Weather Star 4000

From TWC Archive
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Weather Star 4000
4000logo.png
WeatherStar 4000 - Current Conditions.png
Manufacturer:Northern Telecom
Hardware:Motorola 68010[1]
OS:VRTX32/68K
Graphics:Vector
Release Date:1990
Status:Retired – Decommissioned by The Weather Channel on June 26, 2014.
Preceded By:Weather Star III
Succeeded By:Weather Star Jr & Weather Star XL

The Weather Star 4000 was the first graphic-capable model of the Weather Star line manufactured for The Weather Channel. It was first introduced in December 1989 and was designed by Canadian electronics company Applied Microelectronics Institute (now Amirix); the Weather Star 4000 was manufactured by Northern Telecom.

It had an improved display font over its predecessor, the Weather Star III, with mixed-case rendering (though this did not appear on launch). The first 4000s that were placed in service were programmed to operate in a text-only mode, like its predecessors (using its improved font instead). However, the 4000 used slightly different flavors (arrangements of information and forecast products)[2] that included, beginning in April 1990, a graphical radar page at the end of the local forecast.[3][4] While widely used during most of the 1990s, many cable companies began to replace the 4000 with the newer Weather Star XL in 1998 and 1999 and – later – the IntelliStar in the next decade. The 4000 remained in use primarily in smaller and rural cable providers through 2014, where upgrading to a more modern Weather Star would be a significant expense.

On June 26, 2014, The Weather Channel discontinued broadcasting its analog satellite feed, thus officially retiring all Weather Star units prior to the IntelliStar, including the 4000. To address the need for a low-cost replacement, The Weather Channel developed the IntelliStar 2 Jr. platform in 2013, which is capable of operating natively on both analog and digital cable systems.

Overview

Presentation

A Weather Star 4000 came with these features:

  • Graphical weather products, such as icons and maps for regional products.
  • An internal local radar product (the first on any STAR), in both time-lapse and static variants (the time-lapse radar was added in a major late 1992 update; the previous Weather Stars had the capability to display radar but had to be connected to a third-party source).
  • The ability to receive text-based local forecasts created by TWC meteorologists (and before that the National Weather Service).
  • A lower display line (LDL), with forecast information in the top 50 U.S. markets. While the IntelliStar LDL is cued to air all the time, the 4000, Junior, and XL LDLs are not cued to air anymore except with a cuing mishap.
  • The ability to crawl or scroll weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
  • Specialty products for certain areas: the Air Quality Forecast for southern California (which would make its national debut on the IntelliStar), Tides for coastal areas, and the Marine Forecast.

Until the mid-1990s, The Weather Channel sold an optional sensor package that could be connected to a Weather Star to display weather conditions at the headend office on the LDL, including the current temperature, the highest and lowest temperatures recorded since midnight local time, relative humidity, wind speed, direction, and gusts, and current daily and monthly precipitation totals.

Radar products were not available on the Weather Star 4000 outside of the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico.

  • In Alaska and (in one case) in New York City, the Latest Observations product was repeated.
  • In Hawaii, the radar was centered in the state of Washington with a label permanently displaying "Radar Data Temporarily Unavailable".

Hardware and software

Hardware

Front and back panels of the Weather Star 4000 unit

The hardware of the Weather Star 4000 was a significant change from its predecessor, the Star III, and was representative of the large leaps in computer technology of the time.

The chassis itself measures 14.13" x 19" x 7", making the Star 4000 4 rack units (4U) tall. The total weight of the 4000 is 30 pounds. Star 4000 units feature a front plate that attaches to the front of the chassis using screws and has holes that allow for the viewing of hardware status lights as well as the connection of a RJ11 telephone line in certain circumstances and a 5-pin DIN keyboard (for accessing on-screen diagnostics viewing and crawl editing menus). The side panels of the chassis feature a 120mm fan on the right side and an equally-large circular air vent on the left side. The back panel of the 4000 most notably features a variety of terminal blocks, meant for weather sensors as well as audio input and output and various logic switch connections, in addition to its power connection, on/off switch, and BNC connectors for various video and satellite receiver connections.

