Dagmar Midcap coming back to Atlanta TV 15 years after departure
Meteorologist Dagmar Midcap is coming back to Atlanta television after a 15-year absence on the new CBS Atlanta news affiliate.
Her on-air start date has not been solidified, but she should be providing weather forecasts to Atlanta viewers by early December.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Dagmar back to Atlanta,” said News Director Shawn Hoder in an emailed statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Her energy, expertise, and deep connection to this community make her an incredible addition to our team.”
CBS Atlanta’s publicity team declined to allow Midcap or Hoder to speak to the AJC until after Midcap settles into her job.
Midcap, 56, became a popular presence on the former CBS affiliate WGCL-TV from 2007 to 2010. She received so much buzz on social media at the time, WGCL management in 2009 gave her a billboard on a highly trafficked portion of I-85 and I-75.
“I was on my bike when I first saw it,” Midcap said at the time. “I nearly spun off the road.”
The AJC, in a story about the billboard at the time, described her as possessing “a soothing voice, a pretty face and a warm personality. Fans have posted videos of her weather reports on YouTube. And the blogosphere has gone ga ga.”
In a move that surprised viewers, Midcap quit her job at WGCL in 2010 in the middle of her contract after her boyfriend at the time took his own life.
She tearfully spoke to the AJC at the Silver Skillet in Midtown soon after putting in her resignation, telling the publication she had been meeting with a grief counselor and therapists to grapple with her loss. She was having nightmares and was unable to sleep. She said she was taking medication and sleep aids.
“I can’t keep doing that,” she said. “It’s starting to affect me on the air. I can’t think on the air.”
She said she couldn’t cope with being in the city where she fell in love, where everything reminded her of her late boyfriend.
Midcap moved to San Diego and landed a job at the NBC affiliate there as a meteorologist and stayed for 12 years until 2023, when she returned to metro Atlanta, found a place to live at Serenbe and landed her CBS Atlanta job.
Midcap’s background is nothing if not colorful. She escaped a Vancouver-based cult at age 30 after an arranged marriage at age 19, according to an interview she did with the Times of San Diego.
She began her TV career in Akron, Ohio, before returning to Canada to work on “Breakfast,” a morning program in Vancouver.
Over the decades, she has been an avid advocate for endangered wildlife species and environmental issues. For NBC San Diego, she did segments about the environment called “Down to Earth.”
“The purpose of `Down to Earth’ was to awaken and inspire,” she told the San Diego publication. “I wanted people to wake up to the beauty of this planet and then inspire them to work to save it and protect it.”
Midcap also has a yen for testing cars and motorcycles, once co-hosting a Canadian TV show on the subject. And she once played goaltender for an amateur hockey team.
“I’m totally a tomboy,” Midcap told the AJC in 2009. “I’ve broken every bone in my body. Four concussions. Broken legs, knees, shins, playing hockey partly. Riding horses, falling out of trees. But I’m fine! I come from sturdy German stock!”
Only a handful of other local news broadcasters have returned to Atlanta TV after long absences.
Jeff Hullinger, now at Georgia Public Broadcasting, left WAGA-TV in 2002 after 18 years and didn’t return to local airwaves until 2010 on the NBC affiliate 11Alive.
Wes Sarginson co-anchored evening news with Monica Pearson from 1978 to 1984, departed to work at a station in D.C., then came back to Atlanta to co-anchor with Brenda Wood at 11Alive in the late 1990s. He retired in 2008.
CBS Atlanta, owned by Paramount, took over Atlanta’s CBS affiliation after Gray Media’s WANF-TV chose to go independent in August. It has been building a news station from scratch and is currently airing news at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., though it will be adding more newscasts later.
Among its other interesting hires to date include Sam Crenshaw, a former 11Alive sportscaster, and Brian Unger, who has a wide-ranging career, including time as a faux correspondent on “The Daily Show,” a host on the History Channel and an actor on “Yellowstone.”
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
