Out Front

Kirk Baird

Friday, July 29, 2005 | 4:26 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 30-31, 2005

John Fredericks makes weathercasting look easy.

Polished, but not without an air of whimsy, Fredericks has been part of the KVBC Channel 3 (NBC) weather team since July 1996.

But Fredericks' first weathercast was almost his last.

Taking a job as the weekend weatherman at an ABC affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., Fredericks' first on-camera appearance was so disastrous that he most likely would have been banned from the air. Fortunately for him, the station was temporarily knocked off the air during his broadcast, so no one outside of the newsroom witnessed his performance.

From such ignominious beginnings, though, the weekday morning meteorologist has emerged a well-respected weatherman who was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2003.

The recently turned 50-year-old is quick to deflect any praise.

Fredericks said he owes much of his success and appeal to Jordan, a beloved 11 1/2-year-old Labrador retriever who accompanies Fredericks to work, appears in many of the newscasts and makes public appearances with his master.

The pair have become so inseparable, Fredericks jokes that it's really Jordan in whom the public is interested.

The Las Vegas Sun recently talked to the meteorologist about overcoming his fateful first weathercast, how Jordan joined him at KVBC and if it bothers him to be upstaged by his dog.

Las Vegas Sun: How did you end up as a meteorologist?

John Fredericks: I was a morning DJ and in radio production for quite some time. The local ABC affiliate was looking for a weekend weather person, and a good buddy of mine, who had the job and was getting promoted, suggested me. At the time they didn't care so much about how much weather you knew about. Most people just called the National Weather Service.

So I got the gig and it was horrendous. It was embarrassingly bad.

Sun: How bad?

JF: I looked like Albert Brooks in "Broadcast News," with sweat literally pouring down my face. Fortunately in the break before the weather, the station went off the air, so I did my entire weathercast while we were off the air. Nobody saw it except my co-workers and I'm sure they were horrified.

The only thing that saved me was the fact we were off the air. I'm convinced it would have been my first and last weathercast. But what it did, was it got me through those first-day jitters. Even though I was horrific for quite some time after that ... the news director said, "Look, I know you got it in you. I don't see it yet, but I'm going to hang with you."

Sun: When was this?

JF: This was back in the late '80s. It was Bakersfield. I actually ended up doing that (weekend weathercast). I was working radio full time and I was doing television part time. And I did that for almost a year before I kind of self-imploded ... and I applied, and by some strange fluke, I got a production director job at a rock station in Santa Barbara. It was during this period of time a guy I worked with, who was doing radio and reporting at the local ABC affiliate in Santa Barbara ... I showed him one of my tapes. He said, "You know, you really should go up to the news director and show him your tape. I don't know why you got out of television."

So I went up and showed the news director my tape. He said, "I don't know what it is that ever made you stop doing this, but you made the wrong career choice. I can't pay you -- I don't have the budget -- but we don't have anybody on the weekend now. If you want to do it for no money, I will treat you as an intern, even though you're not an intern. And you can work here for as long as you want."

I did that for 2 1/2 years without getting paid, working, once again, five days a week at the radio station and on weekends at the television station part time.

Through a series of events and personnel changes I was offered the first-ever morning weather slot at the ABC affiliate in Santa Barbara when they put their new morning show on the air. It was very much like we used to have (at KVBC), very magazine style, a lot of chitchat, real light. And I did that through October of '95 until May or June of '96 when I got an audition chance at Channel 3.

Sun: How did Jordan join you at the station?

JF: At my former station I used to bring Jordan with me every day. In fact, he used to appear on the TV with me at KEYT as well. And he also would come to the radio station with me when I was still doing both (jobs). So it was never an issue until I came here. And my co-anchor at that time, John Overall, said, "Look, what don't you just bring him to work with you every day?"

Sun: How did Jordan's appearance sit with your bosses?

JF: I would like to say that it was all a shiny, happy experience, but there were times under previous management situations he was actually banned from being on the air for a while. Let's face it, not everybody is a dog lover. I am blessed with the owner of my company ... Jim Rogers, who has embraced my dog and likes to joke -- I hope it is a joke -- "the day Jordan dies you're fired."

Sun: How does that make you feel, though?

JF: Obviously they mean that in a jokingly affectionate way and it certainly doesn't offend me. We're a team, we're a package deal. Unfortunately, he's getting very old for a lab. He's 11 1/2. He had to have a major surgical operation a few months ago -- he actually stopped breathing on me. His larynx collapsed and they had to go in and tie back half of his larynx. It's very common, particularly with older labs.

The surgery was a success. And he's realizing a quality of life that had deteriorated to the point that I didn't realize it because it had happened over such a long period of time.

The simple fact is, and hopefully it's somewhere down the road, where he won't be by my side. Not only will it be my greatest loss,besides the death of my parents, but I think it will also be a loss for our pet community and also our viewers, who have welcomed him into their homes. I just hope and pray that that's further down the road than closer.

Sun: Would you consider replacing Jordan with another dog and include him in your weathercasts?

JF: There will never be another Jordan, but there might be another companion. A lot of people have said, "Why don't you break in a new one?" so to speak. I just couldn't do that to him, I couldn't share my affections. I tried to do that four or five years ago and get him a buddy. But he didn't want a buddy; he wants me. He's never been aggressive with another human being or another animal.

But when he comes home he only wants to see me sitting there. That is just something that I'll have to play by ear. But I will tell you, if and when the time comes for me to get another pet in my life, it will be from a shelter or a rescue organization.

Sun: And how much time do you have remaining with KVBC?

JF: I'm just going into the second year of a five-year contract, so I do have time left. It is my full hope and dream that I am able to retire and to live out the rest of my life here in Las Vegas. Television is a fickle entity and you're only as good as your last ratings book. So we'll just have to see. It seems the Las Vegas community thinks I'm OK at this point and hopefully they'll continue to do so as long as I'm able to continue to work.

Sun: Record heat, record rainfall. What's going on with our weather?

JF: Obviously we had record-setting rainfall amounts late last year and earlier this year. And then all of sudden, just as immediately, we had a string of nine consecutive days of temperatures over 110. We tied the all-time record of 117, a 63-year-old mark. We shattered six consecutive record-high minimum temperatures, record-high overnight lows. In fact we set the all-time record-high minimum temperature of 95 degrees. And a lot of people are asking, why? Why is this happening? And I like to joke that you put a 100 meteorologists in a room and you're going to get 100 different answers.

I think that the jury is out on what's going on, whether it's a shift in the paradigm in global warming to begin with. We do know about the greenhouse effect, we also know about global warming and that it is getting warmer. But I think it's going to take some time for people to really understand what exactly led to all of this.

Sun: Is the tsunami responsible for any of the freak weather?

JF: A lot of people are suggesting the that tsunami knocking the Earth off its axis slightly somehow changed the global weather pattern, the upper-level wind pattern. I'm not ready to buy into all that conspiracy theory stuff. There's no to-date documented evidence. I sometimes like to take the metaphysical approach to things, "stuff happens; it is what it is." And try not to overanalyze some of these things.

From my perspective, as long as people don't get hurt, it gives me more to talk about. That's the way I look at it.

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