The interior of the 4000 features a variety of interconnected parts. On the right-hand side lie the power supply, two 4-volt, 10-ampere/hour batteries wired in series (for memory backup), a power switch for these batteries, and the aforementioned 120mm fan, in addition to a back panel board connected to the inputs and outputs on the back as well as a a charge controller/standby switchover board for the battery power switch. On the left-hand side sit the various printed circuit boards that power the 4000–from left to right, the central processing unit (CPU) board, graphics processor board, input/output (I/O) board, and audio/data board. Some machines also had a fifth board used specifically for use with external weather sensors, but this had to be ordered separately and did not come with the 4000 on its own.

The CPU board of the 4000 (top), others below, clockwise: GPU board, I/O board, optional weather sensor board, and audio/data board

All of the boards on the left-hand side of the 4000 connected to the rest of the unit via a back panel VME bus board using 96-pin Euro DIN connectors. The 4000 is run by a Motorola 68010 processor attached to its CPU board. Also attached to this board were two ROMs containing bootloader code as well as the unit's RAM, which stored the software the 4000 utilized, a real-time clock chip, and EEPROM (which help crawl messages, schedules, and passwords), among other components. The graphics processor board is known to have had two versions (one, version 7, being known internally as Sgt. Pepper), each with a genlock portion on the side of the card closest to the Euro DIN connector that was different from the other version. The graphics processor board also had a 68010 processor of its own in addition to an Intel 8031 microcontroller (that acted as a framebuffer controlling on-screen display and animation) and could utilize the RAM attached to the CPU board independently of that board's processor. It also had its own ROMs with bootloader code, SRAM chips for its processors, a RAMDAC component that was responsible for graphics display, among other components. The I/O board had an Intel 8051 microcontroller which communicated across the VME bus and also contained a 300 baud modem. It contained a ribbon connector port which could be used to connect the card to the back plane responsible for connection to the terminal blocks. This card is the card that contained the front panel system status LEDs, telephone line connector, and 5-pin DIN keyboard connector. Finally, the audio/data card, which managed audio input and output, warning tone generation, and data decoding, had receivers for baseband data and audio from the original satellite feed, a muxing circuit for audio, a tone encoder, and an Intel 8044 microcontroller, among others. The I/O card and data card acted as slave devices.

Exterior connector board for optional weather sensor capability; the metal cover for the board is seen above

Few technical details about the uncommon weather sensor board are available. Machines with weather sensor capability also featured a second board, mounted to the back of the unit and manufactured by Texas Electronics, used to bridge the connection from the external sensors to the internal weather sensor board.

Software

The Weather Star 4000 ran VRTX32/68K as its operating system with a custom program built to handle data and graphics operations via scripts. While VRTX was stored in ROM, the program and scripts that powered the 4000 were stored in its RAMFS file system, which it received over the satellite baseband uplink. These scripts were authored, edited and compiled on PCs running DOS. The scripts were compiled into intermediate code, as opposed to 68K machine code. All of these scripts were sent to a MicroVAX Server which stored and sent the scripts to the Weather Star 4000s in the field.

Notably, the Star 4000 did not permanently store its data and instead relied on its two batteries for memory backup for up to two to three hours in case of power loss. Its on-board software could then be redownloaded over satellite if needed. As a result of this and the retirement of The Weather Channel's analog feed in 2014, which retired the Star 4000 and previous Star units, the software of the 4000 is presumed lost.

Weather Star 4000 timeline in the U.S.

