A Hodak Moment

Did Michigan even have weather reports before Jerry Hodak came along?

What ever did we do? Look out the window?

How Neanderthal!

Hodak is still doing it, on channel 7. He's still telling us how to dress in that baritone voice of his, looking at us through those squinty eyes, in a manner so casual that it makes Perry Como look like Sid Vicious.

I don't watch local TV news anymore; haven't for years. Perhaps I will again someday, whenever I feel the need to tumble into an abyss of depression.

But sometimes you can't help it, like when big stories or tragedies happen, and the local news folks are suddenly on your TV screen, rudely interrupting what you were watching.

That happened recently, when I was getting briefed as the car-meets-Amtrak train story unfolded---the one that ended in the deaths of all those young people in Canton Township.

I was at our veterinarian's office, waiting to be seen (actually, our dog was the one to be seen), and the office television was tuned to channel 7, the ABC affiliate in Detroit.

In a break in coverage of the tragic story, we were returned to the studio, where the anchors discussed in hushed tones the implications. Then, it was time for a quick weather break. There's always time for a quick weather break.

And there was Hodak, the Dick Clark of Detroit television. Jerry still looks terrific, and he must be on the other side of 70 by now, or darn close to it. For Jerry Hodak has been reporting the weather in Detroit since 1965.



For a time in the 1980s, they tried to make Hodak a news anchor, figuring that his Walter Cronkite-like credibility was being wasted on talking about thunderstorms and wind chill factors.

That experiment didn't last long, and if I remember, it was Jerry who asked to be shifted back to the weather, where he clearly was more comfortable.

Jerry Hodak was on channel 2 when I first started remembering stuff, and he moved to channel 7 back in 1977.

Hodak isn't just a weatherman. He's a bona fide meteorologist, and is more of a science guy who happens to be on TV than the other way around, like so many of his brethren nowadays.

Hodak's brief weather interlude during the car/train tragedy was a soothing moment of calm amidst the madness. There's something about Hodak's voice and delivery that functions as a sort of life preserver when you're trying to keep your head above water while being assailed by all the bad news that's not weather-related.

Everyone else might be loud and frenetic, making you edgy, but then Hodak is given the floor and he starts speaking, and suddenly all is right in the world again.

Jerry Hodak hasn't raised his voice in all the decades I've seen him work on TV. He doesn't need to. He doesn't force the weather down your throat, like so many of the loudmouthed boobs on TV today. Instead, Hodak imparts it, with no pressure, no pretention.

Maybe you could call him humorless, and possibly even robotic. He won't win any personality contests. But Hodak does what so few of them on TV do anymore: he engages you, and makes you feel better.

Still.

**********************
UPDATE

I sent Hodak this blog post, and I got this reponse via e-mail on July 22:

Greg,

Thanks for the kind words. They made my day.

As an aside, I haven't reached age 70 yet.

I still have a few years to go.

Regards,
Jerry Hodak

Thanks, Jerry---and my apologies about the age thing!!



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