Sam Champion of the Weather Channel in Paris during terrorist attacks
By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Friday, November 13, 2015
Sam Champion, who works in Atlanta for The Weather Channel, happened to be in Paris for Al Gore's 24 Hours of Reality for climate change awareness when the terrorist attacks happened.
He was shooting right by the Arc de Triomphe Friday night when the explosions and attacks began, killing at least 120.
The climate change project, the website said, was suspended "out of solidarity with the French people and the city of Paris" but Champion immediately began reporting for NBC News on both the main network and MSNBC. (NBCUniversal is a minority owner of The Weather Channel.)
At about 2 a.m. Paris time, he posted this video:
His long-time producer Darcy Bonfils, who worked with Champion for seven years at "Good Morning America" before they came to Atlanta for the Weather Channel, wrote this:
After about 18 months on the Weather Channel's morning show, he was taken off recently and is set to do a weekly prime-time science-oriented show instead out of New York.
When I asked Weather Company spokeswoman Shirley Powell about Champion's presence in Paris, she said she had no idea at first, then discovered he was working on the Al Gore project unaffiliated with the Weather Channel.
His most recent Tweet:
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.