Date Notes
February 2, 1990[4][5] The Weather Star 4000 begins to roll out on selected cable systems for the first time. In these early days, the 4000 was functionally a replica of the Weather Star III, only with a cleaner font.
April 8, 1990[4][6][7] The "Current Radar" segment was added to the 4000, making it the first STAR with its own radar imagery. At this time, the segment was originally called "Your Local Radar". The Weather Channel's logo appears on the local forecast for the first time, but only on the "Your Local Radar" segment as all other segments were still text-based.
June 7, 1990[8][9] The 1 minute and 30 second K flavor was added. Also, around this period, the 50 second flavors were discontinued.
July 3, 1990[4][10] The first major system update on the Weather Star 4000 occurs:
  • The Weather Star 4000 gets new graphics featuring colorful orange and blue backgrounds matching TWC's national weather segments at the time.
  • The Weather Channel's logo now appears on the local forecast on all segments for the first time
  • The "Regional Forecast" map debuts with motionless weather icons.
  • The time and date, and current conditions ticker/text advertisement crawl now have a brighter blue banner on the LDL (Lower Display Line).
  • The radar map would now have a slightly different color pallet as the land would now have a slightly darker shade of gray, and the water would now have a slightly darker shade of blue.
  • The "Travel Cities Forecast" background would also have a slightly darker shade of gray (it was previously a brighter shade of gray prior to this update).
July 11, 1990[11] Dan Chandler's narration was updated for the first time on the Weather Star 4000. For example, the "Current Conditions narration would change from "The Current Conditions" to "Coming up... A look at your Local Radar. But first, the Current Local Conditions" and the 36-hour Forecast phrase would change from "The 36-Hour Forecast" to "Your Local 36-Hour Forecast." (on the D, F, J, K, and N flavors) or "Coming up... A look at your Local Radar. But first, the 36-Hour Forecast." (on the E, H, and M flavors).
July 21, 1990[4][12] Changes with the radar include:
  • "Your Local Radar" was changed to "Current Radar" on the banner.
  • The color legend moves to the right-hand side of the screen.
  • A dark pink "Incomplete Data" color was also added.
August 15, 1990[4][13] Banner updates include:
  • A banner that says "Travel City Forecast" added to the Travel Cities Forecast.
  • The Regional Forecast map banner position was raised to match other screens. However, in the early days of that update, the date and time display briefly glitches as it disappears from the screen during the Regional Forecast segment before the date and time display is restored once the next segment comes up. This was later fixed around September 1990.
August 18, 1990[4][14] The Current Radar color box heights are now increased for better visibility.
September 8, 1990[4][15] Text wipe effect changed from top-bottom to left-right on 36-hour forecast.
December 28, 1990[4][16] Highways and county boarders are now added to the Current Radar map.
February 20, 1991[4][17][18] The next major system update on the Weather Star 4000 occurs. The updates include:
  • The two minute L flavor local forecast debuts.
  • Page titles are changed to mixed case on all pages and are also lowered for better visibility.
  • The "Wipe" effect is removed from the 36-hour forecast.
  • The word "Your" is now removed from all page titles ("Your Local Forecast" is now titled as "Local Forecast" and "Your Extended Forecast" is now titled as "Extended Forecast").
  • The graphical version of the "Extended Forecast" segment is created, replacing the former National Weather Service text-based version.
  • "Almanac" (formerly "Regional Information") data is redesigned to now show the moon phases. The sunrise and sunset times would still be included, but the Normal Low and High temperatures and the Normal Monthly Precipitation listings are no longer displayed.
  • The E, J, K, and N flavors' screen lineups have their timing realigned as the "Extended Forecast" segment was now limited to only one graphical page instead of two text-based pages. Because of this, the narration of TWC staff announcer Dan Chandler is discontinued on these two flavors.
  • The regional weather icons became animated.
  • The current time and date are now moved to the top right from the Lower Display Line, and the current conditions/text advertisement crawl ticker display at the bottom of the screen is now shorter in height, which also lowers the upper product title banners for better visibility.
  • The current time and date are no longer displayed on the "Current Conditions" segment due to the upper banner title that shows "Now at [name of city location/observation site]" being longer as there was not enough room for the time and date to be displayed on the screen. The time and date would still be shown on all other segments (excluding the "Current Radar" segment).
February 24, 1991[4] The Current conditions banner is now the same size as all other screens.
March 7, 1991[19] The days of the week shown on the "Extended Forecast" columns changes from white text to yellow text.
April 2, 1991[4][20] The Travel Cities Forecast list was changed and state abbreviations were removed.
April 17, 1991[21] The "Current Conditions" were updated and includes the following:
  • Weather icons are now added to the "Current Conditions" segment; however, they are very large.
  • The layout of the "Current Conditions" screen is also redesigned to make way for the giant weather icons and was now fully displayed in mixed-cased letters, but the monthly precipitation total no longer shows on the "Current Conditions" screen, and now only appears on the ticker.
  • Yellow arrows were now added to the Barometric Pressure display on the "Current Conditions" screen.
