email:  ckoplien@todaystmj4.com

Viewers ask me all the time about my schedule.  I think everyone expects that in order to be on TV at 5:00am I must get up pretty early in the morning.  But most are still shocked when I tell them that I get up in the middle of the night.

At 2:30am.

Frankly, I’m pretty shocked too...every day when my alarms rings.


It takes me about an hour to get myself from my bed to the weather center.  That gives me from 3:30am to 5:00am to get ready to be on TV.  I need every minute of it.

I start that hour and a half by pouring over the weather maps and data that help me to make the forecast.  Once it’s ready, I send it to everyone at TMJ4, as well as our radio stations WTMJ and WKTI.  I also post it on our todaystmj4.com website and email it to viewers via our MyPersonal 4Cast service.  I also prepare the maps that I’ll show on TV, and record a couple presentations for our 24-hour weather channel on Time Warner Cable channel 104.


In between all of those things, I find time to put in my contacts and put on my tie.

It’s a sprint all morning long.  There’s no time to chat with co-workers at the coffee maker.  “Live at Daybreak” starts at 5:00am whether I’m ready or not.

My bosses prefer that I be ready.