“Everyone talks about the weather, but no one can do anything about” it is an oft used phrase. But, in 1974, WDBQ did do something about it for our early morning audiences.
I called his home, spoke to his mother first, and then to young Tom Churchill with an invitation to come on the air with us the following week to talk about his forecasting hobby and to give us his forecast for that day.
At promptly 7 am the following Thursday, Tom and his mom arrived at our 1170 Iowa Street studio complete with a few charts and graphs and his own forecast for the next several days. This precocious slightly built 14-year old with a mop of hair hanging over his forehead and a pre-pubescent voice that cracked a bit when he spoke, was delightful to interview. He obviously had studied meteorology and wasn’t just playing a guessing game with the weather.
That day the official NWS forecast called for possible showers Friday. Churchill disagreed. He predicted strong thunderstorms, high winds, hail, and considerable lightning. We joked with him about this and invited him the following week to check his accuracy.
Friday morning, the sky darkened, and at exactly 12:30 pm all hell broke loose with thunder, lighting heavy rain and some hail. Churchill’s forecast was correct.
The next week he became a regular feature of our morning show. We paid him $5.00 for his weekly appearance. Tom lived on the north end of Dubuque not far from the radio station, so he would regularly stop by with any updates to his weekly forecasts. He also published a weekly forecast page distributed to several area factories and service stations.
At just 15 years of age, in February of 1975, Tom was accepted as an associate member of the American Meteorological Society. A few months later, the Des Moines Register wrote a two-column story about him, which then gained the attention of the National Inquirer – the weekly tabloid distributed around the world. They came to town with a photographer and did an impressive two-page full-color spread on this young weather forecaster.
In early June of 1975, WDBQ was named “Iowa Radio Station of the Year.” Part of the presentation piece I authored included our original radio script contest, numerous public service campaigns, and the unique Tom Churchill weather forecasts.
The National Inquirer exposure was read by NBC’s Tom Snyder, who invited Tom to appearance July 4, 1975, on his six-hour Independence Day overnight special. Other guests included Werner Von Braun, columnist Jimmy Breslin, comedian Shecky Green, and songwriter Harry Chapin. 
Tom’s Tomorrow Show appearance was viewed by a former WDBQ employee David McClean who was then the executive news producer at KRON-San Franciso. He hired Tom as a one-week replacement for the station’s vacationing weatherman. The station flew Tom and his parents and provided plush hotel accommodations during their stay.
Soon after that appearance, his mother decided we weren’t paying him enough, and there was quite a discussion about what the station was willing to pay. Management appreciated the publicity the youngster generated but was unwilling to spend more than $1.00 a day for his services. Tom and his other requested $50 a week because his forecasts had been sold to one exclusive sponsor. Negotiations broke down when a management counter-offer of $15 was rejected. Tom Churchill Weather disappeared from WDBQ, and within a week, he was doing a nightly forecast for Dubuque’s Teleprompter Cable Channel 10.
His next national exposure came from ABC’s Good Morning America hosted by David Hartman, where he provided national forecasts for a week during Summer vacation.
Then came an appearance on the syndicated series “Kids World,” followed soon after by invitation to appear on the popular TV quiz show “The $120,000 Question.” There he won $16,000 and announced plans to buy a car and save the rest for college.
After graduating from high school, Tom enrolled at Iowa State but soon returned to the tri-state area to become a full-time student at UW-Platteville. I once again hired him as a part-time staff member who would change the tapes on the IGM automation system that ran WDBQ-FM’s “Just Beautiful Music” format and would provide his forecasts as part of his duties.
