We raised two boys.
AMS certified media meteorologist, host of the WeatherBrains podcast, and general weather dweeb/dork/weenie/geek. James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. Smith Lumber Company in nearby Chapman. "Spann writes about those early years -- about the father who left him, the mother who raised him, and the historic storms that shaped his career as a meteorologist -- in his new autobiography, "It’s for weather people, and it's also just for anybody who's interested in (knowing) what it's like coming out of South Alabama in the 1960s from a broken home," Spann says of the book. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. "So, on a Sunday night, Nov. 11, 1973, Spann made his commercial broadcasting debut. "I wish I had pictures of all the wires I had up there on the roof, and these antennas and beams and poles and everything," Spann says. 105,804 talking about this. And that work ethic came about because my father left.
"James Max Spann Jr., the little boy from Greenville who grew up to become a man in Tuscaloosa, has weathered life.Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. "I worked 6 (p.m.) to midnight, and my first song was 'Jessica' by the Allman Brothers. See more ideas about James spann, Magical quotes, Make me laugh. My friends were there. "She made that promise," Spann says, "and by golly, she delivered on it.
But we do note SPC has added a low end, “marginal risk” (level 1/5) of severe thunderstorms for Northwest Alabama this evening. But nothing will ever beat the excitement of that night on that 250-watt radio station.
All rights reserved ( The average high for the date is 91 (based on data for Birmingham), but most places are only in the upper 70s and low 80s.
The call letters, WBBR, stood for Black Bear Radio, in honor of the school mascot.Then, the following fall, when he was just 17 and still in high school, he got his first real radio job playing rock 'n' roll on Tuscaloosa's WTBC-AM 1230, the station Spann had listened to on his transistor radio since he and his mother first came to Tuscaloosa. "It was just crazy.
"But I said what I needed to say.
"And the other good thing about it, I'm very motivated not to be like him," he adds. **No Weather Xtreme video this afternoon** ACTIVE WEATHER DAY: A line of showers and thunderstorms developed quickly across North Alabama around 1:00, and the storms grew to severe limits in spots. "His father died just a couple of years later, and Spann spread his ashes at the family gravesite in Industry, a little community back home in Butler County.About three years ago, on his way back from Mobile on a Sunday morning, Spann also went back to revisit his old church, Greenville Baptist Church. Mrs. Spann died on Dec. 9, 2018, at 86. In fact, rain is falling on parts of Central Alabama early this morning. "Spann was 7 years old when his father, Max Spann, walked out on him and his mother, setting in motion a chain of circumstances that led him to Tuscaloosa and eventually into a 40-plus-year career as a meteorologist, the last 23 of which he's been at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham.
"Coming of age in South Alabama during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s was also confusing to Spann, who didn't understand why black kids his age couldn't go to school with him, couldn't go swimming with him, couldn't even be seen hanging out with him.At his church, Greenville Baptist Church, he recalls some of the older men talking openly about their contempt for black people.