Press & broadcasting / Science & invention
Jerry Hodak
born 1942 · television meteorologist, news anchor
Detroit-born TV weatherman who forecast for Detroiters for 45 years on WJBK and WXYZ, retiring as WXYZ's chief meteorologist in 2010.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 84- Detroit years
- 1942–2010
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hodak was born in Detroit and went through Guardian Angels Elementary School and Denby High School on the east side before studying mass communications at Wayne State University. After a spell as a news reporter in Orlando, he came home in 1965 as a weathercaster at WJBK-TV, Channel 2. In 1977 he moved to WXYZ-TV as science editor and weathercaster, and apart from a three-and-a-half-year return to WJBK as a news anchor in the early 1990s, he stayed at Channel 7 until he retired as chief meteorologist in September 2010. He won a local Emmy and the American Meteorological Society's Seal of Approval, and was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010.
Highlights
- Weathercaster at WJBK-TV from 1965
- WXYZ-TV science editor and chief meteorologist, 1977–2010
- Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame (2010)
- American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval
- Denby High School and Wayne State University alumnus
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1977–2010
WXYZ-TV Broadcast House
Channel 7's studios, where he was science editor and chief meteorologist.
Studied here · 1950s
Denby High School
The east-side high school he graduated from.