TWC Classics

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TWC Classics
Current logo of TWC Classics.
TWC Classics as it appeared on November 7, 2021.
TWC Classics as it appeared on November 7, 2021.
Type of site
  • Content site
  • Internet forum (former)
Available inEnglish
Country of originUnited States
Founder(s)Matt Marron
URLtwcclassics.com
RegistrationNone
LaunchedJune 1997; 27 years ago (1997-06), as Matt's TWC Music Homepage
1998; 27 years ago (1998), as TWC Fan
2002; 23 years ago (2002), as TWC Classics[1]
Current statusActive

TWC Classics is a website that preserves images and audio and video clips of The Weather Channel from the first 25 years of its existence, from 1982 to 2008. It is one of the Internet's oldest websites aimed at The Weather Channel fandom, having been established in 1997 by longtime fandom personality Matt Marron.

History

Matt Marron established what would eventually become TWC Classics in July 1997 as Matt's TWC Music Homepage. Marron was already known in the community at that point for his discussions of TWC's on-air music selections on TWCForum, with his new site being a reflection of his knowledge on the subject. The next year, he renamed his site to TWC Fan, but while some other non-musical content was added to the site, it was still largely devoted to archived playlist of music featured on the network in addition to an effort to identify unknown songs.[2][3] Marron renamed the site to its current name in 2002 under the inspiration of the TV networks VH1 Classic and ESPN Classic. The site underwent a brief stint under the name Matt's Guide to The Weather Channel in 2003, but the change was eventually reverted the following year.[3][4]

Beginning sometime before or around May 2004[5][3], Marron met and began collaborating with another rising name in the community, Charles Abel-Lear, who founded his own site inspired by TWC Classics. Charles then aided in the development of a revised look for TWC Classics and became a co-webmaster and content contributor to the site, later joined by two other contributors, Nick Smith and Layne Bruce.[6] Abel-Lear's presence as a contributor, primarily contributing video clips to the site, signaled the beginning of a shift in the content of TWC Classics, with the site transitioning from a primarily music-based site to one that featured more general content. Among the new content added included TWC video clips, images, audio, and even recreations of icons and fonts seen on the Weather Star 4000, developed jointly by Abel-Lear and Smith, in 2005. Both had recently contributed graphics to the major version two overhaul of the Weather Star 4000 Simulator hosted at another TWC fan website, Taiganet. Also among the additions included two new video series that became sitewide events in their own right, Wayback Playback and Local Across the 48s. Local Across the 48s, an event in which users of the site across the country recorded TWC's Local on the 8s segment at the same time, became such a success that the tradition continues to this day in modern fan communities. Abel-Lear was later joined by Tyler Tomasino as joint webmaster for the site's video section in November 2005 due to the former's time constraints.[7] In March 2006, The Weather Channel's Star development team partnered with the site's staff to recruit visitors to the site as beta testers for HiRAD, a new data localization technology used on the IntelliStar. As a result, the team established their own technical support space on the forum in which users could directly report technical issues involving Weather Star units.[8][9] Later that year, in December, it was announced that Abel-Lear would be stepping down from his position at the site due to his return to college to pursue a degree in television production.[10][11][8]

The first major graphical update to the site in roughly three to four years was published from April to May 2008, breaking from the general look of the site that had existed with only minor changes since Marron and Abel-Lear collaborated on the site appearance in 2004 and 2005.[12] This would be followed by another graphical update in mid-to-late 2009, coinciding with the twelfth anniversary of the site; this update would debut a Weather Star 4000-based site theme.[13] The appearance of the site would heavily revised again on March 6, 2011, corresponding with the 20-year anniversary of the debut of The Weather Channel's Weather You Can Always Turn To campaign and appearance.[14] The appearance of the site changed to a much more compact, mostly gray and blue-themed look, with the logo changing to a rounded antique-style cathode ray tube television with the name of the site in the screen. The change was met with at least some feedback desiring the previous Star 4000 theme[15]; a new 4000-themed site appearance would debut in November of the same year.[16] Since that time, the theme has remained true to a Star 4000-style look, with minor changes since.

