Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
It’s no secret around Ashvegas that WLOS weather legend Bob Caldwell is tossing in the weather maps and heading for retirement next year. So let’s riff a little on the Moses of the Mornings at our beloved local TV station.
Caldwell’s retirement makes sense. After all, it will be four full decades next year that he’s been connected with the station. That connection starts with some of the station’s earliest days. Not many people can say they’ve been on television for 40 years. In fact, Bob’s anniversary date is June 16, so he’ll be starting his one-year countdown soon.
Like Bill “Mr. Bill” Norwood, another WLOS weather legend that you see hawking trips to Cancun or someplace, Caldwell harkens back to a kinder, gentler era of television, a time when local stations didn’t feel the need to try and scare the shit out of you with every weather forecast like they do now.
Caldwell, and Norwood, were pretty plain, straight-ahead guys. They weren’t “chief meteorologists.” They were capable personalties who actually had … personalities. Mr. Bill did a children’s show for years. Caldwell has done a little bit of everything over the course of this career, from pretending to savor every damn recipe they cook up in the “Carolina Kitchen” to playing Bumbo the Clown on a live TV program the station aired back in the ’60s.
Whether he’s discussing the latest upper level atmoshpheric disturbance of undetermined origin or warning us that a chilly Yankee clipper is headed our way, we know Bob’s just trying to give the weather guessing his best shot. That’s not to say we excuse his constantly errant predictions of snow, snow, snow in the winter. (Does he have a contract with Bob Ingle to stir up weather fear and boost those grocery store sales of bread and milk, or what??) But we here at Ashvegas generally feel like he’s doing his best.
(Caldwell does also have an annoying habit of constant chuckling. He’ll chuckle chuckle his way through his reports, as if he’s having a grand old time. Caldwell is small in stature, by the way. Much smaller than you might think if you constantly see him towering over Western North Carolina’s 16 counties. And he’s a lightweight with the wine. Get a couple of glasses in him and you can’t shut him up.)
Still, we like Bob. We especially enjoy his outdoors reports. He’s probably better known for his reports from trails and riversides than he is for his weather reports.
Whether he’s examining (for the millionth time) the mysteries of the Judaculla rock or sniffing squirrel shit on tree bark along some trail (we mean this in the kindest way), we get the feeling that Caldwell truly communes with nature.
He’s a real mountain man, after all. Caldwell hails from over in Madison County. He’s a veteran. And damn if he hasn’t emceed just about every ramp festival and fly fishing tournament from here to Robbinsville.
So let’s enjoy him while we got him. We’ll be keeping a close eye to see whether the short-timer syndrome sets in. And it will be interesting to watch how the local station treats the big goodbye of a one of its greatest, most well-known assets.
Good luck with your fishing camp, Bob.
It will be interesting to watch the shuffle for that spot, Mountain Man. It may well be Siltzer. We’ll have to watch and what.
What do you mean that I have “no clue” about Cuevas. He sucks. End of story.
Ashvegas, I’m a first time viewer to your website. I see that you have no clue about Cuevas but I will agree with you that it will be an emotional day when Bob Caldwell hangs it up for good and says goodbye. The morning and noon shows will take a drastic hit with Caldwell retiring. I’m courious as to who will attempt to fill the shoes of Bob? Knowing Sinclair Broadcasting, there will be no outside hiring, more than likely either Jay Siltzer will take it, or Jay takes the weekend duties and Julie Wunder will work mornings/noon.
Rug girl’s name is Jaime (sp?) Simpson. Nothing on the Internet yet about her, and I’ve been searching for a year. Art & Decor’s website is down or they forgot to renew their domain name, but they’ve not had anything there. Somebody’s missing a huge marketing opportunity, at least for us lear-at-the-beauty-on-the-screen types. Might be enough to get me to go in and look at the sale bin. Nothing on their other site for the Gaffney store she also does commercials for.
Caldwell has always been a class act and he will be missed. When I was a kid I was always wanting Norwood to get out of town with his balloon so Caldwell would bring in a guitar and do the Mr.Bill show.
Ash..above you say “I could give a damn…”, is this along the lines of folks who say “I could care less…” and mean “I could not care less”? Ofcourse, I see how rug girl could smarm up any neurological function to make us mispeak.
One of Caldwell’s all-time bests this am:
“The weather is kinda up in the air right now.”
Uh, as opposed to underground? That would be either a volcano or an earthquake, Bob.
Ash,you’ve got no taste, like you went to Carolina or something. Those are genuine PERSIAN rugs, from Persia (which no longer exists) by way of Cambodia, most likely. If you turn your head sideways when that commercial comes on, it looks like Miss Art & Decor is writhing on the rugs. That enhances the 15-second commercial experience. You oughta research this honey and feature her career – not to mention the cleavage – at Ashvegas. There’s no UNC basketball for the next 4 months, so get on it!
I don’t know who that is, Bulldog, but you’re right. The rug girl is cute. I could give a damn about some giant, thousand-dollar, ugly-ass rugs, but that cleavage pulls me in every time.
Here’s two thoughts on Bob Caldwell’s retirement:
1. Does he get to take the Leicester Carpet Sales Sky Cam home with him, or does it belong to Sinclair Broadcasting?
2. Here’s a vote for Bob’s replacement: That foxy blonde who does the TV commercials for Art & Decor is hot, hot, hot. What’s her story, anyway?