November 15, 2012 Meeting

The third meeting of the 2012-13 year took place at WJTV-TV in Jackson. During the meeting, we took a tour of the WJTV studio.

Meeting Minutes

Call to Order
The third NWA/AMS meeting of the 2012-2013 year took place at WJTV-TV in Jackson, MS. The meeting started at 7:00 pm and began with plenty of pizza and soft drinks provided by Tony Mastro, WJTV Chief Meteorologist.

Rolls
The recording secretary, Eric Carpenter, passed around a sign-in sheet for attendees. 12 people were present, including five officers.

Minutes Approval
Eric summarized minutes from the previous meeting held at Mississippi Emergency Management Agency in Pearl, MS.

Treasury Report
Jason Brand, Treasurer, provided a balance report and then advertised collection of dues. The current treasury balance is $263.00. This is an increase of $20.00 since the last balance report given in September’s meeting.

New Business
Joanne started the business session at about 7:15 pm with discussion on community outreach. It may be better for us to volunteer for projects in smaller groups rather than one large group due to the easier scheduling and overall logistics. Joanne is currently checking with Stewpot on their needs. The session concluded with discussion on the 20 year anniversary of the Nov 21-22, 1992 Tornado Outbreak. During that outbreak, an F4-rated tornado tracked for 128 miles through central Mississippi and the city of Brandon causing 12 fatalities and 122 injuries.

Following the business session, Joanne turned the meeting over to Tony Mastro who gave the group a tour of the station. Tony began the tour by expressing his appreciation for Jason Brand who has done an impressive job for WJTV-TV as a storm chaser. He then followed with a brief history on the station. Did you know that WJTV has been on the air since 1953 when it broadcast the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower? In recent years, increasing technology has allowed the station to be less dependent on man-power, and weekend staffing is down to about five employees. Tony says that much of his work is devoted to monitoring social-media, and that there is increasing dependence on tablet computers and other mobile devices for monitoring while on the air. Tony discussed how survival in the broadcast meteorology sector continues to become more difficult as younger generations depend more and more on the web to get their news and weather information.

Adjournment
The meeting concluded at approximately 8:00 pm. There will be no meeting in December. The January meeting will likely be held at NWS Jackson, but ideas are still being considered. The topic may be on the upcoming KDGX-88D dual-polarization upgrade.

Minutes submitted by Eric Carpenter, Recording Secretary.