{"id":4882,"date":"2014-09-10T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=4882"},"modified":"2014-09-10T16:44:55","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T21:44:55","slug":"remembering-p-j-hoff-chicagos-original-weatherman-with-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/09\/10\/remembering-p-j-hoff-chicagos-original-weatherman-with-character\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering P.J. Hoff: Chicago\u2019s original weatherman with character"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"P.J.<\/a>

<\/a> P.J. Hoff<\/p><\/div>\n

Long before Tom Skilling or Harry Volkman or John Coleman, Chicago\u2019s favorite TV weatherman was P.J. Hoff.<\/p>\n

With little more than an oversized sketch pad and his imagination, the amiable Hoff brought a wealth of talent as a cartoonist to his nightly weather reports over nearly two decades at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2.<\/a><\/p>\n

Walter Jacobson, who started at CBS 2 in 1963, recalled Hoff as \u201ca balding everyman who illustrated his forecasts with cartoon drawings of Windy City characters, including the \u2018Vice President in Charge of Looking Out the Window.\u2019 \u201d By that time, Hoff had been a fixture on the station\u2019s top-rated late news with Fahey Flynn for 10 years.<\/p>\n

The photo above shows Hoff along with the \u201cVice President\u201d (left) and another frequent cartoon visitor to his forecasts, \u201cMr. Yell-and-Cuss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting in 1955, Hoff also starred in a children\u2019s show, \u201cP.J. and Patte,\u201d co-hosted by Patte Preble. \u201cAs Preble narrated a story, P.J. would illustrate the events for the viewers,\u201d according to Chicago broadcast historian Steve Jajkowski. \u201cNot unusual were viewers who drew their own interpretations of the story.\"<\/p>\n

\"Children's<\/a>

Children's play set<\/p><\/div>\n

But it was as weatherman that Hoff became one of Chicago\u2019s best known television personalities. He\u2019d often send his hand-drawn weather maps to young fans, who cherished them as treasures.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe drew happy suns and angry clouds and giant raindrops on a big paper weather map with what looked like a Magic Marker with a one-inch tip,\u201d former viewer Jan Knez wrote <\/a>in a 2011 blog. \u201cIf ever there was a job I aspired to, it was that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born Piercy J. Hoffstrom in Mounds, Oklahoma, Hoff studied electrical engineering at the University of Washington and worked for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. before joining the St. Paul Dispatch in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a columnist and cartoonist. His radio work there eventually led to his employment at WBBM AM 780 and CBS 2 in Chicago.<\/p>\n

On his retirement in 1968 (when he chose announcer and children\u2019s show host John Coughlin to be his successor), weather played a big part in Hoff\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 20 years as a weatherman for television and radio, I was asked many questions: the question most frequently asked was, \u2018Weatherwise, where is the best place to retire?\u2019 \" he later recalled.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe closer I got to retirement age the more I began to ask myself that question. I figured that in two decades of weather forecasting I had at least earned the right to retire to a place where I would be compatible with the climate. I was serious about it. I researched it. My wife and I vacationed in areas where we thought we might like to live. Always partial to the seashore, we visited coastal areas all around the edge of the United States and Canada. In the end, we picked Georgia's Golden Isles as our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoff died in 1981 at age 85 at Saint Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cP.J. Hoff entertained and informed legions of Chicagoans with his colorful nightly weather programs,\u201d Chicago\u2019s reigning weather king Skilling once wrote to a viewer. \u201cHe\u2019s warmly remembered by all who viewed him over so many years, and, unquestionably reached Chicago broadcast icon status long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before Tom Skilling or Harry Volkman or John Coleman, Chicago\u2019s favorite TV weatherman was P.J. Hoff. With little more than an oversized sketch pad and his imagination, the amiable Hoff brought a wealth of talent as a cartoonist to his nightly weather reports over nearly two decades at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2.<\/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\/4882"}],"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=4882"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4882\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}