Wow…9/29 is here and so is High Definition!!  We are so proud of our company and engineering team to make LIVE 5 NEWS the FIRST high definition news product in the Lowcountry.

This is a step forward into the future of television.  First there was black & white, then color, now high definition. 

Our company spent millions, literally, to make us the first to cross this threshold.  Our weather is now clearer, bigger and the best looking technology available.  We are committed to bringing you the best storm coverage in the Southeast and now in H.D.!

We hope you join us for the broadcasts tonight.  I will be in the new HD control room at 7 and 11!  That should be fun.  We even have new make-up to wear.  They had to teach us to use a “make up gun!”  I was afraid I would shoot make-up all over the dressing room.  Thankfully, I only shot it on the mirror and some on myself! 

Remember, DTV is different from HD.  DTV is “digital television” and refers to the actual signal that carries our station.  HD is the “quality” of the picture and much more fine and crisp with real life colors and looks.

We’ll see you tonight, in HIGH DEFINITION!

Bill

Seems like Fall was right on schedule this year!  We’ve been much cooler than normal.  Our normal high is 84 and we’ve been in the 60’s with clouds and windy conditions. 

Look for this coastal storm to move inland tonight.  The storm is not tropical as such because it’s more of a “cold core” storm similar to a “noreaster.”  A tropical system is warm core and the convection and energy rotates around the center or core of the storm.  In this case, the energy fans out and is not central to the core. 

Bottom line is that it’s still a big mess for the beaches and the rivers with beach erostion, higher tides and gusty winds.  Should be weakening into the end of the week and better weather is on the way for the weekend!

 Busy visiting schools and meetings.  The schools are much more fun than the meetings! lol

Looking forward to some high school football on Friday night and the college games into the weekend which should be good as far as weather.  Might have to jump in the boat for a bit this weekend as well.

Time to get ready for the broadcast which we hope you join us for tonight during the evening shows and back here again before you go to bed at 11!  LIVE 5 NEWS in HIGH DEFINITION is just days away starting on Monday!!

Best…

Bill

A coastal storm developing east of Wilmington, North Carolina will keep things on the windy side for the next 24 to 48 hours as it drifts west.  This is not tropical as of yet, but may become a tropical or subtropical system as it drifts westward. 

We’ll see windy conditions, beach erosion, high tides and strong rip currents.  Thursday will bring a better chance of showers, especially along the north coastal counties.  Highs will be in the lower to mid 70’s.

We will keep you advised on this storm here and on the air during our broadcasts tonight.

Busy couple of days with Air Force duty and Channel 5 weathercasts.  The Charleston Air Force Base honored our POW/MIA’s over the last few days and was a great tribute to those who served and suffered for our country and freedoms.  I was honored to meet some of these great people and wish them well.  It’s important that we take care of our veterans and our local VA does a fantastic job at that.

Getting ready to go “HD” on Monday!!  That means if you have a high definition television, you will see a great difference in the picture quality of our newscasts.  We will be the FIRST station to go “HD” in the Charleston market.  It really is an amazing difference when you look at HD.  We even had to have special make-up lessons and they gave us these little spray guns to spray the stuff on your face.  They’re small, little devices that use a power box and spray a “make-up mist” all over the face.  In Bill Sharpe’s case, we had to get him a Wagner Power Sprayer!! 

Should be fun on Monday with the new look, logo and HD.  Hope you tune in for that and, of course, tonight as we keep track of that pesty coastal storm.

Have a great night!

Bill

Not much change to our weather this upcoming week.  We are in for a lot of clouds and showers as waves of low pressure pass just east of the Lowcountry.  In fact, by midweek, we could be looking at a fairly strong area of low pressure developing just offshore.  This Nor’easter type storm may provide the coastal areas with rain and gale force winds.  We’ll have to watch and see how the computer models handle this setup.

The tropics will have to continue to be monitored this week.  In fact the hurricane hunters investigated an area of disturbed weather in the eastern Caribbean today, but could not find a closed circulation, so it is still classified as an open wave.  Conditions may become more favorable for development on Monday and this system may be upgraded to a tropical depression.  Still too early to say where this system is headed, but we’ll continue to watch and have an update on Monday.