  • The title is also now changed from "Now at [name of city location/observation site]" to "Current Conditions".
  • The current time and date display was restored on the "Current Conditions" screen.
April 29, 1991[4][22] The Current Conditions and Extended Forecast icon sets are updated.
June 24, 1991[4] New Extended Forecast icons are introduced for showers and thunderstorms.
July 11, 1991[4][23] The Current Condition weather icons are reduced, and more data is added to the page.
July 14, 1991[24][25] Dan Chandler re-records the narration for the Weather Star 4000; the narration for the E, J, and K flavors' is once again restored and the L flavor narration was added.
August 1, 1991[26] The five-minute N flavor local forecast, which was shown only when The Weather Channel rewound the tapes for its pre-recorded overnight programming would air for the final time. After this date, the flavor was discontinued and was replaced with the three-minute J flavor during the overnight hours.
September 26, 1991[4] Icon updates include:
  • Regional forecast icons are updated to animate from left to right for rain, showers, and thunderstorm (previously they had animated right to left).
  • Current Condition and Extended Forecast icons were also updated.
December 2, 1991[4][27] The "Regional Forecast" maps were updated and includes the following:
  • The Regional Conditions map debuts, replacing the text-based version of the screen.
  • The "Regional Forecast" map is cleaned up so that no city's information runs off-screen.
  • The Regional Forecast title is changed from "[Day]'s Forecast" to "Forecast for [Day]".
  • The icons used on the Current Conditions and the Extended Forecast pages make their way to the Regional Observations and Regional Forecast map products.
  • Map cities are customized to each STAR (previously it was a super image).
March 11, 1992[4][28] In this background and icon update:
  • A second, more opaque dark blue to yellow-orange gradient background begins to appear layered over the existing dark blue to yellow-orange gradient background to smooth out the color transitions.
  • Almanac top background color changes to a smoother yellow-orange gradient.
  • Current Condition icons were updated.
  • Regional vector icons were updated with smaller dimensions.
March 31, 1992[8] The one-minute F flavor was discontinued. This would apply to both the Weather Star 4000 and 3000 models.
April 2, 1992[4] Current Conditions icons sizes are decreased again.
April 11, 1992[4][29] The fade effect transitioning to and from the Regional Forecast product is removed.
August 1, 1992[4] Changes were made for the current conditions' ticker:
  • Wind direction is changed from an 8 point to 16-point compass in the current conditions' ticker.
  • Colon is removed from "Ceiling:Unlimited".
  • Visibility is changed from two to one decimal place in the current conditions' ticker.
August 9, 1992[4][30] A new playlist debuts on The Weather Channel, with redone narration on all STARs (this was Dan Chandler's final set). The 36 Hour Forecast narration now mentions the National Weather Service.
August 31, 1992[4][31] In this update to the Weather Star 4000:
  • Local Forecast title is compressed as it was about to make room for the NOAA logo.
  • New regional map icons are introduced.
  • Space added between last "e" and colon for "Pressure:" on Current Conditions page.
October 24, 1992[4] Pressure tendency added to the current conditions' ticker text.
October 30, 1992[4] "T'storms" is changed to "T'Storms" (uppercase "S") on the Extended Forecast.
November 18, 1992[4][32] A major system update and a change in flavors occurs:
  • The "Local Radar" map is added, showing any precipitation in the area and its movement over the prior 90 minutes. The Local radar (with a six-image loop) was added to the J, K, and M flavors.
  • Flavor lineups were changed for the J, K, L, and M flavors.
  • The "Travel Cities Forecast" segment becomes icon-based with a blue/aqua blue gradient background.
  • The NOAA logo is added to the "36 Hour Forecast" product.
November 25, 1992[4][33] Travel Cities Forecast temporarily reverts back to the previous text version (this may have been a glitch because the new icon version wasn't always advancing to the next screen).
December 4, 1992[4][34] New icon-based Travel Cities Forecast returns with "NY City" changed to "New York".
August 12, 1993[4][35] Phoenix replaces Hartford on the Travel Cities Forecast.
August 27, 1993[4][36][37] In this text update to the Weather Star 4000:
  • The city name in the current conditions' ticker changed to mixed case from all caps.
  • Observation site names nationwide are now simplified (such as New Orleans Intl becoming New Orleans).
  • Latest Observations city names changed from all caps to mixed case text.
  • 30 Day Outlook page is now simplified.
September 8, 1993[4][38] Ellipsis (...) replaced with commas in zone forecasts, except for the day.
September 17, 1993[4] The severe weather features would undergo these changes:
  • Ellipsis (...) were replaced with commas in the vertical scrolls and crawls
  • Warning format changed: After the full screen red scroll, the local radar loops, then the warning appears in place of the current conditions' ticker
September 27, 1993[4][39] The Regional Observations map replaces the "Regional Forecast" during the K Flavor. Dan Chandler's narration however still mentions "The Regional Forecast".
October 1, 1993[4][40] In a further text update to the Weather Star 4000:
  • Latest Observations cities changed to alphabetical order (previously in order by latitude).
  • "Conditions at (City)" on the current conditions' ticker changed to mixed case.
October 4, 1993[4] 30-day Outlook was changed from all-upper case to mixed case, except for the period covered.
October 31, 1993[4] The date and time are nudged further downward to allow room for the local forecast screen segment titles.
November 13, 1993[4] Space removed between last "e" and colon for "Pressure:" on Current Conditions page.
