Lou Scally ending four decades of weather forecasting as WDVM newsroom to relocate to DC
After four decades of delivering the forecast for the Tri-State's snowfall totals and scorching summer highs, Lou Scally is stepping down as WDVM-TV's 6 p.m. weatherman.
"It's been a great run," he said Friday. "I've had a lot of fun and I've met a lot of great people.
"I've worked with a lot of folks who went on to the big markets, and we've had a lot of wonderful people here.
"Fortunately, because I worked the main evening newscast, I've had a chance to work with the best of them," he said.
Scally's final weather segment will be seen during Wednesday's 6 p.m. newscast.
He said the station, which has been at 13 E. Washington St. in downtown Hagerstown, will begin operating from a new location in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Rather than make that long commute, Scally decided to close the book on what was originally supposed to be a part-time job at what was then WHAG-TV.
More: Video journalist, a Hagerstown native, shares experience in Ukraine at start of war
Coming attraction: Attention Western Maryland junk collectors: 'American Pickers' is looking for your stuff
Back in October of 1980, the late Bob Borngesser, who was the TV station's news director and who anchored newscasts for Scally's morning radio show on WJEJ-AM, suggested that Scally try out for the vacant 11 p.m. TV weather job.
Scally said he was reluctant and didn't feel comfortable doing it, but Borngesser insisted he give it a try.
"I said I really don't want to do it and he said, 'Do it until we find somebody,' and that's where we left it," Scally said. "So I was doing it until they found somebody and that's been about 42 years."
The station first had Scally doing only the 11 p.m. weathercast, then added 6 p.m. as well as others.
He settled into the 6 p.m. slot seven years ago.
"I've got a good gig. I go in at 4:30 and get out of there by 7 so I'm home for dinner," he said. "It was really a nice gig here for the last seven years."
The Hagerstown native said he is in negotiations with WDVM to have a continued presence in another role at the station, but was unable to elaborate Friday. He added that the station will continue to have a news bureau in Hagerstown.
A message to station officials was not immediately returned Friday.
Scally said he'll continue his morning radio show and is working on a cookbook, a book about local broadcasting and another chronicling his weight-loss journey that resulted in him shedding 50 pounds in the past year.
He said with his 70th birthday approaching, "it's time to sit down and think about what's going to happen in the next 10 to 20 years.
"A wise man once said, 'No man on his deathbed ever wished he had worked an extra day.'"
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Lou Scally stepping down from 'a great run' as WDVM weatherman
