We'll miss you, Frank

Houston weather legend Frank Billingsley reveals his upcoming departure from KPRC

Frank Billingsley will leave KPRC in June.

Courtesy of KPRC

The currently longest-running TV weather person in Houston is riding off into the sunset on June 28 — which according to Old Farmer’s Almanac, will be 8:26 p.m.

Frank Billingsley will leave Channel 2 after 30 years with Houston’s NBC affiliate. He also spent six years with Channel 13 before that.

“I'm going to take a break and see what it's like not to wear a suit five days a week!” Billingsley said.

And what’s next? “I love all forms of communication so I'm sure I'll gravitate toward that either as a hobby or a second act. I'll weigh options and go from there. I can tell you that we have no intention of ever leaving Houston. It's our home.”

I recently met with Billingsley to talk about his career in front of a weather map in Houston.

CultureMap: Where did you grow up - was it in a chaotic weather environment like Houston?
Frank Billingsley: Birmingham, Alabama and while we had a good variety of weather, we didn't have the extremes that Houston has. Warm, humid summers and occasional snowfall in the winter with beautiful springs and falls—but no direct hurricane hits, of course, very little flooding in homes and rarely a tornado. That's still true today although tornado alley has shifted a bit closer to them.

CM: What inspired you to pursue a career in weather forecasting?
FB: I went to college for journalism and mass Communications, most likely to be a magazine writer. But I did a little of everything and decided TV would be the best avenue. I have always loved television but in those days it was a lot harder to actually get on TV.

CM: When did you get interested in a TV career?
FB: The weather part when I was offered the job. The Weather Channel started in 1981 and by 1982, when I graduated, a lot of weathercasters were recruited to Atlanta, so stations were clearly in dire need of warm weather bodies. I was "any Frank in a storm". I figured when I failed at being a weatherman I'd pick up something easy, like law or medicine.

CM: Take me through your TV career.
FB: First job was 1982-1986 at WDBJ (CBS) in Roanoke, Virginia. Second job was 1987-1988 at WLOX (ABC) in Biloxi, Mississippi. Third job was 1989-1994 at KTRK (ABC) Houston and KPRC since 1995.

CM: Who were the primary anchors at KPRC when you joined the station?
FB: It was Feb. 1, 1995 and the anchors were Linda Lorelle and Bill Balleza.

CM: What have been the biggest changes in your industry over the years? Is one trend that weather leads the news many days.
FB: Funny, in the old days weather didn't lead over a raindrop for fear of hurting our credibility. Now if we don’t lead over a raindrop we fear losing our credibility. Computer models are the biggest change — they really have gotten so good. Gazillions of equations being processed in a single second to spit out a very accurate forecast. Once upon a time we had to actually do that ourselves. I am interested to see how Artificial Intelligence changes things.

CM: Do you get amused, tired or fed up with TV weatherman jokes?
FB: I love them. My license plate reads WEATHER. I am trying to change it to WEATHERED. I like to say that you've either grown old with me, grown up with me, or grown sick of me.

CM: You went beyond the weather to publicly talk about adoption and being gay. Why did you open up your life like that?
FB: And don't forget prostate cancer. There are subjects that a lot of people find difficult to talk about although the conversation often opens up new paths to learning and self-discovery. Having a platform to elevate those subjects to open and honest discussions has been the best part of my career. I help take away the fear. My intention has always been to help other people and I know for a fact that I have, which is the real reward.

CM: What was the biggest weather story of your career so far?
FB: Harvey, no question. That one goes down as flooding of biblical proportions. Followed by Hurricane Ike, Tropical Storm Allison, and the Big Freeze of 2021.

CM: How would you rate your TV weatherman hair over the years?
FB: The key to aging well is simple: keep your hair on and your weight off. There are pills for both.

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telling stories

Black-owned Houston bookstore opens new home in historic Third Ward space

Kindred Stories bookshore Eldorado Ballroom

Photo by Craig D. Lindsey

Kindred Stories has moved to its new location.

Even though its grand reopening will be held this Saturday, May 17, Third Ward bookstore Kindred Stories has already begun a soft opening at its new location inside the Eldorado Ballroom at 2310 Elgin Street.

Since September 2021, the Black-owned bookstore was located on Stuart St., one of many businesses that came to life thanks to Project Row Houses’ Incubation Program. Last year, the nonprofit informed Kindred and the other business that they had to vacate their premises at the end of this month to allow new businesses to occupy the spaces.

Thankfully, Kindred already had its eye on the Eldorado location, next to neighborhood eatery The Rado Market (which has a collection of cookbooks curated by Kindred). It’s a space previously held by Hogan Brown Gallery, which abruptly closed in December. “I had caught wind that this space might be available,” Kindred founder/owner Terri Hamm tells CultureMap.

Hamm turned the moving process into a fun little event for her and her loyal customers. “Last Tuesday, we invited about 20 of our top community members that, you know, are always in the store and have really supported us all of the year,” she says. “We packed up all the books in the space in an hour and, then, we moved everything in an hour. So it was like the beautiful way to close out that space in the midst of the community that has really supported us throughout three-and-a-half years there. And we spent the last four days kind of unboxing and just getting all set up.”

Hamm says the new location is certainly roomier (around 1200 square feet) than their previous spot, which was only 450 square feet.

“There's more room to just spend time in the store,” she says. “I feel like that's the ideal bookstore experience, when you can go in and really take your time. I feel like in the other space, it was so small, people kind of felt like they were in a rush.”

Although Kindred is open and ready to welcome anyone looking for Black-and-proud literature, Hamm insists they’re only 90 percent done. More light fixtures need to be installed. Plants and furniture have to be brought. They even have custom-made wallpaper that needs to be installed.

“So, we have a few little things that need to happen,” says Hamm, “And, then, I feel like the space will be really, really ready – probably in another six months.”

In the meantime, it’s business as usual. This month’s calendar of events includes various appearances from authors as well as a couple of book clubs. Hamm is looking forward to new bookworms coming in and discovering what Kindred Stories has to offer.

“The bestsellers are selling,” she says, “But I feel like, in this space, people are going to get to discover a lot of under-the-radar titles, just because there's more space to see the books and explore.”

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