KHOU Weatherman Dr Neil Frank to Retire

Dec. 14, 2007, 1:02AM
Neil Frank is hanging up his raincoat


By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Neil Frank has spent 20 years attempting to divine the fluctuations of Houston's singular weather patterns, and for 17 of those years, he's been trying to retire.

However, 2008 is the year he's making it stick.

Frank, KHOU's (Channel 11) chief meteorologist since 1987 and the former director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Thursday he will retire from the station next year.

Gene Norman, a former meteorologist at KTRK (Channel 13) who now works as chief meteorologist for the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, will return to Houston's airwaves Jan. 28 and prepare to take the reins for Frank.

"I came to Houston (after retiring from the Hurricane Center) to work for three years, and then I was going to be fully retired," Frank said Thursday night. "I would keep asking them, 'Well, have you found someone yet?' And this time I think maybe I asked them a little stronger.

"But they've found a really neat guy, and I think he'll do a good job."

Not so fast

Frank, known on the air by his colleagues as "Doc" to reflect his doctorate in meteorology from Florida State University, said he has not settled on a firm date to leave the station but said he hopes to continue working into the 2008 hurricane season.

"I'm not running out real quick," Frank said, laughing. "They haven't kicked me out yet."

He will continue as a contributor to the station after his formal retirement, said Susan McEldoon, Channel 11's president and general manager.

Norman, meanwhile, said he looks forward to returning to Houston, where he spent seven years with NASA before working for Channel 13 from 1995 through 1999. A graduate of MIT, he has won four local Emmy awards and three citations from the Associated Press for his work at Atlanta's WGCL.

"Neil Frank is certainly a legend, and I look forward to working with him and getting to know him," Norman said. "It's a challenge to find a successor for him, and I'm thankful that they thought enough of me to consider me in that situation."

Keith Connors, Channel 11's news director, said Norman's knowledge of Gulf Coast weather played a critical role in the decision to hire him.

"We're lucky to have found Gene," he said. "With his scientific background, he fits our designs perfectly.

"You can never replace Dr. Neil Frank, who is a legend and an icon, but we are pleased to bring in someone who understands the Gulf and understands the importance of getting the forecast right and of informing our community about threatening weather without alarming them."

Frank on the small screen

Frank, who is in his mid-70s, came to Houston as an acknowledged expert on tropical weather systems but as a novice in front of the camera.

"I didn't have any training in communications, so it was a big transition when I came here," he said. "I still stumble around a lot. But the community has been good to me, and I appreciate all the good folks. It's been a delightful experience."

Steve Smith, Frank's former colleague at Channel 11, was more generous toward his longtime friend's on-camera skills.

"From the very moment he went on the air at 11, Neil exuded credibility and authority, a natural if ever there was one," Smith said. "When he reported the weather, whether it was an approaching hurricane or a mundane weekend forecast, he did it with class, with dignity and, yes, a good deal of charm."

Ann Hodges, the retired longtime television critic for the Chronicle, said Frank raised viewers' expectations for TV weather forecasters.

"After he arrived, you never again saw weathermen coming out in funny costumes and doing silly things as they used to do," she said. "They had to have credentials. So he changed things in Houston for the better."

Frank said the frequently imponderable nature of Houston's weather provided ample opportunity to keep his ego firmly grounded.

"I was at the hurricane center for 25 years and never got it right, so I said I'm going to Houston to get it right. And after 20 years, I thought, you know, I'm just going to quit," he said, laughing. "There's not many weather people who have big egos."



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