Joanne Feldman calls becoming Fox 5’s chief meteorologist ‘a pinch me moment’
Joanne Feldman has taken over as chief meteorologist at Fox 5, the station announced Wednesday.
Feldman, a fixture at WAGA-TV since 2007, replaces David Chandley, who became chief meteorologist in 2015 after more than a quarter century at rival ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
She is only the third chief meteorologist for WAGA-TV since 1979, when Ken Cook started his 35-year run before retiring and ceding his spot to Chandley.
Feldman, a Marietta native who graduated from Lassiter High School and the University of Georgia, will continue to provide weather reports for “Good Day Atlanta,” which runs each day from 4:30-11 a.m.
“This is a pinch me moment at this point in my career,” she said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
She acknowledged that the chief meteorologist normally handles the evening news, but Fox 5 management decided to give that gig to Jonathan Stacey, who has been with the station since 2021.
Feldman’s bosses prioritized stability over tradition by keeping her on “Good Day Atlanta,” which features not just Feldman but long-running anchors like Buck Lanford and Ron Gant and roving reporter Paul Milliken.
“It’s nontraditional for the chief meteorologist to do mornings,” she said “But I always loved the vibe of ‘Good Day Atlanta’ and what we have going on there. My life has been built around doing mornings. This is what works best for my life.”
Feldman will also continue to co-anchor the 10 a.m. hour with Natalie McCann and Alex Whittler, a job she’s had since Fox 5 added that news hour at 10 a.m. in 2019. “Doing live interviews wasn’t in my wheelhouse at the time,” she said. “I had to build that muscle.”
Her predecessor Chandley told the AJC that he had hoped management would select Feldman for his job: “I think the world of Joanne. She is really good and I can’t think of anybody better to follow me. I’m glad they did it.”
Feldman said being chief doesn’t change her life too much, but it does mean “I have to be aware of what’s happening with everyone on the team and making sure we are all committed to the same goal of making sure the viewers get the weather they depend on any time of day.”
With Chandley’s departure, she said Fox 5 is seeking to fill a fifth meteorologist position.
Feldman, who is married with two adult children, originally considered becoming a news reporter while at UGA. But after seeing Hurricane Elena while visiting Florida in 1985, she realized meteorology was her future.
After graduating from UGA, she received a meteorology degree at Penn State University and worked at stations in Fresno, California, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
With young children and seeking a new home in 2007, she applied for a raft of weather jobs and was thrilled when Fox 5 offered her a weekend meteorology job.
“I grew up watching Ken Cook,” she said. “I was in the mindset that as much as I would have loved to work in Atlanta in this capacity, I never honestly believed it would ever happen.”
She also remembered watching “Good Day Atlanta” while in college when it launched with initial anchors Paul Ossmann and the late Amanda Davis. “I had no idea I’d end up being part of that show,” she said. “It has been lightning in a bottle with this whole crew. We blend so well together and I’m glad we’re not disrupting that.”
Feldman, who wakes up every morning at 2:45 a.m., has spent years splitting her sleep between afternoons and night so she can spend evenings with her husband, Chris, who she married in 1995. “He has a 9-to-5 job so I wouldn’t be able to do that if I had the evening job,” she said.
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.
