TV weatherman John Coleman, who helped establish The Weather Channel in the early 1980s, has retired after a six-decade career during which he stirred by declaring that global warming is a "scam."
Coleman had been CEO and president of The Weather Channel during its first year of operation, but joined KUSI Channel 9/51 in San Diego 20 years ago for his "retirement job,"
the TV channel reports.
Coleman, at 79 years of age, notified the station he is retiring immediately and while on vacation. Later in the afternoon, he tweeted:
He became known for his trademark "K-uuuuuuuuuuu-S-I" during his years at the station, and wrote in his "thank you and good bye" letter to colleagues that "now is the time for me to wind down the professional, working part of ... my life and make the most of my private time in the years I have left."
Some of that "private time" will undoubtedly include keeping up his protests against the belief in man-made global warming, which he says is a "threat to our economy and our civilization."
On Thursday, he tweeted:
Coleman was born in Texas and began his career in 1953 at WCIA in Champaign, Ill., while he was a University of Illinois student. He worked at stations in Peoria, Ill., Omaha, Milwaukee, and Chicago, eventually becoming the original weatherman on ABC's "Good Morning America."