A veteran meteorologist, along with a recent graduate and an independent meteorologist, have joined forces to help provide Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana residents with the latest weather forecast and information possible, using social media.
The new weather service, “Gulf Coast Weather Solutions,” is currently posting information and forecasts on Facebook. In the near future, Greg Bostwick said, they will have a YouTube channel and app.
Bostwick, chief meteorlogist for KFDM in Beaumont since 1979, said he is a “kind of mentor to the group.”
“My retirement is not yet, but I know it’s approaching,” said Bostwick. “And I’d like to pass a baton in this area where the coverage is to these guys and especially on the social media side, where we all have our phones on us.”
The other two members of the group are Bostwick’s son, Lucas, a recent graduate of Mississippi State University, and Johnny Lively, who has been in the business for two-plus years in meteorology. Lively, a 2023 Mississippi State graduate in Broadcast and Operational Meteorology, is a weather consultant for Southeast Texas.
The new weather service will provide forecasts from Houston to Lafayette, Louisiana.
Bostwick said most people are getting a lot of information on social media.
“Social media has really expanded and has exploded over the last few years,” he said.
Greg Bostwick noted he has about 100,000 followers on social media.
“It continues to grow every time we have a storm and it jumps between 20,000 and 30,000,” he said. “I think in the snow storm back in January, I had 35 million views.”
He said much of the information off social media is “pure garbage.”
“The reason why some of these people put it out there, it’s called ‘click bait,’” Bostwick said. “So, there’s a lot of false information out there and our goal is to try to put out a good product that people can trust. And, as a company or an advertiser, you have a lot of folks visiting this site. You can have a lot of folks getting good information and we can, on the business side, save money, give you good information on what to do to make your good, correct decision.”
Bostwick also added he’s been doing weather consulting to area refineries and management for about 30 years.
According to Lucas Bostwick, the three have been thinking for a long time as far as getting away from broadcast TV, and looking into streaming. They are broadcasting on YouTube from a studio at home.
“We have the ability to work remotely,” he said. “We don’t have to be in one place at one time. The way we do it is we have a remote set available.”
“A lot of broadcast meteorologists are finding themselves in need of work and the streaming option is getting so popular because, as we know, a lot of people are switching over,” Lucas added. “That’s really becoming a high demand.”
Lucas is helping with the technical support and dealing with a new app that’s coming out later this year.
Concerning when the app will be available, Lively said they are in talks again with the company who produces weather software.
“We’re hoping, for sure, by the end of the year, we can get it done,” he said. “We have the same weather graphics that you would see on the Weather Channel, Fox Weather and the larger Weather Network.”
Lively said the YouTube livestream should be starting up “pretty soon” and they will make an announcement when it’s available.
“We are so proud to have H.B. Neild to be the title sponsor of this new joint venture,” said Greg Bostwick. “So, it’s going to have a lot of potential for advertising on that page. Sponsorships are what we’re really looking for on that. We’re trying to just get something started that I can give back to a younger generation — that’s the way I’m kind of looking at it.”
— Dannie Oliveaux | DannieOliveaux@TheExaminer.com
