After a one-year absence, meteorologist Cameron Hardin returns to Cincinnati television Feb. 25 as WCPO-TV's Good Morning Tri-State Weekend forecaster.
"I am super excited to be back on the air in Cincinnati. My family absolutely loves this city," says Hardin, an Indiana native who did a five-month fill-in stint last year at the sister Scripps Cleveland station, WEWS-TV, after leaving WLWT-TV.
"I have always loved working for Scripps and I'm excited to work for them fulltime now," the Purdue University graduate tells me.
For six months, WCPO-TV has been looking for a weekend meteorologist so could switch to weekday traffic reporter from weather forecaster (but not a meteorologist).
Hardin arrives at WCPO-TV as WKRC-TV goes through changes in its weather team. Meteorologist Karaline Cohen from WSYX-TV, a sister Sinclair station in Columbus, was hired last month to replace meteorologist Erica Collura, who left in October. A few days later, WKRC-TV posted an opening on Feb. 1 for Paul Poteet has held for five years.
Poteet has not responded to my emails and messages about his future plans. The 43-year broadcasting veteran, who spent more than 30 years on Indianapolis TV, also does a forensic meteorology business that researches past weather events and reports those findings to insurance companies and attorneys.
After leaving WLWT-TV, Hardin has worked the past year producing "neighborhood spotlight videos" as a content manager for the Gibler Team at Coldwell Banker. He has left that company.
"My wife and I both worked from home (Downtown) in 2022 so we were able to stay home with our baby girl which was awesome," he tells me. "I loved every minute of 2022, but I'm super excited to get back to weather in 2023 and continue having fun with viewers in the mornings."
"We are pleased to welcome Cameron to the WCPO 9 family. He is a talented meteorologist who is working in a city he and his family call home," says WCPO-TV News Director Barry Fulmer in the station's announcement.
Cohen, who grew up in the Highland Park suburb of Chicago, was a forecaster and reporter for WSYX-TV and WTTE-TV in Columbus for three-and-a-half years. Before that, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alum worked for KJCT-TV in Grand Junction, Colo., and WNWO-TV in Toledo. While working full-time as a reporter in Grand Junction, she pursued a meteorology degree from Mississippi State University.
