https://www.wral.com/greg-fishel-announcement/18190287/

2/13/2019 6:32:00 PM

Fuck this bullshit thread

2/13/2019 6:43:33 PM

Quote :

"I want to let viewers of WRAL know that you will no longer see me as a part of the WRAL News team. I know there will be many questions as to “why?” and I would like to share what I can with you. I have been facing many personal challenges over the last year, and these issues have impacted my ability to work effectively and professionally. I take full responsibility for my actions and intend on meeting these challenges head on. WRAL-TV has accepted my resignation. "

b/c fuck the adblock nag screen.

2/13/2019 6:45:55 PM

What's the speculation? WRAL said it was his decision and not theirs.

Illness?
Drugs?
Workplace hazing?
They take his favorite drink out of the vending machines?
Blackmail from climate change deniers?

2/13/2019 6:49:41 PM

i'm guessing sexual harassment of some sort.

2/13/2019 6:52:14 PM

from the news & observer.

Quote :

"RALEIGH Longtime chief meteorologist Greg Fishel no longer works for WRAL-TV, the station announced in an on-air statement Wednesday evening. The company cited a “personnel matter” as the reason for Fishel’s departure. The statement was read by anchor Debra Morgan at the end of Wednesday’s 6 p.m. newscast. “We have a difficult announcement to share with you tonight, involving a longtime member of our WRAL family. We need to let you know that chief meteorologist Greg Fishel is no longer with the company due to a personnel matter. Greg has asked that we share a written statement with you and you can find that in its entirety on wral.com.” Fishel’s statement cited “personal challenges over the last year,” which he says have impacted his “ability to work effectively and professionally.” In an interview on Wednesday, WRAL vice president and general manager Joel Davis declined to give specifics regarding Fishel’s departure, but said that “the way it played out it would have been impossible for him to continue here, but he offered up his resignation. … At the end of the day what I can say is that it was imperative from my point of view that it be clear that this was due to a personnel matter. This is something that was not the station’s doing.” Fishel has been off the air since Jan. 29, Davis said. Fishel’s statement reads in full: “I want to let viewers of WRAL know that you will no longer see me as a part of the WRAL News team. I know there will be many questions as to ‘why?’ and I would like to share what I can with you. I have been facing many personal challenges over the last year and these issues have impacted my ability to work effectively and professionally. I take full responsibility for my actions and intend on meeting these challenges head on. WRAL-TV has accepted my resignation.” Beyond his statement, Fishel was not available to comment. Fishel, WRAL’s most prominent on-air personality and a nationally known meteorologist, took what the station described as a medical leave of absence last year from early February until March 22. When he returned, Fishel handled weather on the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts, leaving meteorologist Mike Maze, who had filled in for Fishel during the absence, in the 11 p.m. slot. After that 2018 departure, Fishel posted a statement on WRAL’s website thanking viewers for their support. He ended with: “I am rested and ready to get back at it. Maybe I can even harness a few snowflakes this weekend! So it’s time to get back on the horse, and not be saddled by anything but positive thoughts.” Fishel, 61, started at WRAL in 1981 and began winning American Meteorological Society awards just a few years later. In 1989, Fishel took over the chief weather spot from Bob DeBardelaben. Fishel is a native of Pennsylvania and a proud alum of Penn State, where he earned his meteorology degree. He shared a kindred spirit with his Southern viewers, delighting in forecasts that called for snow — sometimes visibly giddy as he ran through weather models. Once, when his prediction for snow was wrong, he sat in the WRAL fountain, wet and shivering in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt in the middle of winter. Greg Fishel’s fans — and there are many — can also tell you he’s a big fan of the NY Mets, he plays the tuba, and loves a pun. In 2015, Fishel made news when he changed his opinions on climate change. He told a group of journalists and scientists at a climate change conference in Beaufort that year that he had been a “hard core skeptic” but that several years earlier he had decided he had not been open-minded about the topic. Fishel’s new view is that it’s likely humans are changing the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that increase temperatures. “Why have we chosen to turn our back on science when it comes to basic chemistry and physics?” Fishel wrote in a blog post following the conference. “It is time to stop listening to the disingenuous cherry-pickers and start taking responsibility for learning the truth about climate change.” Fishel has been open in Facebook posts about various struggles. In 2017, he wrote about how playing golf with his son (Fishel and his wife Kathy have two sons) turned too competitive and that a hobby he started for enjoyment was causing him to come home angry, so he was quitting the game. Fishel wrote: “I simply cannot do this anymore. Maybe more time with the tuba, or develop some new hobby I’m not even aware of as I write this. I am very aware of the fact that a lot of people suffer when I’m down in the dumps, like everyone around me! I owe it to them as well as myself to find something that brings me fulfillment as opposed to frustration, and happiness instead of sadness.” Davis said the station, owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, has not yet decided who will take on the role of chief meteorologist, but he is confident with the talent on staff. “We’re really fortunate that we have a really strong bench,” Davis said. “Elizabeth Gardner is immensely popular in the mornings. Mike (Maze) is incredibly popular in the evenings. We don’t know for sure what structure we’ll put together with that ... We’re going to have some conversations internally with folks about interest and what they want as next steps in their careers. “I think it’s safe to say we’re better situated than most stations in the country are to lose someone of Greg’s popularity, because the bench is so strong,” Davis continued. “We’ve got some really good talent even deeper down on the bench that will grow in the system, too.” Fishel’s exit comes less than a month after WRAL anchor David Crabtree read an on-air statement at the end of a newscast about an inappropriate relationship that cost him his position as a member of the clergy in the Episcopal Church. Crabtree, who is divorced, had been an ordained deacon at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Raleigh. Crabtree continues to anchor the 6 p.m. newscast. At the time, Davis told The News & Observer it was “a personal matter that is between him and the Episcopal church. He will continue his long career here at WRAL. His statement speaks for itself.”"

