John Oldshue is a former meteorologist and storm chaser for ABC 33/40 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, from 1997 to 2011, before he retired to run a small business. He won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

award for coverage of the Tuscaloosa tornado on December 16, 2000, alongside meteorologist James Spann. A decade later, he was the first storm spotter/meteorologist to capture video of the April 27, 2011, Tuscaloosa tornado and transmit that to ABC 33/40, approximately 30 minutes before the tornado struck the city. Spann later called Oldshue one of the “unsung heroes of April 27,” later saying, “He captured that big wedge tornado on the ground when it was still 30 miles south of Tuscaloosa. That dramatic video convinced a lot of people to take cover."

Personal life

He was born and raised in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. His mother, Isabel Oldshue, is a retired family practice doctor. His father, Jerry Oldshue Sr., was the historian of the University of Alabama and died in November 2015. In June 2011, he relocated from Tuscaloosa to Fairhope.

Education

He graduated from

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

in 1993, with a BS in Geosciences majoring in meteorology. He completed his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

degree at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

in 1998.

Career

Oldshue worked at

WDBB WDBB (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Bessemer, Alabama, United States, serving Tuscaloosa and west Alabama as a satellite of Birmingham-based CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21, licensed to Homewood). It is owned by Cunningham Br ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

as the Chief Meteorologist from 1993 to 1995 and at

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in Mobile as the morning meteorologist from 1995 until January 1997. He joined ABC 33/40 as weekend meteorologist and storm chaser from January 1997 until January 2011. He won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

with James Spann from the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of televisio ...

for live coverage of a deadly

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

in Tuscaloosa on December 16, 2000. (A camera mounted on the transmitter tower of the former Channel 33 captured live images of the tornado as it moved through the community.) The station won an Edward R. Murrow Award for this coverage. John is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

and has the

National Weather Association The National Weather Association (NWA), founded in 1975, is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities. Background The National Weather Association is, ...

Seal of Approval. He was voted best small market weather anchor in Alabama for 1994 and 1995 by the Associated Press. In 2011, he retired from working as a meteorologist in pursuit of several online businesses including LowCards.com, SaveOnPhone.com, and SaveOnInsurance.com. In 2012 John Oldshue and James Spann sold their weather forecasting business, "The Weather Company" to IBM and The Weather Channel for an undisclosed sum. He later became a fill-in meteorologist for WKRG in Mobile and is currently a fill-in meteorologist at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham. In 2016 he became one of the first FAA approved aerial drone pilots and created SoutheastSky.com for aerial imaging and videography. He has been part of teams winning two Addy awards for his aerial videography work on Alabama tourism commercials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldshue, John Living people People from Tuscaloosa, Alabama American television weather presenters Mississippi State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)