{"id":30613,"date":"2021-08-13T12:10:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T17:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=30613"},"modified":"2021-08-13T12:29:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T17:29:22","slug":"nbc-5-meteorologist-andy-avalos-retire-wonderful-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2021\/08\/13\/nbc-5-meteorologist-andy-avalos-retire-wonderful-career\/","title":{"rendered":"NBC 5 meteorologist Andy Avalos to retire after 'wonderful career'"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Andy Avalos<\/p><\/div>\n

After more than three decades on the weather front of two Chicago TV stations, Andy Avalos is ready to ride off into the sunset.<\/p>\n

Avalos, 66, announced Friday he\u2019s retiring as primary morning meteorologist at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.<\/a> Before joining NBC 5 for the first of two runs in 1994, he spent 10 years at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.<\/p>\n

His last day on the air will be August 27, according to Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to retirement and spending more quality time with my family and friends,\u201d Avalos told colleagues in an email. \u201cBut to be honest with you, I think I am looking forward to never setting my alarm clock to wake me up at midnight ever again!\u201d<\/p>\n

Avalos began his career at KOAA, the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and later worked for KMGH, the ABC affiliate in Denver, before joining ABC 7 as weekend weatherman in 1984. He was tapped to replace Jim Tilmon at NBC 5 in 1994.<\/p>\n

From 1999 to 2003 he ran a pancake house in west suburban Lemont before returning full-time to NBC 5's weekday morning newscasts.<\/p>\n

Calling Avalos \"one of the nicest people in our business,\" Whittaker said: \"We will miss him in our newsroom. But his retirement is so well-deserved. We wish him the best in the years ahead, and thank him for his many years of service to us and our viewers.\"<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Avalos\u2019s email to colleagues: <\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI have been absolutely blessed with a wonderful career that has spanned nearly 40 years in radio and television. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. After 33 years on air here in Chicago, it's time to pass the baton to the next generation. I want to thank the many wonderful friends and colleagues I've had the pleasure to work with over the last 3 decades. I especially want to acknowledge and thank the viewers and friends on social media from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your excitement and loyalty. I could never have done it without each and every one of you.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nAs for the future, I'm looking forward to retirement and spending more quality time with my family and friends. But to be honest with you, I think I am looking forward to never setting my alarm clock to wake me up at midnight ever again!<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you again. It has been an amazing opportunity.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSincerely,<\/em>
\nAndy Avalos<\/em>
\nYour Friendly (Retired) Weatherman<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is the text of Whittaker's email to staff:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To all:<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nAfter 33 years of forecasting weather in Chicago, Andy Avalos is planning to retire. He\u2019ll be leaving NBC 5 News at the end of August.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSnow storms, tornadoes, floods, winds, heat waves and droughts \u2014 Andy has covered it all! He has been a key member of our Storm Team. He started here at NBC 5 in 1994 after working several years at WLS. He took a couple of years off to run his pancake house and then came back in 2003 to be the primary meteorologist on our morning newscasts.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the last 18 years our viewers have awakened to Andy telling them how to prepare for the day\u2019s weather. Andy has also been a leader of our Clear The Shelters initiative. His love of his pets is no secret to all of his fans and our viewers. A few of his pets have even made it to our newscasts!<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nAndy is also one of the nicest people in our business. We will miss him in our newsroom. But his retirement is so well-deserved. We wish him the best in the years ahead, and thank him for his many years of service to us and our viewers.<\/em>
\nAndy\u2019s last day will be Friday August 27th. Congratulations, Andy . . . and thank you!<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nAndy asked me to share the note below with all of you.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nFrank Whittaker<\/em>
\nStation Manager & VP of News<\/em>
\nNBC 5 Chicago<\/em><\/p>\n

Thursday's comment of the day:<\/a> Tom Skilling:<\/strong> Rob \u2014 What a lovely tribute to our little Maddie. THANK YOU so very much. And heartfelt thanks to all who took the time to post such kind and loving comments. Maddie was such a adorable little doggie who had been treated very badly in her first years. We told her early on when we adopted her, \"Maddie \u2014 NO ONE will ever mistreat you again.\" How such a beautiful animal was so willing to love humans in the way she did after those terrible early years \u2014 and SHE DID LOVE \u2014 always amazed me. Losing such a dear family member turns one's life upside down and inside out as all our fellow dog and pet animal lovers know. THANK YOU again for a lovely piece, Rob!! We never expected that.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After more than three decades on the weather front of two Chicago TV stations, Andy Avalos is ready to ride off into the sunset. Avalos, 66, announced Friday he\u2019s retiring as primary morning meteorologist at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5. Before joining NBC 5 for the first of two runs in 1994, he spent 10 years at... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30613"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30618,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30613\/revisions\/30618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}