With a career spanning near 30 years Black Weather Channel anchor Vivian Brown bid farewell Tuesday to viewers leaving little information on her departure or where she would go next.
“It is with great disappointment that I have to announce that this is my last TV broadcast on The Weather Channel. I don’t know exactly where I’m going next,” she said. “I am saying goodbye, for now.”
The announcement came as a shock to many viewers who watch her on a daily basis as one of the few Black faces on the 24-hour weather network.
“Thirty years ago, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said during her tearful farewell.
Weather Channel spokeswoman Shirley Powell confirmed in published reports through a statement that Brown was leaving.
“Yesterday was Vivian Brown’s last day on-air with us,” Powell said. “We thank her for her remarkable three decades of dedicated service to our viewers and fans and wish her the best. She completed an almost 30-year career with our network, something very few achieve anywhere in television.”
Brown got her start at The Weather Channel in 1986 after graduating from Jackson State University with a degree in meteorology. On the network she hosted Afternoon Outlook from 2003-2006, PM Edition Weekend from 2006-2010 and Day Planner from 2010-2013.
As Brown takes her leave from The Weather Channel news surfaced this week that the network’s morning show “Wake Up With Al,” hosted by well-known TV weatherman Al Roker, is getting the ax. Reports indicate that the show will be canceled by the end of the month due to financial constraints. “Wake Up With Al” is broadcast live from New York City, away from The Weather Channel’s headquarters in Atlanta.
No word yet on a replacement for the show.