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Kelly and Daly had both worked in the [[University of Wisconsin]]'s Space Science and Engineering department, developers of the [[PDP-11]]-based "McIdas" (Man-Computer Interactive Data Access System) 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 budgets of a television station.<ref>Nelson, pg. 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]], which 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 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 (1977-1997)"], January 2008</ref> In spite of its simplicity and low resolution, the fast production and "high tech" look caught on, and soon the system was almost universal, replacing [[bluescreen]] systems on cardboard maps that had previously been used.<ref>Nelson, pg. 303</ref> The company notes that 70% of the top 50 TV markets were using the system by 1982.<ref name=wxc>[http://www.wxc.com/corporate/history.html "Weather Central History"]</ref>
In 1982 the company was purchased by [[Dynatech]], an expanding electronics company. Dynatech later purchased [[Cromemco]] and rolled the two companies together, before divesting themselves of all their 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/>
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