Sports anchor called in for storm duty goes viral: 'I can still feel my face right now'
Mark Woodley, of KWWL-TV in Iowa, chipped in to do his share of storm team coverage and good-naturedly took it in stride, offering up a wry take on his new short-lived "beat."
A local resident clears snow from a downtown ice skating rink, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
It’s been all hands on deck for news outlets across the country trying to stay on top of the winter storm developments. But one TV station wasn’t kidding when they sent out the memo. They even pulled in staff off their sports desk to report on the blizzard-like conditions.
Mark Woodley, a sports reporter and anchor for KWWL-TV in Waterloo, Iowa, drew the short straw and was called in to do his share -- and he sure did just that, providing a snarky take on what it’s like reporting, well, in a storm. Woodley shared a compilation of some live shots on Facebook Thursday and they quickly went viral:
“I normally do sports. Everything is canceled here for the next couple of days, so what better time to ask a sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he would normally wake up to go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold and tell people not to do the same?” Woodley, slightly grinning, told news anchor Ryan Witry back in the studio. “I didn’t even know there was a 3:30 also in the morning until, uh, today.”
Standing out in the bitter night cold, Woodley good-naturedly tried to make light of his new, temporary “beat” during multiple live shots, offering some weather updates along the way.
“It’s absolutely fantastic,” he remarks sarcastically when Witry asks how it is out there. “You know I’m used to these evening shows…but generally on those shows, I’m inside,” he quipped.
At one point, he expresses envy of a colleague who has the good fortune of riding around in the warm confines of a station van.
“How do I get that Storm Chaser 7 duty?” Woodley asks Witry. “I feel like Clint got the better end of that deal. That thing’s heated. The outdoors currently is not heated.”
As the hours tick away, a nearly frozen Woodley begins to grow suspicious.
“Can I go back to my regular job? I’m pretty sure Ryan you guys added an extra hour to the show just because somebody likes torturing me.”
An Iowa native, Woodley is definitely used to the cold. But even he knows some people have their limits.
“The good news is that I can still feel my face right now. The bad news is, I wish I couldn’t.”
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