A corresponding Facebook page for the site was established on April 24, 2009.[17] Later, on October 3, 2015, a Facebook group was created to complement the site and page.[18]

Forums

For TWC Today/TWC Classics forum history post-2010 merger, see TWC Today.

TWC Classics was once home to one of the earliest established message boards for The Weather Channel's fan community. Two iterations of the forums existed[3]; the first iteration of the forums appears to have been established around late July 2002, although activity would not truly begin on the forums until after that August.[19] This original version of the forum most likely closed in mid-to-late 2004, due to inactivity.[9]

On March 7, 2005, the forums were reestablished[20], most likely in response to a controversy on the official weather.com Message Boards. The nature of the incident remains unclear but appears to have been severe, as it was also the catalyst for the establishment of the predecessor of TWC Today only roughly a day prior on or around March 6. The reestablishment of the TWC Classics boards only a day after the creation of the forum led to tension between the two communities, only heightened by an apparent history of tensions between Marron and Gary Tanner, Jr., the founder of TWC Today. Despite the circumstances, the second version of the forums saw much more success than their original run. Marron used the weather.com Message Boards as a promotional outlet to recruit members in the time immediately after relaunching his forum.[21] In 2007, the forum saw a record of 531 visitors at once, and by 2010, the forums had 539 registered users.[22] The TWC Classics forums merged with their former competitor, the TWC Today forums, on April 9, 2010, ending the TWC Classics forums' independent run for the second time after just over five years.[23] According to Marron, he agreed to a merger due to a decline in posts on the forums at the time. At some point soon after the merger of the forums with TWC Today, he attempted to restore his forum. In doing so, he discovered that the TWC Classics forum database had been lost due to data corruption.[24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160218102437/http://www.twcclassics.com/blog/celebrating-18-years
  2. ↑ Marron, Matt. "TWCFan.com". TWCFan.com. Archived from the original on November 26, 1999. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Marron, Matt. "Celebrating 18 Years / TWC Classics Blog / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on February 18, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  4. ↑ Marron, Matt. "twc classics | front page". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on January 21, 2004. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  5. ↑ "twc classics | welcome". TWC Classics. May 11, 2004. Archived from the original on May 12, 2004. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  6. ↑ "twc classics | welcome". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on September 26, 2004. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  7. ↑ "twc classics | home". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Abel-Lear, Charles (October 9, 2012). "Special Presentation: 20 Years of The Weather Chazz". YouTube. Retrieved January 28, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 User testimony from Intelliguy. Direct message written on January 29, 2025.
  10. ↑ "twc classics | No One Knows The Weather Channel Like We Do!". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  11. ↑ "TWC Classics Forums (Powered by Invision Power Board)". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on December 5, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  12. ↑ "TWC Classics - Classic Weather Channel footage you can always turn to". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Weather Channel music, playlists, video clips, images, and information / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. October 1, 2009. Archived from the original on December 11, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  14. ↑ Marron, Matt (March 6, 2011). "March 6, 2011 / Blog / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  15. ↑ Marron, Matt (September 19, 2011). "September 19, 2011 / Blog / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Weather Channel video clips, audio clips, images, and information / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  17. ↑ "TWC Classics | Facebook". Facebook. April 24, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ Marron, Matt. "Latest updates at TWC Classics / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  19. ↑ "Forums (Powered by Invision Board". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on August 18, 2002. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  20. ↑ Marron, Matt (April 30, 2005). "TWC Classics Forums -> Rick Griffin". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on May 25, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  21. ↑ Tanner, Jr., Gary (November 24, 2008). "300 MEMBERS!!!". TWC Today. Retrieved January 30, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ↑ "TWC Classics Forums". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on March 18, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  23. ↑ Marron, Matt (April 9, 2010). "Forums / TWC Classics". TWC Classics. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  24. ↑ E-mail correspondence between Triple C TWC and Matt Marron, April 10, 2025.

External links

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