Michael Rizzo

COMM 3533*01
May 8, 2014

Introduction
Lonnie Quinn is the chief weathercaster at WCBS-TV/WLNY TV 10/55. He has a
passion for telling the weather story in a unique, entertaining, and useful way. He originally
forecasted weather for an NBC station in Miami, Florida before he came to New York City. He
has won a few Emmy awards for his success and skills in broadcast meteorology and news.
Lonnie was an actor before he began reporting the weather and aired on ABCs All My Children
and a few other shows.
I chose Lonnie as an interviewee based on his experiences in the media industry and for
his model of creating unique and relevant weather forecasts. I also selected him because I am
working as his intern for the Spring 2014 academic semester. Seeing what Lonnie has to offer for
advice with his experiences working with social media would better help me create, implement,
and use my very own social media identity. I contacted Lonnie directly in person while at my
internship and asked if he would mind being the subject of my report in my COMM 3533 course.
He replied gladly with a smile and said, Sure!


Caption: Here is a photo of Lonnie and me in the CBS Weather Center

Content
The following are the questions asked during the interview:

1. What is the role of social media usage for weather?

It is the quickest way to get the word out. A local newscast can break in, but it is not as
fast as social media. The tech that goes into it [a news break-in] isnt as fast as tweeting.

2. What is your favorite social media site to use and why?

Twitter because I like the fact that the 140 characters necessitates efficiency with words.
It prevents from getting lost for hours on end like you can on Facebook.

3. What are the greatest rewards of your work using social media?

The idea that I can instantly respond to people who tweet me with a sense of panic

4. What are the greatest frustrations? How do you deal with them?

The haters and the idea that you can only respond in a nice way, while at the same time,
youre seething inside. People can show such gratitude via social media, but since often
times its anonymous, they can also be far more hateful than their normal lives.

5. On what basis are you evaluated for using social media? How is success measured?

Its monitored by CBS and the number of followers and retweets [measure the
success].

6. How is dissemination and public awareness within meteorology likely to be affected by
changes in technology and/or globalization? (What is your forecast?)
Its only going to get bigger. It is so instantaneous and so addictive that there is no
reason for current users to stop, and loads of reasons for non-users to jump aboard like
nobody gets left behind.

7. What is your favorite way of reaching out to the public [or your fans]?

Live on the air. My ultimate favorite is meeting them in person. We dont work with a
live studio audience, and social media is just digital interaction. Across the board bona-
fide face-to-face interaction is becoming rare as a society as a whole. Within my
professional life, I try to embrace it as much as I can.

Discussion
Using social media in this field is something that Ive wanted to get my hands on as fast
as possible because of the instantaneous interaction that I would have with my fan base.
Although it is instantaneous interaction, I have learned that I would be an extremely reliable
personality where urgency and hope will be instilled within people from the things I post.
Posting about weather would be something that I would be held accountable for publicly and to
expect some people not to agree with me is just part of the responsibility. Looking at myself, I
would always want to help and provide people with good information, trying to avoid upsetting
people. Given the information in this interview, I have learned that some of the feedback may not
be positive feedback and can potentially be insulting and hurtful. It shows that these types of
negative interactions should not be weighed upon too much when posting on social media. I have
also learned that there is a true value and importance on meeting the fan base in person rather
than just simply communicating through electronic forms. According to Lonnie, it seems that it
is very rewarding and positive to meet with fans in person, and that is something that I want to be
able to appreciate and experience as well. The role of social media in my career is a weight that I
would have to be committed to, and I am ready to accept that challenge.

Conclusion
The interview was a good experience, casual, conversational, and very informative. It
was a great way to help identify and network with a member of the field I am entering as well as
getting vital information regarding a duty that I will soon be responsible for. It has helped open
my eyes to the feedback I would receive from my fans and as well as the weight of responsibility
that goes into it. If I were to have this interview again, I would try to see how different media
talents view their own social media pages. I would like to understand the individual perspectives
and views. All in all, I look forward to starting up my own social media page and to begin
experiencing this first hand, using some of the things I have learned from this interview to
maintain a positive and updated page.

My Thank-You
I have thanked Lonnie in person after the interview for providing me with useful
information regarding the assignment. He was glad that he was able to assist me with my project
and encouraged me to ask more questions anytime.