THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
IT IS A BUSY day in the Weather Center, a room only slightly larger than a broom closet with walls of Plexiglas located a few paces from where WAVY's local newscasts originate in Portsmouth.
The WAVY interiors are open and breezy - a studio and a newsroom all in one. That's 1990s broadcast chic.
There are three cameras. The assignment board in the newsroom is so huge it gobbles up one wall. The Weather Center is all maps, charts and TV monitors.
There are two hurricanes in the Atlantic to keep an eye on, a storm named Jerry is edging up the East Coast, and, off the coast of Africa, tropical waves are threatening to swirl into troublemakers. Satellites high above the Earth are sending pictures of the circling clouds to color monitors in the Weather Center.
Machines there print out the facts and figures of the family of storms on the move. Churn in the tropics. The phone rings constantly.
In the middle of this controlled chaos sits Jim Lawrence in a nicely starched white shirt and tie held in place by a pin in the collar.
It is a hectic, noisy place to be a few hours before the 5 and 6 o'clock newscasts sign on. Lawrence is under pressure. This is crunch time.
So why is this man smiling?
Because he recently reached a goal he had set for himself when he was well into his 40s. He's pleased as punch about it.
Jim Lawrence, former disc jockey, is now Jim Lawrence, certified broadcast meteorologist. He was so anointed recently by Mississippi State University after two years of studies.
The certificate they presented to him at graduation ceremonies in Mississippi is in the Channel 10 Weather Center near the 4-inch-thick manuals he studied. You'd be surprised to see how many pages it takes to cover ``the fatal thrust to land'' by a hurricane.
He studied long-distance by video and by plunging into hefty texts. Lawrence already had a degree in science from Old Dominion U. when he decided two years ago, at the urging of fellow WAVY meteorologist Jon Cash, to become a certified forecaster.
``It was one of the high points of my life,'' Lawrence said of the graduation ceremonies in Mississippi. And a large graduating class it was, too. TV has plenty of meteorologists who aren't broadcasters. And plenty of broadcasters doing the weather who never cracked a book on storm surge.
Not as easy to find are the on-air smoothies such as Lawrence who really know their highs and lows. And with Lawrence, the WAVY viewers get something extra - a Mr. Nice Guy who is as welcome in their homes as a relative who doesn't stay long and never asks to borrow money.
We haven't had a weather guy as easy to take on TV around here since Andy Roberts of WTKR retired, and I doubt if Roberts stayed up to 4 a.m. studying the excesses of radiation on the earth's surface. ``I try never to be flip,'' said Lawrence. ``Because at times, forecasting the weather is a matter of life or death.''
Like now. Hurricane season.
His segments on WAVY's weekend newscasts - Lawrence also fills in when Cash and Don Slater are away - come off more like conversations with the viewers than weather REPORTS. My eyes never glaze over when I'm watching this guy.
In case you wondered, Lawrence is single. He has three children, 25 to 21, from the time he wasn't. He's an amateur astronomer. His roots are local. Norview High.
When he was in his 17th year as a disc jockey for WTAR, Lawrence expected to sail along for another 17 years on the air. ``They were the best years of my life,'' Lawrence said of his days on radio, first with WGH and then with WTAR. He started in the 1960s, which I like to call the Golden Age of Radio in Hampton Roads. That was when Dick Lamb, Gene Loving, Paul Hennings, Roger Clark, Bob Story and Bob Calvert were giants of broadcasting here. Lamb is still pretty big.
In 1990, Lawrence's career on radio ended abruptly when he was let go by WTAR, which was eventually sold to a Baltimore company. It was back then when old pal Loving suggested that Lawrence get serious about being a broadcast meteorologist. With a little push from Loving and Cash, Lawrence hit the books.
Look at him now.
Jim Lawrence, broadcast meteorologist. Isn't this better than spinning stacks of wax by the Supremes, the Jackson Five, and Peter, Paul and Mary? ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Jim Lawrence, former disc jockey, is now Jim Lawrence, certified
broadcast meteorologist.
by CNB