Fred Hunter
Fred Hunter (born April 3, 1953 in Fort Payne) is a former meteorologist and creator and producer of "Absolutely Alabama" segments for WBRC 6.
Hunter, the son of T. F. and Dorothy Chitwood Hunter of Fort Payne. The family lived in Jasper for a while and also spent time in Clayton, Barbour County; Opp, Covington County; Alexander City; and before settling in Fyffe, DeKalb County, when T. F. Hunter purchased the Fyffe Five-and-Dime and Fred was a sophomore in high school. He graduated from Fyffe High School in 1971, while working at his father's store and part time at WZOB-AM. He enrolled at Huntingdon College in Montgomery as a catcher for the Hawks baseball team. He was forced to give up the sport due to injuries. He switched his major to broadcast journalism and, for his sophomore year, transferred to the University of Alabama. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees there while also working at WACT-AM.
After graduating, Hunter began doing late-night sports reporting and ad sales for WCFT 33. He took an opportunity to earn an extra $50 a week by adding weekend weather segments to his repertoire. He enrolled in the meteorology program at Mississippi State University in Starkville on the way to being certified by the National Weather Association.
One of Hunter's WCFT colleagues, Rob Hunter, recruited him to his weather staff in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They both moved to KTVT 11 in Austin, Texas. His news director assigned him a series of segments to be called "Positively Texas", highlighting uplifting stories from around the state.
Hunter had been commuting from Alabama to both his out-of-state jobs, leaving his wife, the former Ivy Jean Bullard and their four daughters at home. In 1997 he sent an audition tape to WBRC in Birmingham which included some of his "Positively Texas" segments. Peggy Carpenter hired him immediately as a weekend weather reporter with a directive to recreate that type of segment for WBRC. She gave him the title "Absolutely Alabama".
Hunter retired from WBRC on April 30, 2024.
References
- Hopf, Becky (Spring 2018) "No. 5: Fred Hunter, Reporter/Meteorologist". Tuscaloosa magazine. Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 92–93
- Taunton, Eric (June 15, 2022) "Meteorologist shares his story at monthly luncheon." Vestavia Voice
- Savage, Lisa (July/August 2022) "'Absolutely Alabama': Fyffe native Fred Hunter hosts the weekly show." Connected (Farmers Telecommunications Collective). Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 12–13}
- Maze, Shannon (April 2, 2024) "Meteorologist-Reporter Fred Hunter to retire from WBRC FOX6 News." wbrc.com