job market is really hard when you first graduate, sifting through different roles and finding out what you qualify for. Having the backing of a company like Fox Weather and Fox News Media can help your application go a long way.”
The program is equally beneficial for the industry: Over the past few years, the number of qualified broadcast meteorologists available to local television stations and national networks has dwindled as more younger Americans pursue reporting and production roles — jobs that are important, but which also have a lower barrier to entry.
Meteorology, on the other hand, is a scientific study that requires a significant amount of education. Broadcast meteorology also incorporates various levels of professional, media acumen — which makes it a specialized skill compared with other roles.
While meteorologists can be expensive to employ, the topic they cover — the weather — is also the biggest reason why people still watch the news. A recent Pew Research study found nine out of 10 American news consumers watch the news often or occasionally to get weather updates, compared with around seven out of 10 news consumers who said the same for traffic and crime stories.
Gary Brown, the owner of the popular industry insider publication NewsBlues, said there isn’t a shortage of job openings for people interested in the field of meteorology — two years ago, his job boards had more than 30 open TV forecaster positions, and the number kept going up.
One of the biggest reasons why jobs went unfilled: A lack of qualified applicants.
“We aren’t seeing the same amount of people graduating from schools with a desire to do weather or with a meteorology degree,” Brown wrote in a 2023 blog post. “What’s the takeaway here? … If you want to move up fast in the TV industry, learn weather!”
Meier said the scholarship program at Fox Weather enables prospective broadcast meteorologists to do just that, while they are still exploring different paths in the industry. The program, she said, is rooted in an overall ethos at the channel to lean into different ways to super-serve viewers and the business alike.
“Innovation has been a huge part of Fox Weather since it was born, and still is to this day,” Meier said. “I think that’s what gives us our edge and keeps us ahead of the game.”
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