2/13/2019 6:52:18 PM

goddammit

2/13/2019 6:53:28 PM

No more gettin Fisheled?

2/13/2019 7:01:50 PM

hate to speculate but that statement from fishel doesn't sound good. hope he's alright.

2/13/2019 7:15:56 PM

Alcohol?

2/13/2019 7:17:21 PM

^that was the first thing that came to my mind based off his statement...but who knows.

2/13/2019 7:18:18 PM

This whole thing sounds fishy

2/13/2019 7:49:35 PM

gn...sp

2/13/2019 8:02:10 PM

Sounds like something clouded his judgement.

2/13/2019 8:28:22 PM

i like weather wes on channel 17. hohenstein i think is his last name.

anyways...that's my opinion on local meteorologists

2/13/2019 8:39:39 PM

GNSWM

2/13/2019 8:40:25 PM

Quote :

"i'm guessing sexual harassment of some sort."

Same. Alcohol/illness wouldn't have went down like this.

2/13/2019 9:06:08 PM

Naw it's the hooch.

2/13/2019 9:30:02 PM

2/13/2019 9:53:12 PM

^She's the only meteorologist to make a public comment so far:

Quote :

"I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from and work with someone I've looked up to for so many years. Greg will be missed."

2/13/2019 10:12:36 PM

Climate change claims another victim

2/13/2019 10:25:37 PM

Is it just bad english when they keep saying it's a personnel matter? That would make me think something like sexual harassment. If that was the case though, I doubt that the station even allows for Fishel to make a statement.

If it is supposed to be a personal matter instead of personnel, then I would guess opioids.

2/13/2019 10:36:02 PM

Could have been depression or alcoholism, which could both impact your ability to perform your job, especially when it involves being on the air live.

