John Nodar, WKRG

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch John Nodar, meteorologist for WKRG News 5. He’s the first one to tell you what you can expect from today’s weather. There’s a lot behind the person standing in front of that weather map. 

John and I met at the new Ed’s Seafood Shed in Spanish Fort on a Tuesday a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed hearing his story and left impressed with his accomplishments, off-screen talents, and experiences. He says, “I’m probably the only weather guy you will ever meet that drove an armored car and did hot tar roofing. Every day broadcasting is a good day!” His on-air career has spanned 44 years…the past 38 with WKRG.

He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, but growing up, his family lived in several cities across the southeastern United States. Before he was in radio and television, John learned about the weather in the Air Force. He would sometimes hop freight trains from the base to a nearby college town for fun. “I got arrested once riding one of those freight trains…” John certainly has an adventurous spirit about him, which enhanced our great visit.

His first gig in broadcasting was as an announcer at a radio station in Norfolk. “It was an ‘elevator music’ station, and I worked six nights per week from 6 PM until 2 AM,” says John. Janet, his girlfriend at the time, moved to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. John followed her there, finding work at the only radio station within 100 miles. The station played Country, Spanish, Gospel, and the local news. “We had to cover all the bases.”

They married and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico a year later, where he worked in radio for four years. Ready for a career change, John decided he wanted to work on a tugboat. He had a merchant seaman’s card and decided Mobile, Alabama, would be a great place to work. The only problem was that, at the time, there was no work on tugboats. 

This was 1985, and the economy was in a downturn. “If I was going to eat, I figured I better put a tape together and get back on the radio.” He eventually landed a part-time job at what was back then WKRG-AM, as the midnight board operator for the Larry King Show. 

He worked from midnight to 4 AM, earning minimum wage. “I knew I could do well at WKRG,” he says. “I had already been in radio for a while and had a very supportive boss in Dick Scott.  Things moved quickly from there.”  WKRG operated two radio stations, one AM and the other FM. John soon covered news for both and hosted a talk radio show doing news and politics.

About a year and a half in, there was an opening at WKRG television for a weekend weather and news person. A colleague, Carmen Brown, told management, “You know there’s a guy here that did weather when he was in the Air Force and is already doing the news and weather for your radio stations right now.” So they gave John TV a shot. He never looked back.

When Doppler radar arrived in the early 90s, most television stations wanted meteorologists to do the weather. John had his training from his Air Force days but was not a degreed meteorologist. With two kids and a job, he decided to go back to school at Mississippi State and earn his undergraduate degree and then his master’s degree in meteorology. John says, “It’s not easy to pursue a degree in your 40s, but I’m proof that it’s doable.”

Over almost four decades, John has visited hundreds of schools to talk about the weather or to read to the students. “At this point, we’re talking about tens of thousands of school kids. I run into grownups almost every week who say that I spoke to their fifth-grade class.” This very thing happened at the restaurant while we were talking!

I first met John years ago when his band played at my mother’s 80th birthday party. He has been playing the drums since his feet could reach the drum pedals. His dad was an accomplished jazz drummer and spent the last half of his life as a professional musician. John joined the musicians’ union when he was 16 years old. “Dad was in demand as a drummer. When they couldn’t get him, they would look at the list of available drummers in the union, see the Nodar name, and ask me to play. I got a lot of work that way.”

John still plays in his free time. “I play with a group called Dave and the Butts once a week. It’s like poker night for us.  Rarely, you’ll find us at a party or local music festival.  We just enjoy getting together to play music.” He describes their sound as a mixture of blues, rock, and jazz. “When I got into television, I was working late nights, early mornings, and weekends, so I put my drums away for a long, long time,” he says. “I’m glad to be back playing again.”

Riding motorcycles and bicycles, both road bikes and mountain bikes, has been a passion of John’s all his life. “I got my first motorcycle at 14 and have been riding ever since. For a while, the motorcycle was my only transportation. That can be tough on a rainy winter day.” He still rides, but the experience is very different. “I check the weather,” he says with a laugh. “A good day on a motorcycle for me is a sunny, medium-distance ride out in the country with curves in the road.”

He really got into mountain biking for a while and rode anywhere the trails took him. He recalled trips to the North Carolina mountains, northern New Mexico, Oak Mountain State Park (with its three-mile start straight up the mountain), and many excursions to Chickasabogue Park in Mobile County. “My goal these days is to keep both wheels on the ground. That wasn’t always the case.”

Over the last ten years, John has taught many aspiring broadcast meteorologists at the University of South Alabama. “And just as importantly,” he says, he teaches them “how to get a job. You can be the best meteorologist in the world, but nobody will hire you in this business if you are terrible on television.” He’s proud that today two of his former students, Caroline Carithers and Grant Skinner, are now weather colleagues at WKRG. 

And speaking of colleagues: “It’s hard to express how fortunate I feel.  I have respect and genuine affection for my friends at News 5.  If it looks like we get along, it’s because we do. And it’s not just the folks you see; our management, sales folks, engineers, directors, producers, promotions team, and reporters are all top-notch.”

I asked John what his thoughts were looking back on 38 years in our area. “We chose to stay in Mobile to raise our family, and it's worked out great. It’s been fun to see this area get better and better. I have always enjoyed emceeing or just participating in events that make a positive impact moving Mobile forward. This is where we want to be,” he said.