Project Weather Resources - Association of Cable Communicators

Contact: Debby Clues, 727-329-2345
Bay News 9 - Bright House Networks, Tampa Bay Division
700 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Project Weather Resources
Category: Educational Materials
Entrant Classification: Cable System 4
Planning & Strategy
Category Justification: Bay News 9 is a 24-hour local news channel exclusive to Bright House
Networks, and is well known for its weather product and team of meteorologists, which are branded as
The Weather Experts. As a leader in local weather coverage in Tampa Bay, Bay News 9’s objectives
are to help educate students about science and weather. By exposing students to Bay News 9 at an age
where they are beginning to choose what they watch on TV and where they go on the internet, this
helps to reinforce and develop the message that Bay News 9 and baynews9.com are the places to turn
for reliable weather information. Project Weather helps to strengthen Bay News 9’s role as an
education partner in the community by providing weather-related educational materials. Program
effectiveness is measured by using web metrics, resource requests, teacher surveys and community
response at events and exhibits.
Project Weather is an excellent fit for this category because the program features numerous educational
materials to support the goals of the campaign. Resources include Project Weather Science Kits, a
Newspaper in Education insert, Project Weather Activity Books and a Project Weather resource
section on www.baynews9.com. The Project Weather Scholarship, Teacher Workshop and Local
Educational Museum Exhibits also incorporate the Project Weather resources to reach a broader and
more diverse audience.
Since weather is a key part of elementary and middle school curriculum, the target audience is students
at public elementary and middle schools in our seven county viewing area, and their teachers and
parents. A secondary audience is parents, teachers and students in home schools and private schools
who do not receive the materials through traditional disbursement methods.
The program encompasses seven counties; therefore, challenges include assembly and distribution of
the Project Weather Science Kits in a timely manner as they must be completed in a short time frame
and dispersed to seven counties before the start of the school year.
Implementation
Project Weather educational materials are implemented in the following ways:
Project Weather Science Kits: Complimentary Bay News 9 Project Weather Science Kits are
provided to all sixth grade science teachers in 230 public schools in the Tampa Bay Division of Bright
House Networks. The kit includes a canvas bag branded with the Bay News 9 Project Weather and
“Exclusively on Bright House Networks” logos. Inside is a folder with a welcome letter to teachers
and a list of the components that make up Bay News 9 Project Weather (Project Weather Scholarships,
Museum exhibits about weather, Newspaper in Education Insert, Project Weather Activity Books, and
a Project Weather Web page. The instructional materials in the Science Kit include a Severe Weather
DVD produced by Bay News 9. The DVD features meteorologists teaching about weather topics
including some of the Sunshine State Standards (water cycle, sea breeze and general weather). Each
topic has a corresponding handout for the students and answers for the teacher. Also provided is an
extra credit handout with answers found on the Bay News 9 website weather page which helps drive
web traffic. Other elements include an instruction page of weather related science experiments for the
teacher to perform in the classroom and a laminated hurricane tracking chart branded with the Bay
News 9 logo for every student. While most kits were shipped in bulk to each school district for
distribution, our largest school district allowed us to bring the kits to a teacher meeting prior to the start
of the school year. At this meeting a meteorologist spoke to the teachers and explained the contents.
Newspapers in Education Insert: Bay News 9 partnered with the Tampa Bay Times “Newspaper in
Education” program to create a Project Weather insert focusing on weather education. This
supplement was inserted into the Sunday paper after Thanksgiving and goes to over 300,000
subscribers in our viewing area. The insert is also available for teachers to order free classroom sets
and we received extra inserts for distribution at community events. Bay News 9 promoted the insert in
a 30-second PSA that ran on Bay News 9 the week leading to the issue. We worked with the Tampa
Bay Times educational department and our own meteorologists to develop content in conjunction with
the Sunshine State Standards for education. Taking this one step further, we partnered with the
Clearwater Marine Aquarium and created a Project Weather Teacher Workshop. A flyer was sent
digitally to every public elementary school teacher in our viewing area. Speakers included: a Bay
News 9 meteorologist, a Clearwater Marine Aquarium educator and the director of the Tampa Bay
Times Newspaper in Education. During this event teachers learned about the educational programs
and resources that these groups offer.
Project Weather Activity Book: Each year, a Bay News 9 Project Weather Activity book is
produced for kids in pre-school and elementary school. These books contain weather-related
information, games, maps and stickers. They also have caricatures of our Bay News 9 meteorologists
on pages throughout the book. The books are given out at hurricane expos, children’s events, and
schools as a community resource at no charge, and help reinforce Bay News 9 in the community.
Results
The Project Weather resources had the following impact toward educating students about weather and
reinforcing Bay News 9’s standing in the community:
Science Kits: The Science Kits were distributed to nearly 600 teachers in 230 schools. As a result, the
program reached 50,000 students in one school year. As the cost of the kit is less than $20 each, the
program was relatively inexpensive to implement with a total cost of approximately $12,000, or only
.24 cents per student. Due to the popularity of this resource, Bay News 9 received numerous requests
for kits from other teachers, private schools and home schools. Additionally the Project Weather page
of the Bay News 9 website received over 60,000 hits annually.
Newspapers in Education: The Project Weather insert had a full run in the Tampa Bay Times in five
of our seven counties (circulation 322,771). Bay News 9 distributed 5,000 additional copies of the
insert with our Science Kits. A flyer promoting the posters was posted on the Newspaper In Education
website. At our Teacher Workshop, we had 38 teachers from five of our seven counties in attendance,
with some coming from 100 miles away. From the workshop, we received evaluations from 28
teachers with most of those results being fives and fours (with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being
strongly agree). Over 800 Project Weather Activity Books were distributed to teachers in attendance,
with nine of those teachers requesting a Bay News 9 Science Kit to teach 262 students.
Project Weather Activity Books: Approximately 10,000 Project Weather Activity Books were
distributed to pre-school and elementary school aged children. These were given out at three hurricane
expos, children’s events, (i.e. Manatee Children’s Summit, the Hernando Reading Festival, and
Snooty’s Birthday Party) and in local preschools and elementary schools.
Project Weather Science Kit Contents &
Making the Kids Weather Special
Project Weather Scholarship Winners &
Project Weather Teacher Workshop
Meteorologists Speaking in Schools &
St. Pete Science Festival
Meteorologists at Hurricane Expos
Weather Education Exhibits at Local Museums
Newspaper in Education Insert
Weather Posters & Educational Activity Books
Contact: Debby Clues, 727-329-2345
Bay News 9 - Bright House Networks, Tampa Bay Division
700 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Project Weather Resources
Category: Educational Materials
Entrant Classification: Cable System 4
Project Weather Educational Materials Video Log:
The following items are on the video log.
 PSA for Bay News 9 Project Weather Newspaper in Education Insert
 PSA for Project Weather Scholarship (Science Kit bags are part of the award)
 PSA for Museum Of Science and Industry (MOSI) Exhibit (Project Weather Activity Books
are complimentary at their gift shop)
Additional Support Materials:

Success “Thank You” letters

Teacher Workshop Evaluations (One example)