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WTHR meteorologist leaving for position in Texas

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WTHR-TV Channel 13 Meteorologist Chikage Windler is scheduled to sign off the local air Tuesday afternoon before departing for a new position in Texas in the latest in a series of shakeups involving local weathercasters.

Windler, who joined WTHR in May 2011, is taking over as chief meteorologist at KEYE-TV, the CBS affiliate in Austin, Tex., on March 4, she wrote in a post on Facebook.

Her departure comes the same week as WISH-TV Channel 8 announced it has hired Robb Ellis as its weekday evening meteorologist. Ellis, who led the weather team at the NBC and Fox affiliates in Wilmington, N.C., is scheduled to debut locally in mid-March.

Ellis' experience includes seven years as a scientist and researcher, and coverage of an historic tornado outbreak and Superstorm Sandy, WISH-TV News Director Steve Bray, himself a former weatherman who took over the top job late last year, noted in a statement.

Meantime, meteorologist Angela Buchman, who left WISH last August, is expected to begin at WTHR later this year after a one-year noncompete clause expires. Other WTHR meteorologists include Chuck Lofton, Nicole Misencik and Chris Wright.

Buchman, an Indianapolis-area native who joined WISH in 2001 after a four-year stint at a station in Sacramento, Calif., noted on Twitter this week that she's looking forward to returning to the air in the fall. She's been offering weather updates on Twitter for roughly 7,000 followers.

"I am enjoying some extra time with my family," she wrote in a message to one fan.

Windler worked at KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, before joining WTHR. The University of Oklahoma graduate (with degrees in meteorology and broadcast journalism) got her start in TV news after chasing tornadoes as part of a project at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

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  • just seems silly...
    I have lived in Indy for 2 years now and I am amazed at how much turnover there has been in this market with weather people. That should be the bigger question, what is going on at the local stations that is making these people move so much? And it isn't just the weather people, I have seen articles in the IBJ about news anchors at channel 6 and 8 have the same problem.
  • No-compete Clause
    Um, Jeff: WTHR already paid one meteorologist a year to ride out the (local) no-complete clause: Chris Wright, when he left WISH/8. The question begging to be answered is: what will WTHR/13 do with two alpha weather dogs? I have a couple of ideas...what scenarios permit something waiting for a year to go elsewhere? Speaking of alpha dogs: what I can't figure out how WTHR/13's 4 alpha dogs have remained together for so long. They have to be enjoying their situation: they work 1/2 as much as they normally would and likely earn the full amount. The only WTHR full-time, on-air "personality" (as they like to refer to themselves) who has a cushier job is the sports director.
  • Linda
    I hope WTHR doesn't make Angela join the "talk to your co-workers, not to the public" mentality of their weather team. The morning weather reporters address the anchors, not the public. If they're only interested in giving the weather reports to their co-workers, they can do that off air. Pretty hokey.
  • Weather
    Only the stations care....just tell me what is going to happen and I'm good with it. Way too much emphasis on this. who care who is delivering it as long as they know what they are talking about. I watch the satation that delivers the best news content.
  • relevance
    Can someone explain the news media's fascination with weather 'personalities'? At a time when weather forecasts can be obtained instantly from multiple sources (with approx the same level of accuracy, minus the hysteria), it seems silly that one station is paying Ms Buchman to remain off camera for a year.
    • Chikage who?
      ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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