Monday, December 24, 2007

Former WBRE weather guy contemplating run for elected office

Vince Sweeney, who used to do the weather on WBRE, is apparently making noise on his blog (click above) about following the paths of Keith Martin and Frank Andrews Shimkus to Harrisburg and/or going on to Washington. Judging by the blog – “I never saw a chestnut roasting on an open fire until I was probably in my 20s. It made for a great lyric in a marvelous song, but chestnuts roasting was never part of my reality” – he'll fit right in.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's contemplating it too

NEPAmedia said...

Oops. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Keep in mind that he's been approached by two political factions...1) those who have asked him to run, and 2) those who hope he won't. He hasn't run any of this up a flagpole, they've come a-callin' with flagpoles in hand. He could very possibly kick ass if he takes the plunge.

Anonymous said...

Don't know if he could win, but he'd cause a hell of a mess for others if he did.

Anonymous said...

Does he have his own Gabby he can put on the legislative payroll in Harrisburg when he needs a quickie?

Anonymous said...

Anyone on this board actually write for a living? Sweeney's looking at congress. Congress? That's Washington? Ring any bells? Washington, DC? Not Harrisburg.

Anonymous said...

Wha?

Vince Sweeney, former weather personality, current SPCA/Humane Society suit, has sufficient political legs to cconsider a run for congress? By what standard? I mean, other than that he forecasted cold fronts and snowstorms long enough to have decent name recoginition.

Just wonderin'.

Anonymous said...

Well you have your political in-the-know folks...then there's the newspaper and TV people. And the political in-the-know folks don't really ask someone to run for Congress if they don't think that someone has a shot. He's been off TV for more than a year and is probably still better known than Snedeker. Name recognition is MORE than half the battle. Why do you think that anyone named Casey or Mellow (related or not) always wins? Sweeney runs, he could win. Sweeney SAYS he's going to run he could be talked out of it and end up Director of Homeland Security in PA...

...and the Gabby crack was out of line and even if it wasn't, it wasn't funny, but nice try, you can have anything on the bottom shelf.

Anonymous said...

The bonus question: Will Gabby call 911 when Frank chokes her during rough foreplay?

Anonymous said...

Vince is the man.

Why did WBRE fire him??

Anonymous said...

Vince said it would be like this.

Anonymous said...

Name recognition is MORE than half the battle. Why do you think that anyone named Casey or Mellow (related or not) always wins? -- from 2:26 p.m.
----------------------------------
Pat Casey, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey's younger brother, lost twice in his campaign for U.S. House of Representatives. So name recognition doens't always work.

Anonymous said...

Vince may win an election, but he is not devious enough to get anything accomplished in Washington. The guy is just too nice.
Harrisburg could be more his speed.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe Vince would be dumb enough to run for Congress. Local office, maybe. God knows he's nice enough and he's smart enough for the job (just look at some of our elected officials). It's just that not many decent, smart people want to spend 22-hour days campaigning for a 20-hour-a-day job that involves people pissing on you. Why would Vince actively seek one of the few jobs out there that's WORSE than working for Nexstar?

Anonymous said...

"The guy is just too nice. Harrisburg could be more his speed."

The Harrisburg whorehouse differs from DC's only in its size.

"Why would Vince actively seek one of the few jobs out there that's WORSE than working for Nexstar?"

Well, there's the six-figure salary with a benefits package that we private-sector drones can only dream about ...

Anonymous said...

To 8:23, Vince was canned because Nexstar's consultants said they have to have full-time, trained meteorologists on staff.

Too bad we can't have a Vince/St. Lou primary

Anonymous said...

Vince was never trained as a meteorologist? If that's true, then his lay-off was justified.
The money is attractive. It's also flattering when people tell you that you are well-liked enough to win an election.
It's still difficult to see him being the best candidate to get some things done in Washington, DC on behalf of the people in this area. Nice guys always finish last in the long run.

Anonymous said...

....And April Gonzalez is? She can't even finish a sentence on air. Its "QUITE" annoying to watch her

Anonymous said...

Couple of things...because Vince wasn't a trained meteorologist means squat far as I'm concerned. Watch Tom Clark some night. Count how many "could be's", "maybe's", "there's a chance that", "anywhere between's", etc. Vince was every bit as accurate as the current crop of degreed weather monkeys.

And as far as April goes, say what you will but hey, nice rack!

Anonymous said...

WNEP's weather ying/yang combo of Crazy Joe in the morning and Nerdy Tom at night is one of the weirder aspects of local teevee (which for those who haven't lived in other markets is laughably bad).

Anonymous said...

9:14
Give it some time. Joe grows on ya'.
April's sure nicer to look at than Vince.

Anonymous said...

Snedeker remains popular because people for the most part don't allow TV people to penetrate any further into the psyche than the outermost layer and watching out of the corner of their eye they see a funny guy who tells them the weather. Listen and watch him carefully and you'll see an egotistical one-trick pony prima donna (is that one or two words?)

April? I'd have to agree, nice rack.

Anonymous said...

Look at him closely and you'll see a man who consistently is rude to the female anchors. Egotistical indeed.

Anonymous said...

How about a little remedial "truthiness?" It wasn't a consultant who recommended demoting Vince: it was news director Al Zobel who went off on the "Vince isn't a meteorologist" tangent. He shoved Vince onto the morning shift and forced him to take a huge pay cut.

I've seen the research: Vince Sweeney was the most popular person on WBRE for years. That didn't matter to Zobel, who got Nexstar brass to stand by while he humiliated the person who generated the most goodwill for the station over the last two decades.

