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Weathernews 1
Wed Aug 25, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather Notebook. With so much weather
information flying around on cable TV and the Internet, it can be hard to keep track of it
all. One organization which helps businesses keep a hold on the atmospheric picture
is Weathernews. I’ll let Meredith Shindehette, their marketing manager, tell you more.
MS: In 1952, a man named Howard Caster was a meteorologist for United Airlines. He
had seen this article about a ship sinking off the coast of Vancouver and said, "I can
really help companies like this." And so he started a company called Pacific Weather
Analysis, providing forecasts to ships at sea and helping them (to make) their travels
safely. Eventually the company became Ocean Routes and we became a global
leader in ship routing services, helping these vessels travel the seas safely and
efficiently.
BY: Shindehette says that a former Ocean Routes employee, Hiro Ishobochi, started
Weathernews, then came back and bought his old company. Ishobochi expanded well
beyond just shipping lanes. Today’s clients come from agriculture, aviation, energy
and media enterprises.
MS: We have 36 offices in 13 countries and we pride ourselves on what we call "risk
communications." What that means is helping businesses and people understand
how the weather is going to impact them and help them make decisions to mitigate
the risks that that impact may have upon them. We make sure that we have specialists
in those areas, to understand specifically how different weather events will affect
different types of industries and different types of companies. We do extensive
analysis with our clients, understanding their businesses and their needs so we make
sure to give them the information they need.
Tomorrow, we will look at Weathernews’ core—the shipping route business—and the
technology they have for non-industrial users, like us regular folk. The Weather
Notebook is funded by the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America.
Today's Links
Weathernews
http://www.weathernews.com/
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