Lelan Statom has been waking up around 2 a.m. since 1999. As NewsChannel 5’s Emmy-winning senior meteorologist and co-host of Talk of the Town, he gets to the station between 3 and 3:30 a.m. — in a suit, mind you. These days, around 3:50 a.m., he records a 25-second weather update that will play at the pump at local Twice Daily gas stations, and then he takes his place for the 4 a.m newscast. He has survived this schedule for all these years, he says, because he’s perfected “the art of the nap.” His wife Yolanda even bought him a special alarm clock, with settings for naps of varying lengths. The ideal nap, he says, is 90 minutes. Although he was born in Chicago, he was raised where his family has deep roots, in Dyersburg, Tenn. This year will mark his 24th on the air in Nashville — where he’s spent most of his 31-year career — and yes, his voice is just as great in person.
Which came first, your interest in broadcasting or in weather? As far as a career, it was the broadcasting. From a hobby standpoint, it was weather, because I followed weather as a kid. There was a little weather center in my backyard growing up so I would follow it and everything, so it was kind of a hobby as a kid. But when I decided what I wanted to do as an adult, it was more on the news end of things before I got onto the weather side.
Do you remember your local weather reporters growing up? Yes, because I grew up watching Memphis television, and so the big one there for me growing up was a guy who just recently retired, Dave Brown, who was a big weather guru in the Memphis area. And then there was another guy who’s still doing weather down there by the name of Jim Jaggers. So those were a couple of the folks I was kind of inspired by growing up.
I’m embarrassed to ask you this because I’m sure you get it all the time, but how hard was the learning curve on doing the green screen? [Performs bad impression of a weatherman] It took a while. Starting out doing television in Knoxville, I would just put my hand out and just hope and pray I was in the right direction. And while it’s a different aspect, I would try to go home and practice in front of the mirror and the bathroom and everything. But more than everything else is just doing it over and over again.
I imagine it would take some practice, but that goes for all of broadcasting — it’s not just knowing the weather, you also have to be on TV. You have to have those skills. The other thing on that is being able to take something that can be complicated from a weather standpoint and just relay it in a way that people understand. Because when it comes down to it, Grandmama doesn’t care about the big high pressure that’s over her house. She just wants to know is it going to rain on her head before she goes to Kroger today.
