News 12 Traffic & Weather
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News 12 Traffic & Weather is an all traffic and weather channel seen on all Cablevision operating systems on Channel 61. The channel has a staff of approximately 40 (full time, part time, and temp) traffic reporters and 10 (full time, part time, and temp) meteorologists and is based in Woodbury, New York.
News 12 Traffic & Weather started out as "News 12 Weather" in the early 90s. It would air in the mornings on most Cablevision systems in place of Bravo/E! when they shared a channel on Cablevision Long Island cable systems. When Optimum TV launched in 1996, it got a full time position on systems in Cablevision areas. In 1998, it was rebranded as "MSG Metro Weather" as part of the MSG Metro Channels, and, when a traffic element was added to the channel, it became "Metro Traffic & Weather" in 1998. It was the first solely traffic and weather channel in the tri-state area, and while local news networks and The Weather Channel offered weather news, the traffic component was the feature that made the network unique. In 2005, the channel joined the News 12 Networks and assumed it's current name. Channel 61 is the only surviving channel of the original MSG Metro Channels.
The weather component of the channel features radar, temperatures, information on tides and pollen counts, and a seven day forecast, all voiced by off-camera meteorologists.
The traffic portion of the channel includes maps with arrow flows and live traffic cameras, with the information voiced by off-camera traffic reporters.
There are five different channels (New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and Connecticut) that compose News 12 Traffic & Weather, covering the Tri-State Region. The channel is live 24/7/365, although the traffic reporters are live, on average, every 15 minutes, and meteorologists are live, on average, every 3 hours. The radar and traffic cameras are live in every report.
For most of the network's existence, the tag line, said after every traffic and weather update, has been, "Know Before You Go".
