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In markets where severe weather threatens lives and property, the business of weathercasting can turn into a horse race.
In Waco, Tex., KXXV(TV) has gone from a weather noname to a serious contender in less than two years. In the notorious "Tornado Alley," the ABC affiliate has spent its way into the public's view under the direction of general manager Jeff Cook, who claims to have stolen 40% of the market's weather-specific viewers from the competition.
The station bought more than $1.5 million worth of new weather equipment, including two $250,000 "First Alert Storm Team" (FAST) vans, with which KXXV meteorologists can videotape tornadoes or wall clouds (a precursor to tornadic activity)...