December 12, 1993[4] Regional map cities changed to mixed case if any part was previously uppercase (for example: "ATL City" changes to "Atl City" for Atlantic City, NJ).
December 16, 1993[4][41] Both the Latest Observations page and current conditions ticker have now changed to all mixed case.
December 19, 1993[42] Dan Chandler's Regional Observations narration on the K flavor was now corrected as it now says, "Regional Conditions".
December 29, 1993[4][43] "AM" and "PM" on the Sunrise and Sunset times on the Almanac have changed to lowercase.
Early 1994 The Weather Channel begins broadcasting regional commercials that can be blocked out by local forecasts generated by a Weather Star. Local Forecasts with lengths of 1:30 and 2:30 do the blocking of these 30-second commercials. STARs using non-narration audio would play this commercial audio. This was used in the summer of 1994 to advertise a TWC telephone survey about the satellite forecast for satellite customers.
March 21, 1994[44] Dan Chandler's Regional Forecast narration on the one-minute D flavor would change from "Today's Regional Forecast" to just "The Regional Forecast". This would be the last modification to the final narration set.
April 1, 1994[4] The regional icons are updated so that the multi-layered icons are smaller in size; the upper layer cloud moved almost directly on top of its underlying weather graphic.
April 4, 1994[4] Regional map icons are reverted back to the old set.
April 18, 1994[4] New regional map icons return.
August 1, 1994[4][45] Both the "Current Radar" and "Local Radar" features were upgraded from six colors to an eight-color intensity level display (banners are modified to reflect this). The pink "Incomplete Data" color would also change from dark pink to bright pink.
August 4, 1994[4][46] The "Travel Cities Forecast" background gradient is removed and is changed to a solid dark navy-blue colored background. The upper frame of the Lower Display Line (LDL) at the bottom of the screen is also chopped off by the time this update was implemented.
March 1, 1995[4][47] The next major update occurs for the first time in nearly three years. What was now introduced in this update:
  • The "Local Update" (short-term forecast) segment was introduced, and the short-term forecast was provided by the National Weather Service, which sometimes took up more than one screen (the maximum was three screens). It served as a NOWcast-type summary of presently occurring weather and weather developments expected to occur over the next few hours. Because the "Local Update" feature often varied from screen lineups, Dan Chandler's narration is discontinued on these flavors that contained the "Local Update" segment. The only exception was some of the flavors that still continued to use the previous 1992-era flavor lineups.
  • The short-term forecast description text on the "Local Update" segment incorrectly showed in gray text. This appears to be a glitch early on and was later fixed with the proper white text.
Early 1995 Some of the icons on the Regional Icon set are changed, such as "Snow" and others are added, such as "Sunny" and "Windy."
June 28, 1995[48] Dan Chandler's narration would air for the final time, but only on the 1992-era flavors lineups that didn't contain the "Local Update" segment. Shortly afterwards, the narration was completely phased out on all WeatherStar models, including the 4000.
July 11, 1995[49] The first signs of graphical system degradation are reported, with patchy reports from as early as 1995. Later signs of degradation reported consist of software rot or data degradation, including problems, such as the new moon graphic on the Almanac changing colors or the Local Radar's background becoming inverted. These problems are attributed to the age of the graphics rendering hardware, as well as integrity issues with the on-board EEPROMs.
July 16, 1995[50] The "30 Day Outlook" feature from the previous 1992-era M flavor lineup is discontinued by the National Weather Service (and thus The Weather Channel).
October 27, 1995[51] A Severe Weather Mode was added to the 4000: If a severe weather warning crawl is present, a special flavor lineup would play consisting of only the "Current Conditions" and "Latest Observations" segments. It would then be followed by an extended "Local Radar" segment that would loop for the remainder of the Local Forecast whenever storms are present on the radar's map.
Early 1997[52] The J flavor is discontinued as the Travel Cities Forecast is dropped and only appears when The Weather Channel is experiencing some minor or major technical difficulties (the Travel Cities Forecast was not dropped on both of the Weather Star III's and Weather Star Jr's two-minute M flavors).
December 24, 1999[53] Later updates on the Weather Star 4000:
  • By this time, most cable headends had begun to upgrade by replacing their 4000 units with its successor, the Weather Star XL (the XL previously began to roll out on selected cable systems earlier that spring); however, some companies still used the 4000. These were typically still found on some smaller cable systems.
  • The Weather Channel logo is modernized, and the point size of the fonts in the Local and Current Radar screens become smaller. The font in the titles of the radar segments was changed from Helvetica to Arial.
November 2002[54] Further updates on the Weather Star 4000 include:
  • The 36 Hour Forecast begins to come directly from The Weather Channel and appears in mixed case.
  • The Local Update is discontinued, stabilizing each flavor.
  • The Marine Forecast is also discontinued.
Early 2005 The text used on the Station ID became bolder and larger. Some of the old text is still in use up until August 2005. This was the last official update to ever occur on the Weather Star 4000.
June 26, 2014 The Weather Star 4000 is officially retired when The Weather Channel shuts off its analog satellite feed.

