ColorGraphics Weather Systems: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American computer graphics company}}

'''ColorGraphics Weather Systems''' was a [[computer graphics]] company that pioneered the use of computer graphics for displaying [[weather forecast]]s on local [[television]].<ref name=Nelson303/> Formed in 1979 by Terry Kelly and Richard Daly, it is now part of [[Weather Central]], another of Kelly's companies.

==History==

After graduating from the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] in 1971 with a degree in [[meteorology]], Terry Kelly took a job with [[Madison, Wisconsin]], television station Channel 27[[WKOW]] calculating weather predictions. Over the next two years he introduced a number of new techniques to the industry, including using magnets to represent high and low points, color markers on a whiteboard for graphics, and later hand-photographing satellite cloud imagery with a Bolex camera to produce the first cloud-movement animations.<ref name=p306>{{harvnb|Nelson, pg. |2007|page=306</ref><ref name=mad>Robert Chappell, [http://www.madisonmagazine.com/article.php?section_id=918&xstate=view_story&story_id=194192 "The Liberal Media"], ''Madison Magazine'', March 2005}}</ref>

Kelly and several of his colleagues also produced [[weather forecasting]] [[software]]. In 1974 he was promoted to chief meteorologist at [[WKOW]],<ref name=mad/> and at the same time started Weather Central to sell and operate their software for smaller organizations such as ski resorts and local highway departments.<ref name=p306/>

ColorGraphics was formed in 1979 as a partnership between Kelly and Richard Daly. Kelly and Daly had both worked in the [[University of Wisconsin]]'s Space Science and Engineering department, developers of the [[McIDAS]] weather display system. McIDAS used downloaded satellite cloud cover images and superimposed them on locally generated maps. Designed for the [[National Weather Service]], McIDAS was a high-end system well beyond the budget of a television station.<ref>{{harvnb|Nelson, pg. |2007|page=302}}</ref>

Kelly's idea was to adapt the McIdas concept for lower cost [[home computer]] systems that were appearing in the late 1970s. Their first system, "LiveLine", was based on the [[Apple II]].<ref name=Nelson303/> Its graphics system could not be [[genlock]]ed, so a TV camera had to be pointed at the screen to send the video into the production systems. This initial system was soon replaced by a similar one running on [[Cromemco]] computers using a modified version of their [[Cromemco Dazzler|Dazzler]] color-graphics card.<ref>Robert Kuhmann, [http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/crom_kuh.html "Cromemco S-100 computer ~ a Silicon Valley memoir (1977&ndash;1997)"], January 2008</ref> In spite of its simplicity and low resolution, the fast production and "high tech" look caught on, and by the mid-1980s the system was almost universal, replacing [[Chroma key|bluescreen]] systems on cardboard maps that had previously been used.<ref name=Nelson303>{{harvnb|Nelson, pg. |2007|page=303}}</ref> The company notesnoted that 70% of the top 50 TV markets were using the system by 1982.<ref name=wxc>[{{cite web|url=http://www.wxc.com/corporate/history.html "|title=Weather Central History"] {{webarchive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214165028/http://www.wxc.com/corporate/history.html |archive-date=December 14, 2008 }}</ref> By 1984 80% of all television stations in the country were using ColorGraphics system, built on Cromemco microcomputers, to generate weather, news, and sports graphics.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Melton |first1=Louise |title=Video Processing |magazine=Computers & Electronics |date=November 1984 |volume=22 |issue=11 |page=96 |url=https://archive.org/details/ComputersElectronics/ComputersElectronics1984-11/page/n91/mode/2up |quote=Some 80% of all the television stations in the country use Colorgraphics’s LiveLine systems to generate weather, news and sports graphics. The basic system is built around Cromemco microcomputers}}</ref>

In 1982 the company was purchased by [[Dynatech|Dynatech Corporation]], an expanding electronics company. Dynatech purchased [[Cromemco]] in 1987 and rolled the two companies together, before divesting all of its media properties in the early 1990s. Kelly and Daly purchased the rights back from Dynatech in 1994, operating under the Weather Central name. In 1995 they introduced the new "GENESIS" platform on [[Silicon Graphics]] computers, which later moved onto [[Hewlett-Packard]] workstations.<ref name=wxc/>

==References==

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===Bibliography===

* {{cite book|first=Mike |last=Nelson, [|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05yxTU60z2kC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=Colorgraphics+Weather+Systems&sourcepg=web&otsPA302 |title=xMzBfW1Y6V&sig=TkRpCXWZzUvyX-cktEshY4awCO4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA302,M1 "Colorado Weather Almanac"], |publisher=Big Earth Publishing, |year=2007, ISBN|isbn=978-1555664015 1555664016|url-access=limited}}

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081217061604/http://www.wxc.com/ Weather Central, Inc.]

[[Category:1979 establishments in Wisconsin]]

[[Category:American companies established in 1979]]

[[Category:1987 disestablishments in Wisconsin]]

[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1987]]

[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]]

[[Category:Graphic software in meteorology]]

[[Category:MediaMass media companies established in 1979]]

[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1987]]

[[Category:Companies based in Madison, Wisconsin]]

[[Category:Software companies established in 1979]]

[[Category:Software companies disestablished in 1987]]

[[Category:1982 mergers and acquisitions]]