The Weather Chat

The Weather Chat
Type	Online group chat
Founder	Velitacast wxTV
Platform	Kik (2015) Telegram (2015-2017) Discord (2017-2018)
Language	English
Content areas	General discussion The Weather Channel General technology Broadcast technology
Users	~30 (peak)
Status	Closed
Launch date	March 25, 2015 (2015-03-25)
Closure date	April 22, 2018 (2018-04-22)
Succeeded By:	wxTV Studios (2018-2023) Triple C TWC Community (2023-present)

The Weather Chat (abbreviated as TWChat) was a chat group targeted at The Weather Channel's fan community and members of related fandoms. For the majority of its history, it existed as a group on the Telegram messaging platform.

Background

The Weather Chat was created during the early era of modern instant messenger apps in the mid-2010s, when apps like Kik, Telegram, and later, Discord were becoming popular. The instant communication model of these services provided the opportunity to develop closer connections between members of the weather fan community compared to the less instantaneous model exhibited through forums, which had been more popular until that point.

The Weather Chat, as a major hub for the TWC fan community, developed a unique culture that continues to have a major impact on the community to this day. Many current fandom personalities began networking with one another during the existence of the chat, leading to a variety of major events in the community. The Weather Chat also had a major impact on the creation and development of Triple C TWC's YouTube series Milinoket Cabbl, with the initial idea for the series originating there and much of the original humor and tropes found in the series being based off various aspects of the chat's culture, which itself was heavily influenced by surreal humor and internet memes of the day.

History

The Weather Chat initially begun on or around March 25, 2015, as a channel on the instant messaging service Kik, founded by well-known fandom personalities wxTV and Velitacast (then TheFilmReel). In November, the group migrated to Telegram Messenger, which was in a period of growing popularity at the time, later that year.

On Telegram, the chat enjoyed new growth, with more well-known personalities, up-and-coming personalities, and general fans taking notice of the community and joining. While the chat was relatively small compared to many of the communities that exist in the present, the resulting diversity of its users among that smaller number allowed for a rich variety of perspectives in conversations. Many who joined were Weather Star owners, graphic designers, simulator creators, and even members of other fandoms, among others. Unfortunately, the chat, like other communities before it, had its own share of controversies, leading to a slow decline in productive conversations and a reduction in membership near the end of its run on Telegram. The Weather Chat and its affiliated group chats would shut down on Telegram on October 4, 2017, being succeeded by a Discord equivalent. It was believed that Discord, with its capability for multiple chat channels in a group, would better serve the interests of the group and facilitate more orderly conversations. The chat enjoyed its brief revival on Discord with a smaller group of community personalities until its closure on April 22, 2018. That same day, the wxTV Studios Discord server was created as its primary replacement, soon followed by its affiliate groups. The current successor to the group is the Triple C TWC Community Discord server, the sole remaining affiliate of wxTV Studios. Today, various fandom communities owing their existence to TWChat's pioneering moves into the world of instant messaging enjoy far more membership than TWChat did at its height.

Structure

Telegram group

Due to the format of Telegram not including the ability to create separate chat channels within the group, members wanting to discuss different topics at the same time were initially limited and desired specialty chat spaces. These eventually came in the form of affiliated group chats, with differing rules and topics:

• The Cold Front: general chat used to keep interruptions from occuring in discussions in TWChat proper.
• The Warm Front: used for discussion of topics that may be considered inappropriate for younger users.
• The Weather Chat Creative Corner: used for users to showcase creative projects, including TWC simulation videos, graphic design projects, art, and other creations.
• The Electronics Room: used for the discussion of general technology topics.
• The Broadcast Group: used for the discussion of topics relating specifically to broadcast technology, primarily as it related to television.

The smaller groups, including the Electronics Room and Broadcast Group, would eventually be consolidated into a new group called The Front Lounge in 2016. The Cold and Warm Front groups would be consolidated into the main group later, on June 15, 2017. The ideas for the Cold and Warm Front chats originated during TWChat's Kik era. In addition to the aforementioned chats, an extra chat existed for administrator discussions. The Creative Corner group was transferred to the corresponding Discord server and was later revived in 2021 on the wxTV Studios Discord server and later on the Triple C TWC Community Discord server.

Discord group

Information surrounding the TWChat Discord group, which was shorter-lived, is much more limited. The chat, based on a screenshot taken during its operation, at least contained a general chat channel, admin discussion space, Creative Corner channel, two off-topic channels for Apple product and hotel discussions respectively, and a voice chat feature (plus a corresponding text channel for the voice chat).

See also

• The Weather Channel fandom