The guest speaker was Bob Baron, founder of Baron Services.
Meeting Minutes
The 6 November 1999 meeting was opened by Chapter President Barbie Bassett with 16 members in attendance. Bassett introduced Bob Baron, president of Baron Services, Inc., and he gave some biographical information on how he got started in his business.
Baron gave a demonstration on the 155-mile range radar of the Oklahoma City tornado and his zoom-in technology. He explained one of his products, the high density radar, which takes WSR-88D data and puts it into a more usable format for broadcasters. He is able to integrate up to four radars at one time, and his program will highlight every area of velocity that exceeds 50 knots. Baron explained gate-to-gate shear and how his products are able to make it into a frame called composite shear.
His products aid broadcast meteorologists the most by making the information clearer. Detection processes are now the focus of Baron Services, whereas dissemination was their previous focus. His company is working to give selected information to preselected criteria (via caller ID or automatic phone calls) to focus on those areas most threatened by severe weather. This product is called “Safety Net” and is patented and approved primarily for emergency management agencies. Baron’s company is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on “Future Scan,” which inputs current information and conditions and predicts future possibilities over time. The timetable for this product to be available is next year, and it is being introduced to stations in conjunction with his “Viper” product. To date, Baron services 200 television stations nationwide.
Minutes submitted by Barbie Bassett.
Central Mississippi Chapter of the NWA and AMS 