J. Chad is back in the saddle in the morning.  I’ll be here in the StormCenter working on WeatherBug upgrades as we continue to move towards our switch to HD next week.  9-29 watch for it !!  Have a great Monday !!

Brad

Our weekend is looking okay right now, but the forecast is touchy because of a weak weather system off shore.  If this front stays more east we’ll see a nice Saturday and a few clouds Sunday with a slight chance of showers.  If it drifts back towards the coast, we’ll see more in the way of clouds and a few showers.  Highs should stay cooler than normal in the upper 70’s to near 80.

I am going to be traveling to Rhode Island and Attleboro Massachusetts working on a story for the show.  The story has to do with a lost high school ring that was found 28 years later and returned to the school.  The principle there had just taken over from his last job as vice principle of Bishop England here in Charleston.  When the ring was returned to the school, the principal saw the name and called who he thought was the owner.  That person was me! 

I lost my ring right after getting it back in 1980.  The ironic part is that Bill Runey became Principal of my old school and the ring was found and returned to him. 

I will let you know when we’ll be running the story on the long lost high school ring.  Meanwhile, it should be rather chilly up in those parts this weekend and I’ll report back here on Monday what type of weather we had and, I’m sure, many stories from my old stomping grounds.

Have a great weekend!

 Bill

A cold front is producing showers and thunderstorms into tonight, but will usher in some cooler weather for midweek and the end of the week.

Look for highs near 80 to a few upper 70’s as the week goes on with on and off showers as cooler air works in from the northeast (the old “Northeast Fetch!”) and moisture overides it in the mid and upper atmosphere.

So, bottom line, some showers and cooler weather as the week goes on. 

Quiet day today with a trip to the dentist.  You’ve got to wonder if you ever have dinner at a dentist’s house whether he or she would use those little blue napkins with the chain attached to keep you clean during supper. 

Getting busy here with some severe weather; so we’ll make this a short post.  We hope you join us for tonight’s broadcast as we watch some of that cooler weather head our way.

Bill

Fall officially starts next week; so it’s still technically summer.  It sure feels like it too!  Look for another warm day on Tuesday with more showers possible by afternoon as a cold front heads our way.

The good news is that we’ll see some cooler weather by Wednesday into the end of the week with highs near 80.  Overnight lows into the weekend will be in the 60’s.  The chance of showers is highest for Wednesday and Thursday while diminishing into the weekend.

The tropics are quiet for a change.  Two waves to watch, but conditions are not favorable for development at this time, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Busy day today visiting St. Johns school in North Charleston as they celebrated Grandparent’s Day.  What a gem of a school with wonderful kids and faculty.   Quiet weekend at the house trying to catch up on some cleaning which is really never caught up.  Had some laughs at Chad’s house on Saturday night as we found some old tapes of Hurricane Hugo and coverage of the storm.  I was on Channel 4 at the time and looked about 10 years old!  Charlie Hall was looking good and always ready to bring a strong, but calm voice in the storm.  That’s something I try to take to my broadcasts, but no one could do it as well as Charlie could.

We’ll share some of this with you when the 20th anniversary of Charleston’s storm of the century comes around next year.  Might try to sneak in some shots on the upcoming 19th anniversary!

 After a hair cut from Donnie at Causey’s in Mt. Pleasant, I’m ready for the broadcasts tonight and we hope you join us during the evening shows and back before you go to bed for a live update at 11.

Have a great night and Tuesday ahead.