Around that same time, WDBQ invested in an old Navy surplus radar unit that we placed in the master control room. The revolving radar tower was mounted on the roof of our building at 11th & Iowa. Most of the staff realized that because downtown sat east of a high bluff and most weather systems moved west to east, our radar unit would not be particularly useful in predicting anything. But, we played the promotion game and proudly proclaimed that “Skywatch Radar Weather” was Dubuque’s only weather radar system providing exceptionally high-quality forecasting for our listeners. (Insert laugh track here) 
Tom Churchill knew it was basically a scam but made the most of it by checking regularly using vague descriptions like “Skywatch radar weather shows clouds to the north and south with a good chance for showers.” Ironically, a decade later, when the studios moved to Asbury, where the radar system could see clearly for miles in all directions, it was left at the Iowa Street location and never used again.
In 1979 Tom started a weather forecasting company to provide live weather forecasts to radio stations across the United States. He invented the Digital Weatherman, an automated system that provides audio weather forecasts.
It’s now used by hundreds of radio stations and cable systems across the United States. The invention allows many broadcasters to provide 24-hour coverage of severe weather events and current conditions without employing full-time staff.
This PC based system contains 30,000 short audio cuts of every possible weather condition or bulletin information that can be spoken. The PC reads text forecast information and uses this to merge audio cuts, known as domain-specific synthesis, into a complete weather forecast based on the radio station's preferences. The system's audio library contains different voices and languages.
In 1983 the ambitious young man became involved in politics and launched a campaign for an “At Large” seat on the Dubuque City Council. He lost in the October Primary to John Klauer, who then lost to Barbara Manning in the November election.
Another interesting turn in his young life was his marriage to an African-American girl, Rita Daniels. Feeling the prejudice of some Dubuque residents toward the mixed racial marriage, Tom and his wife became active in the local chapter of the NAACP. However, they became frustrated with what they believed was a lack of leadership under long-time Dubuque resident Ernestine Moss, so they created a new organization called Dubuque Citizens United for Respect and Equality (CURE). After several intense years of battles with the local NAACP, Tom, his wife, and their young son moved to Puerto Rico, where he continues to operate his Digital forecasting business.
The last time I saw him was at an International Broadcasters Idea Bank convention in Nashville, where he had a vendors’ booth to sell his digital forecasting service. We had a pleasant visit reminiscing of those “old days” and the success of his company.
I remain proud of the role WDBQ had in the fascinating, impressive life of this creative young man. We parted as friends.
On Tuesday morning, July 7, 2020, I was shocked and saddened to read the obituary of Tom, who died in the Dominican Republic after a battle with cancer.
Thomas J. Churchill, 59, of the Dominican Republic, formerly of Dubuque, Iowa, and East Dubuque, Illinois, died Sunday morning, July 5, 2020, after battling cancer. A memorial mass will be held 10:30 AM Wednesday, July 8, 2020, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
Tom was born on March 4, 1961. He graduated from Hempstead High School in 1979.
Tom started in radio as an on-air weatherman at WDBQ-AM Radio at the age of 13. He gained notoriety for reportedly being more accurate than the National Weather Service. At 14, he appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. He also made an appearance on the television game show, The $128,000 Question, in the weather-related category. He was on Good Morning America, The Tom Snyder Show, and KRON in San Francisco giving weather forecasts and filling in for their weather persons.
Tom also wrote software called Digital Weatherman in 1989. This software gave radio stations the opportunity to have real-time local weather forecasts delivered in a natural voice.
Tom is survived by his son, Georan Churchill of Boone, Iowa; two sisters, Jennifer (Gary) Schumacher of Dubuque and Edna (Joe Mooney) Churchill of Nettles Island, FL; his niece, Erin (Mike) Schumacher of Dubuque; and nephew, Noah Schumacher of Muscatine, Iowa.
Tom was preceded in death by his parents, John V. “Jack” and Thoma M. “Tomie” Churchill; his maternal grandparents, Clarence “Barney” and Edna E. (Nelson) Grutz; and his paternal grandparents, Victor and Rose (Stevens) Churchill.
Hoffmann Schneider & Kitchen Funeral Home and Cremation Service is in care of the arrangements.
Condolences can be sent to the family by visiting Tom’s obituary at www.hskfhcares.com.
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