2/13/2019 10:40:17 PM

^^ perhaps you missed:

Quote :

" I take full responsibility for my actions "

[Edited on February 13, 2019 at 11:06 PM. Reason : It's personal, and alcohol imo. ]

[Edited on February 13, 2019 at 11:12 PM. Reason : Maybe some related depression ]

2/13/2019 11:05:58 PM

It's ETOH

2/13/2019 11:23:12 PM

Nah, this dude did something with his dick. Whole thing has "#metoo" written all over it.

2/13/2019 11:26:53 PM

waved it around on the green screen

2/13/2019 11:45:30 PM

on weed

2/13/2019 11:50:07 PM

100% chance of

SHAMA LLAMA DING DONG

2/14/2019 12:30:57 AM

Quote :

"Naw it's the hooch"

2/14/2019 12:55:13 AM

IT'S RAININ' LIBATIONS

2/14/2019 1:08:51 AM

word on the street is...he called a dark cloud a "n***er cloud" during a meeting

or....

this picture that he drew during college was revealed to be a cloud in blackface


[Edited on February 14, 2019 at 9:54 AM. Reason : check his yearbook, y'all]

2/14/2019 9:49:08 AM

my money is on booze

2/14/2019 11:11:36 AM

Reddit said there have been rumors of alcoholism for quite a while

2/14/2019 11:19:18 AM

I just think that they wouldn't unceremoniously dump him like this just for being a drunk. It doesn't add up.

2/14/2019 11:59:51 AM

Unless he showed up to work drunk, or got drunk at work.

2/14/2019 12:03:24 PM

of course he would’ve had to have shown up to work drunk

and maybe it wasn’t the first time, which is why we are where we are now

2/14/2019 12:11:34 PM

The N&O article said that the last time he was on air was 1/29. I bet that's because shortly thereafter he wasn't in shape to go on air. I would suspect that with a live program like the news, if you don't show up to work ready to go, or if you don't show up at all, there aren't many "do-overs." Even if you are Greg Fishel.

2/14/2019 1:16:01 PM

Dude's been around for nearly 40 years, is/was insanely popular, and probably has millions in the bank. He'll be fine.

2/14/2019 1:18:47 PM

Booze. Done many of shots with the Fish at Village Draft in CV.

2/14/2019 2:13:36 PM

Quote :

"Unless he showed up to work drunk, or got drunk at work."

...or got embarrassingly drunk elsewhere. I'm sure he has a morality clause for behavior that reflects poorly on WRAL.

2/14/2019 2:30:46 PM

i heard he's going to start streaming the weather on twitch

2/14/2019 2:32:12 PM

posted this in another thread but one of my best friends works at a local news station and he said that word is that he was fired/forced to resign and it had to do with a porn addiction.

2/14/2019 2:33:10 PM

eh, too much he said she said ITT

2/14/2019 3:12:49 PM

Can you repeat that, please? I couldn't hear you over the fapping noise.

2/14/2019 3:17:36 PM

So he's clearly been a drunk for a long time. Something else obviously happened.

2/14/2019 3:32:55 PM

he put his latest porn addiction on the weather map....oops.

Who hasn't wanted to show Elizabeth Gardner your O face?

Seems like WRAL is full of some characters. David Crabtree and Fishel both spout God is helping them....both are lost.

2/14/2019 4:05:08 PM

anecdotal story from my dad:

"when I first moved to Raleigh my neighbor bartended at the Bennigan's and I'd go have drinks up there for free after work. Greg Fischel was a regular up there and [neighbor] introduced me one night. I knew he was a big Mets fan so I said 'hey nice to meet you, go Cubs!' and he just said 'yeah right' and those were the last words he ever spoke to me. Every other time I saw him and said hello he'd look me right in the eye and turn away like I wasn't even there, fuckin' asshole".

2/14/2019 4:14:17 PM

So your dad was an asshole, then got mad because the guy didn't want to talk to him any more?

2/14/2019 4:18:44 PM

...says Mr. Cantankerous

2/14/2019 4:44:50 PM