Bill

I have been getting the question a lot lately…”Hey Chad, what’s with this whole 929 thing I keep seeing on TV?” Looks like our folks back in the promotions and marketing department have done a great job of getting everyone to ask the same thing! Well…if you have not heard yet…starting on September 29th, 2008 WCSC will become the first and only television station in the Charleston market to broadcast our newscasts in High Definition. Its going to be a remarkable experience (unless you are one of us on the air…more to come on that!) WCSC has been broadcasting our signal in both Analog and Digital formats for some time now, but starting next February…the “Big Switch” takes effect and all television stations in the U.S. have to cease analog transmissions and convert to the HD digital format. Live 5 has been working for more than a year now to get ready for this change. We had to change everything….cameras, lights, graphics, equipment, cable and more! It’s really like building a brand new T.V. station all over again from the inside out…and did we mention its expensive!!! It may be pricey, but belive me, when you see the difference it will change the way you watch the news.

So how do you get it? Thats a common question and the answer is different for all of us, depending on how you watch us right now.

• If you watch us on cable or over Dish Network and DirecTV, you don’t have to change a thing…we will send our new HD feed directly to them. Check with your local cable and satellite provider to see when they will start distributing the new HD signal (Comcast already carries our HD feed and DirecTV will be adding it to their local channel lineup in October).
• If you watch WCSC with an old fashoned antenna, you will have to make some changes. You can either buy a new TV that has a HDTV tuner built in, or you can buy a HD converter box that will take our new digital signal and decode it to work on older “analog” television sets. The U.S. Government is offering a Coupon Program to help you purchase one of these boxes. Click Here for more info on how to get these free coupons for $40.00 off the price of a converter box.

The benifits of High Definition television go on and on…better picture, more than twice as sharp and clear than what you see now in what we call “Standard Definition”. The sound will be CD digital quality and in full surround sound on most of your CBS programming including sports! More options…with our new digital channel we can break the signal apart. Our current analog signal has one channel…VHF channel 5. However, our new HD signal can have up to five sub-channels, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, etc… That allows us to offer you more than one line of programming, such as news and weather updates on 5.2 while you watch your favorite CBS shows on the main 5.1 channel.

I thought you might like a few “Behind the Scenes” pics of what it takes to make the number one news station in the Lowcountry HD ready…

Make sure you are ready for the “Big Switch”. Again its coming to Live 5 News on 9/29/2008!

See you then in High Definition!

Chad Watson
Live 5 Meteorologist

(Hurricane Floyd as it approached the coast of Florida. Image Courtesy: NOAA/NCDC)

It was nine years ago today that many people thought that a repeat of Hurricane Hugo was on the way as monster Hurricane Floyd bore down on the southeast coast of the United States. Floyd created the second largest evacuation of people in U.S. history along the east coast from Florida to the Carolinas. More than 2.5 million people were told to leave, which led to the infamous “Floyd Fiasco” here in the Lowcountry as people jammed the interstates and were left stranded as traffic stalled as the storm approached.  This would lead to a redesign of how evacuations would be handled here, reversing the interstate to Columbia to get the most people out of harms way.

Floyd, at its peak was a Category 4 hurricane as it passed through the Bahamas and then turned north toward the U.S. Mainland. Luckily Floyd weakend to a category 2 when it made landfall in North Carolina. But the damage did not stop there.

(Floyd Radar Loop, Image Courtesy: NCDC/NOAA)

Once inland, Floyd created epic floods across the New England states as it moved northward up the Appalachian Range. Floyd killed 57 people and led to more than $4.5 billion dollars in damage

Well here it is September 14th and we’re still sweltering in the 90s.  Don’t fret too much, a break from the heat looks to be on the way.  A cold front is approaching the southeast and will provide the area with more clouds and good chance for showers beginning Tuesday.  This front will stall along the coast and keep our weather unsettled through the end of the work week.  Some of the long range computer models are hinting at a little taste of fall weather next week so we’ll cross our fingers.

The tropics are finally quiet.  There is one disturbance in the Central Atlantic we’re keeping an eye on, but development right now is not likely.  Today was the first day since August 15th that we haven’t had a named storm in the Atlantic basin.  It would be nice if we didn’t have another tropical system for the rest of the season, but this scenario isn’t likely.  Remember, hurricane season continues through the end of November.

That’s it for the weekend.  Chad is back in the morning along with Kristen McFann and Bill Burr.  Have a great Monday and a great week !!

Brad