Reverse engineering effort

One of the initial runs of the reverse-engineered Weather Star 4000 in December 2019

When retired in 2014, the Weather Star 4000 officially became nonfunctional due to the hardware design not allowing for permanent storage of its required software. The software has never been archived and is presumed lost. In late 2018, THEtechknight, a technology repair YouTuber, acquired a Weather Star 4000 unit of his own after having had an interest in the technology for some time. Despite being faced with the lack of software, he would nonetheless decide to undertake a massive reverse engineering effort to attempt to bring the 4000 back to a functional state. To help accomplish this, he reached out to a variety of fandom personalities, graphic designers, programmers, and even an original graphic designer who worked with the 4000.[55]

On December 25, 2019, he ran the first local forecast on a 4000 since the 2014 retirement. This first presentation used the early text-based appearance of the 4000. On March 1, 2020, he ran the first full graphical forecast since the retirement.

Glitches

As STAR 4000 units were in operation for many years, they were prone to graphical and other miscellaneous glitches, including:

  • The STAR will not generate any text or very little text but will draw graphics and pass on the TWC video feed.
  • The STAR will loop its products, especially if the TWC feed is lost or the flavor has glitches, especially the overnight J flavor in 1997.
  • The STAR will "repaint" (redraw) the graphical elements it displays.
  • The contents of the Current Conditions will be incomplete.
  • The STAR has problems drawing the icons.
  • The radar screens display in the wrong color scheme. This is related to a palette swap that occurs when changing from the normal screens to radar.
  • "Degradation": The STAR will have problems with the background graphics or Almanac moon phases. This was caused by a malfunctioning RAMDAC on the graphics processor board.
  • The wrong narration would be used for the STAR (a III with narration for the 4000 or 4000 with III narration). This was the cable operator's error in hooking up the STAR.

