🌡️ John Gaughan celebrates 30 years at WJXT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – October 24, 1992.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat Atlanta Braves, 4-3 in Game 6 at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium to win their first-ever title. The number one song on the radio was End Of The Road by Boyz II Men. The average cost for a gallon of cost across the country was $1.11.

And John Gaughan went to work at WJXT-Channel 4.

Leave John a congratulatory message in the comments at the bottom of this story.

Here’s how John describes his time at the Local Station:

Back in 1985 after getting the AMS seal of apprMeteorologistoval, at the time I was the third youngest to achieve this status, I applied to the “Mouth of the South”, WJXT.

There was a weekend position open. George Winterling was the chief and someone I greatly admired. Two months after applying, George called me back and said, “You are a little too young.” I was just 23 but looked as if he was still in high school.

Flash forward to 1992, I was working at the powerhouse Orlando station WFTV, where I covered the weekend of Hurricane 🌀 Andrew and got a call from Nancy Shafran, the News Director at WJXT.

Normally, I would have just stayed at WFTV but some of you might recall that I had already worked in Jacksonville, at WJKS, now our sister station CW17.

30 years later, I had dealt with many changes, as WJXT went from a powerhouse CBS affiliate to a powerhouse independent station. Then becoming Chief Meteorologist after the legendary George Winterling.

All the while the craziness of the birth of the internet to Facebook algorithms to digital platforms that we all depend on today and Jacksonville (and Florida) have dealt with more hurricanes’ 🌀 indirect “near misses” than seen over the past 100 years.

Whew, what a ride!