KCTV5’s chief meteorologist Gary Amble is a good sport. Between putting on make-up and getting his home computer set up for tonight’s weathercast, the affable, veteran forecaster took our call to let us know what to expect from his upcoming “garage debut” this evening. Ain’t technology great?
First question—are you set up in your living room or …
“I’m going to be in my garage. We’re doing this like a normal weather live shot—and I’ve done thousands of those. But now the Mobile Storm Tracker from KCTV5 is in my driveway—and it has everything already built in it to do a live shot. I set my computer up with a VPN to access my weather computer at work. All of that took a little while to set up.
I’ve built my first show from home—and I’ve never done that before. I can forecast from home as easily as I can from work—especially if I have my graphics computer with me. So I’m good to go!”
Why are you doing this from Casa Amble?
“I’m doing this from home because I am one of the employees at KCTV that’s over 60. I also had a heart condition last year where I had a stint put in—so they considered me a higher-risk person than normal. So they wanted me out of the building as soon as they possibly could—just to be on the super-duper safe side.
Essentially, I’m now home with my wife. The two of us are shut-in here for a while—and we’ll just work from home. Actually doing a work every day is a bit of a relief from the boredom of spending all day in your home.”
Is this weird? I mean, are you nervous at all?
“Heck, yes. I tell you what—people ask me if I get nervous on television and I say absolutely not, that’s my job. There are no nerves at all involved with that—but any time you do something new there’s, uh, anxiety. I wouldn’t call it nervousness because I know this is going to work, but there’s a little anxiety because I haven’t done it yet.”
Fingers crossed it will go off without a hitch! And finally—the most important question, will you be wearing pants tonight? Are you wearing business up top and khaki shorts on the bottom?
[laughs] “Well, it’s a cold day today, so, yes, pants. I can’t promise what I’ll be wearing on our first nice day, but definitely pants today.”
Interview condensed and minimally edited for clarity.