With that introduction - and some stormy sound effects - the Hurricane Watch Net celebrates 60 years of service to the United States National Hurricane Center by entering the world of podcasting. What you heard is the introduction to this new program which brings stories, people, and the history of the net to viewers and listeners. Episode 1 of “The HWN Report,” hosted by net manager, Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, premiered in early September on YouTube, featuring a tribute to Jerry Murphy, K8YUW, the founder of the net.

Graves told ARNewsline that the purpose of the podcast is to [quote] “help others understand the full role of amateur radio during disasters, home or abroad, helping the Hurricane Center and forecasters gather more data - near-real-time ground-truth weather data – and help people to be better prepared before a hurricane. [endquote]

He announced later that by popular demand, in addition to YouTube, an audio version of each program will be available on services such as Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and iHeart Podcasts.