Vince, bitter? You'd be too.

Anonymous said...

I don't think anyone said anything about Vince and bitter here. That last post about egotistical and treating female anchors rudely was about Snedeker. I'm sure Vince wouldn't be sending Zobel or Nexstar a Christmas card. He's still got friends there I'm sure and everyone knows he got royally screwed but my guess is he's happier now than he was his last year or two of Nexstar and with the possibility of a political career on the horizon he's probably actually excited about the prospects.

Anonymous said...

I thought this thread was about Vince, but now that it's turned into a rant against Joe Snedeker, I have to jump in and say WTF?

Joe could jump to any top-ten market any time he wants and name his own salary. Why? Because he's not just another "Here's the occluded front and these are isobars" cookie-cutter meteorologist. He's got energy and personality and he brings life to a newscast.

The Nexstar dull-opoly, WBRE and WYOU: between them they've got, what, six or seven meteorologists? Quick--name four. OK, three?

Uh, how about two?

Anonymous said...

"Vince Sweeney was the most popular person on WBRE for years."

That tells you everything you need to know about NEPA.

Anonymous said...

If Snedeker could jump to any top ten market and name his salary why doesn't he? You have no idea what you're talking about. He is a classic case of "big fish, small pond" and his medicine show/circus clown routine wouldn't last six months there. This is market what, 70? You may be impressed by his energy and compared to the trolls at WBRE/WYOU, well I'll give you that, but his routine would be old in two weeks in a market where there are actually large numbers of available viewers. The fact of the matter is no one is more impressed with the money he's paid and the popularity he enjoys in this market than Snedeker himself. Pissin' with the big dogs, he'd be eaten alive.

Sweeney was the real deal, he is genuine. If you think that reflects on this market, well you're right. What he offered/provided for WBRE/WYOU was something that the small "penny-wise, pound-foolish" minds in charge there were too dense to realize.

If you buy Snedeker's routine you're a dolt but there's no shortage of dolts. Ever hear of the Bell Curve?

Anonymous said...

The kids at WBRE right now are below par, but that does not mean WNEP's Snedecker is a genius.
11:33 is right. Snedecker is more interesting to watch than anyone else around here, but in the big pond, he'd be considered unprofessional and unbearable.

Anonymous said...

WBRE had bad ratings with Sweeney. They have bad ratings without him. They're saving money. It's all Nexstar cares about. I'll never understand Snedeker's appeal.

Anonymous said...

Vince was and is the best weatherman in NEPA.

Anonymous said...

They wanted Sweeney's salary to hire two guys to do weather in Stroudsburg and Williamsport. They did and pocketed the change. Anyone here name either of those guys? Yeah, no surprise, I didn't think so.

If he runs, he wins. I'd bet on it.

Anonymous said...

I love posts like 8:29's

Can anyone here name any of the last five Presidents? Didn't think so. LMFAO

Jeff Jumper and Brian Fitzgerald.

Can anyone name any ballplayers in the Mitchell report? Didn't think so.

Vince has name recognition but would still need a platform, and the GOP in that district will want some substance beyond the big name. He doesn't seem far enough to the right for that constituency.

Anonymous said...

7:32

You ain't gettin' it. It wasn't his idea to begin with, it was theirs so thanks for your political insight but I think they'd figure a way to get it worked out. And what was that "last five Presidents" and Mitchell report comparison? That was feeble.

Anonymous said...

A platform? OK, fine. First, you need voters to have some idea who you are, then you present a platform. A platform is meaningless without the name and face recognition, because if people don't know you, they ain't gonna listen to you.

If half of what I hear is correct, even GOP types who are paying lip-service by publically supporting another candidate are hoping this guy will run.

Anonymous said...

I'm encouraged that the GOP is using a proven Democratic tactic, but Vince won't beat Carney.

Anonymous said...

Sweeney is the only hope the GOP has of beating Carney, and Carney is full well aware of it. Sweeney makes Carney, "...very, very nervous." That's a direct quote from someone on the inside. Believe it, don't believe it, whatever, your choice...

Anonymous said...

Again I ask, why would Vince want to run for office? Why subject yourself--on a much, much larger scale--to the kind of BS attacks we read here?

Someone like Frank Shimkus does it for the adulation, for the ego stroking. When Frank says "I'm looking out for you," it's a capital "I" and a small "you."

I don't think Vince is narcissistic enough to make a good pol.

Anonymous said...

3:42 nailed just why this guy could win. Notice how he calls Sweeney "Vince" and "Vince" only. Everyone from Honesdale to Towanda to Williamsport knows this guy by his first name alone. There are very few people around here known so widely and well that their first name is all you need hear. In fact, I can't think of anyone except him.

That familiarity alone could mean more than a half million in the war chest.

How about Dan, or Chris? Who?

Still, I'm with those here who wonder why he'd want to run.

Anonymous said...

WNEP should have hired Vince.


Think of the ratings.

Anonymous said...

The U.S. invades Iran: "Vince said it would be like this????"

Anonymous said...

Look, Vince is the genuine article.
He's a great guy! He is married to Carol for 300 years. Vince put up with more shit at deathstar than any of you cry babies could imagine.
Love him or hate him he's real and he will tell you which end the sun won't shine:)
God Bless you Vince you are a good guy.You have my vote!

Anonymous said...

Vince is not a WNEP Kool Aid drinker, he would have told some of those back stabbing candy asses to F!*K OFF!!

Anonymous said...

Vince is one of us!
ROCK ON VINCE!!!

Anonymous said...

temp per rate ture!
Love it!
We miss Vince!

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