References

  1. ↑ WeatherSTAR I/II/III Unit?
  2. ↑ http://www.twcclassics.com/video/local-forecasts/weatherstar-4000/
  3. ↑ ""Day One" by John Tesh" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: This appears to be the earliest known broadcast of the Weather Star 4000 that now included a radar feature. Atlanta, GA. April 9, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26 4.27 4.28 4.29 4.30 4.31 4.32 4.33 4.34 4.35 4.36 4.37 4.38 4.39 4.40 4.41 4.42 4.43 4.44 4.45 "WeatherSTAR 4000 Timeline". TWCClassics. November 8, 2024. Archived from the original on May 22, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  5. ↑ "First WeatherSTAR 4000 local forecast" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: This is the earliest known recording of the Weather Star 4000. The audio was not working at the time of the broadcast. Atlanta, GA. February 2, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ↑ ""On The Rise" by Deborah Henson-Conant". TWCClassics. Note: Although the footage was taken from a Weather Star 3000 unit (a.k.a. Weather Star III), this 3000 was incorrectly playing the Weather Star 4000's audio, which mentions "The Current Radar" at the end of the Local Forecast. This was a common error on both the 3000 and 4000 as it would sometimes play the wrong audio feeds. This recording may have likely been around the time the 4000 narration was added. Atlanta, GA. April 8, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ↑ ""Day One" by John Tesh" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: This is the Weather Star 4000 playing the correct audio feed one day after the earliest known broadcast of the Weather Star 4000 narration that was incorrectly played on the Weather Star 3000 (a.k.a. Weather Star III). Atlanta, GA. April 9, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "WeatherSTAR 4000 Flavors". TWCClassics. December 9, 2021. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  9. ↑ ""Backstabbers" by The Rippingtons" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. June 7, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  10. ↑ ""Down The Pipe" by Hiram Bullock" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. July 3, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  11. ↑ ""Goin' Under" by Devo" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: This is the earliest known video recording of the second narration set for the Weather Star 4000. Atlanta, GA. July 11, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ ""Desire" by Tom Scott" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. July 23, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  13. ↑ ""Morning Sojourn" by David Benoit". TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. August 17, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  14. ↑ ""Old Bones" by Dave Grusin" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. August 24, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  15. ↑ ""6-String Poet" by David Benoit" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. September 9, 1990. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  16. ↑ ""London Interlude" by Lonnie Liston Smith" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. January 3, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  17. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Flavors". TWCClassics. December 9, 2021. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  18. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Changes" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: The update took place sometime around the afternoon that day. The first recording of this change was around 3:57 PM EST. Atlanta, GA. February 20, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ↑ ""Hopes and Dreams" by Jim Chappell" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. March 7, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  20. ↑ ""Where Are You Now" by Dan Siegel" (MP4). TWCClassics. Rochester, NY. April 4, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  21. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Changes" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: The update took place sometime around the afternoon that day. The first recording of this change was around 6:27 PM EDT. Atlanta, GA. April 17, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  22. ↑ ""After The Rain" by Michael Jones" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. May 22, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  23. ↑ ""Desert Rain" by David Lanz And Paul Speer" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. July 22, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  24. ↑ "July 1991 Playlist". TWCClassics. Note: The page was incorrectly lists as the June 1991 playlist. This really was the July 1991 playlist as it began airing on July 14, 1991. The updated narrations began airing around that same time. August 7, 2025. Archived from the original on August 8, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  25. ↑ ""One Winter Morning" by Shadowfax" (MP4). TWCClassics. A recording that features the 1991 Dan Chandler narration for the Weather Star 4000. July 23, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  26. ↑ ""Dark Passage" by Clifford Marshall Van Buren" (MP4). Note: This is the latest known video recording of the five-minute N flavor that only aired in the overnight hours at 27 and 57 minutes past the hour. At some point later on in August 1991, the N flavor was completely dropped altogether and was replaced with the three-minute J flavor. Wilmington, DE. August 1, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  27. ↑ ""Harpo's Tune" by Mark Sloniker" (MP4). TWCClassics. Philadelphia, PA. December 3, 1991. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  28. ↑ ""One Winter Morning" by Shadowfax" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. March 13, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  29. ↑ ""Bright Wish" by Mark Sloniker" (MP4). TWCClassics. Savannah, GA. April 16, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  30. ↑ ""Just The Way I Feel" by George Howard" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. August 10, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  31. ↑ ""Up To Stay" by Danny Heines" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. September 8, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  32. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Changes" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. November 19, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  33. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Changes" (MP4). TWCClassics. Jacksonville, FL. November 26, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  34. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Changes" (MP4). TWCClassics. Atlanta, GA. December 9, 1992. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  35. ↑ ""Pee Wee" by Candy Dulfer" (MP4). TWCClassics. Columbus, MS. August 15, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  36. ↑ ""Kilimanjaro" by The Soto Koto Band" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. August 31, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  37. ↑ ""Ancient Dreams" by Patrick O'Hearn" (MP4). TWCClassics. Norfolk, VA. August 31, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  38. ↑ ""Monterey Nights" by John Tesh" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. September 7, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  39. ↑ ""Flightpath" by Jonn Serrie" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. September 27, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  40. ↑ ""A Year Ago" by Kenny G" (MP4). TWCClassics. Willow Grove, PA. October 2, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  41. ↑ ""O Holy Night" by David Lanz And Paul Speer" (MP4). TWCClassics. Willow Grove, PA. December 16, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  42. ↑ ""We Three Kings" by Barbara Higbie" (MP4). TWCClassics. Willow Grove, PA. December 19, 1993. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  43. ↑ ""Digital Penatrashun" by Physical Therapy" (MP4). TWCClassics. Willow Grove, PA. January 1, 1994. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  44. ↑ ""Behind The Mask" by Artie Traum" (MP4). TWCClassics. Willow Grove, PA. March 21, 1994. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  45. ↑ ""Yasmine" by Shahin And Sepehr" (MP4). TWCClassics. Rochester, NY. August 2, 1994. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  46. ↑ ""Ready For Love" by 3rd Force" (MP4). TWCClassics. Rochester, NY. August 4, 1994. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  47. ↑ ""River's Bend" by Network Music" (MP4). TWCClassics. Wilmington, DE. March 6, 1995. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  48. ↑ ""In The Pocket" by Network Music" (MP4). TWCClassics. Daytona Beach, FL. June 28, 1995. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  49. ↑ "The Weather Channel July 11, 1995 With Commercials". Internet Archive. Note: This was the earliest known recorded footage of a Weather Star 4000 that started to show some early signs of degradation, as visible black pixels were visible in the background. At this point, the Weather Star 4000 units were now five years old by then. Chicago, IL. July 11, 1995. Retrieved November 22, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  50. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Flavors". TWCClassics. December 9, 2021. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  51. ↑ ""Rosewood" by Network Music" (MP4). TWCClassics. Note: This is the earliest known recorded footage that is available that shows the 4000's special severe weather flavor lineup feature. Wilmington, DE. October 27, 1995. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  52. ↑ "WeatherSTAR 4000 Flavors". TWCClassics. December 9, 2021. Archived from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  53. ↑ ""Skating" by Vince Guaraldi Trio" (MP4). TWCClassics. Columbus, MS. December 24, 1999. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  54. ↑ ""Steps" by John Maellaro" (MP4). TWCClassics. Portland, ME. May 17, 2003. Archived (MP4) from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
  55. ↑ techknight (March 8, 2021). "Reverse Engineering The Weather STAR 4000". Hackaday. Retrieved May 4, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

  • This article was initially rescued from Deletionpedia and was originally available on Wikipedia, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Retrieved from "https://www.twcarchive.com/w/index.php?title=Weather_Star_4000&oldid=21366"