Dear Tom,
Can you help me remember the name of a Chicago TV weather-man who drew cartoons by hand?
Wally Valters
Dear Wally,
That weatherman was P.J. Hoff, a Chicago television icon who did the weather on Channel 2 in the 1950s and 1960s. P.J. would show a large U.S. map on which he would place hand-drawn symbols of sun, clouds, showers, highs and lows. He also had regular cartoon characters in his presentation, among them “Achoo” to give the pollen count, and the “Vice-President in charge of looking out the window” to relay the forecast or the current conditions. P.J. would write the temperature down and then turn the numbers into a cartoon that would be usually be tied in with the current weather conditions or an upcoming holiday. For many years, he did the weather on the 10 p.m. news anchored by another Chicago TV legend, Fahey Flynn.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
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