Paul Douglas
Paul and Our Politics
[Note: This story first appeared in the April 11, 2008, edition of The Weekly Report.]
While some reporters assigned to cover Minnesota politics achieve -- without aspiring to -- cult-like status among Minnesota politicos, rare is the local media celebrity beyond the purview of covering Minnesota politics who actually matters in Minnesota politics.
Former WCCO TV weatherman Paul Douglas is one of those people. [To repeat what all our readers know: Douglas was unceremoniously dumped from the station in a national wave of lay-offs by WCCO owner CBS.]
Why?
First, his subject matter. Nationally, Barack Obama can talk about an America where there are not red states or blue states, but a United States. In Minnesota, nothing crosses the red precinct-blue precinct divide faster than talk about the weather. Weather talk is in our DNA and with good reason ... witness the last 24 hours in what is supposed to be spring. Confession: Your publisher watches very little television news. However, every morning, she scans the headlines on the front page and then immediately turns to Douglas' weather commentary on the back of the Star Tribune's second section. Those paragraphs Douglas cranks out every day are witty and fun and always full of new material. The kind of weather factoid material that feeds our Minnesota DNA. Keeping that a must-read, year after year, is no small feat. Douglas does it, and does it well.
Second, Douglas' professional life story epitomizes the other great subject matter that crosses the red-blue divide: Minnesota's quality of life.
Twenty-two years ago, Douglas started in this market at KARE 11. Then he did what Minnesotans expect local media celebrities to do, he bailed on our state for Chicago, a larger media market, in the mid-1990s. Three years later, Douglas moved his family back to the Twin Cities. And, what most people don't remember, is that he did that without a local weatherman job in his pocket. Dumping a larger city to return to Minnesota?! That made Douglas a poster boy for Minnesota's much touted, particularly by Minnesota pols, "quality of life."
The Star Tribune's Neil Justin captured this quote from Douglas, "We are dedicated to Minnesota," he said. "Our Chicago experience proved to us that bigger is not necessarily better. Minnesota is an extraordinary place, and we are here for life."
Finally, Douglas has been a fixture in another Minnesota political institution, TPT's Almanac, longer than most people realize. Douglas' first appearance on the show was back in 1985 (Almanac had been on the air for less than a year at the time). When Douglas moved back here from Chicago, he actually reached a deal with Almanac to do monthly weather gigs before he reached a deal with WCCO. The first few times Douglas appeared on the show, it wasn't at the table with Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer. Former Almanac monologue guy/reporter/funny guy J.G. Preston would interview Douglas on a strange looking set that had a map of the world and an old wooden desk. That changed when some TPT staffer was clearing out scene storage and threw out the set. So, Almanac producers had to change plans, and that's why Douglas ended up at the table with Eskola and Wurzer.
Wonderfully, Almanac plans to continue Douglas' monthly weather chats (you can catch him on the show, tonight). Whether Douglas remains at the Star Tribune is unclear. When queried about same via email, the paper's editor, Nancy Barnes, responded, "Paul and I are getting together soon to talk about his role at the Star Tribune. I'll be able to tell readers more about whether there will be any changes there or not later."
We cannot imagine a scenario where Douglas does not have a future at the paper, and a seriously expanded one at that. As MinnPost's David Brauer wrote in his story about the paper's plans for "Strib TV," and with anti-competitive online issues with WCCO on the web no longer an issue, "hello, Paul Douglas!"
While some reporters assigned to cover Minnesota politics achieve -- without aspiring to -- cult-like status among Minnesota politicos, rare is the local media celebrity beyond the purview of covering Minnesota politics who actually matters in Minnesota politics.
Former WCCO TV weatherman Paul Douglas is one of those people. [To repeat what all our readers know: Douglas was unceremoniously dumped from the station in a national wave of lay-offs by WCCO owner CBS.]
Why?
First, his subject matter. Nationally, Barack Obama can talk about an America where there are not red states or blue states, but a United States. In Minnesota, nothing crosses the red precinct-blue precinct divide faster than talk about the weather. Weather talk is in our DNA and with good reason ... witness the last 24 hours in what is supposed to be spring. Confession: Your publisher watches very little television news. However, every morning, she scans the headlines on the front page and then immediately turns to Douglas' weather commentary on the back of the Star Tribune's second section. Those paragraphs Douglas cranks out every day are witty and fun and always full of new material. The kind of weather factoid material that feeds our Minnesota DNA. Keeping that a must-read, year after year, is no small feat. Douglas does it, and does it well.
Second, Douglas' professional life story epitomizes the other great subject matter that crosses the red-blue divide: Minnesota's quality of life.
Twenty-two years ago, Douglas started in this market at KARE 11. Then he did what Minnesotans expect local media celebrities to do, he bailed on our state for Chicago, a larger media market, in the mid-1990s. Three years later, Douglas moved his family back to the Twin Cities. And, what most people don't remember, is that he did that without a local weatherman job in his pocket. Dumping a larger city to return to Minnesota?! That made Douglas a poster boy for Minnesota's much touted, particularly by Minnesota pols, "quality of life."
The Star Tribune's Neil Justin captured this quote from Douglas, "We are dedicated to Minnesota," he said. "Our Chicago experience proved to us that bigger is not necessarily better. Minnesota is an extraordinary place, and we are here for life."
Finally, Douglas has been a fixture in another Minnesota political institution, TPT's Almanac, longer than most people realize. Douglas' first appearance on the show was back in 1985 (Almanac had been on the air for less than a year at the time). When Douglas moved back here from Chicago, he actually reached a deal with Almanac to do monthly weather gigs before he reached a deal with WCCO. The first few times Douglas appeared on the show, it wasn't at the table with Eric Eskola and Cathy Wurzer. Former Almanac monologue guy/reporter/funny guy J.G. Preston would interview Douglas on a strange looking set that had a map of the world and an old wooden desk. That changed when some TPT staffer was clearing out scene storage and threw out the set. So, Almanac producers had to change plans, and that's why Douglas ended up at the table with Eskola and Wurzer.
Wonderfully, Almanac plans to continue Douglas' monthly weather chats (you can catch him on the show, tonight). Whether Douglas remains at the Star Tribune is unclear. When queried about same via email, the paper's editor, Nancy Barnes, responded, "Paul and I are getting together soon to talk about his role at the Star Tribune. I'll be able to tell readers more about whether there will be any changes there or not later."
We cannot imagine a scenario where Douglas does not have a future at the paper, and a seriously expanded one at that. As MinnPost's David Brauer wrote in his story about the paper's plans for "Strib TV," and with anti-competitive online issues with WCCO on the web no longer an issue, "hello, Paul Douglas!"
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