Chief meteorologist Dominic Brown to give keynote at GSPA Awards

Dominic Brown, chief meteorologist at WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina, will give an inspiring keynote address at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Awards April 9, 2019, at the University of Georgia Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

Brown is a 2005 graduate of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he majored in broadcast news. He holds a Master of Science in geosciences/broadcast meteorology from Mississippi State University.

Brown made history as WIS-TV’s first black chief meteorologist when he joined the station in June 2017. He has tracked several major weather events that have affected the Palmetto State, including Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018. He also guided viewers through the Total Solar Eclipse in August 2017 as the moon’s shadow carved a path right through Columbia. An on-air special produced about the eclipse subsequently earned him and his colleagues an Emmy nomination. Brown also was honored with the 2018 Television Weathercaster of the Year Award of Merit from the South Carolina Broadcasters Association.

Before joining WIS, Brown spent five years as a meteorologist, reporter and anchor at WTKR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Hampton Roads, Virginia, where he tracked Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, a deadly tornado outbreak in Virginia in February 2016 and a deadly tornado along the Virginia Eastern Shore in 2014. Brown began his career at WCTI-TV, the ABC affiliate in Eastern North Carolina, as weekend meteorologist/weekday reporter, being on the front line of many weather events, including Hurricane Irene in 2011 and one of the worst tornado outbreaks in the state's history on April 16 that same year. Notably, he was the first black meteorologist at both stations.

Brown is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society (AMS). In fact, he is honored to hold the prestigious AMS Television Seal of Approval. He is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Registration for the GSPA Spring Workshop and Awards is open through April 1. Visit www.ugagspa.org/workshop-awards for details.