By Dillon Collins
Wind, rain, sun and snow, for over a decade, Eddie Sheerr has been the man of the hour when it comes to Newfoundland and Labrador’s weather.
The longtime Chief Meteorologist and face of NTV’s weather coverage, Eddie stepped away from television, parting ways with the company this past summer. Though his followers need not fear, as his next venture will keep him more attuned to shifting patterns and breaking coverage than ever before.
Eddie launched Sheerr Weather in July, a comprehensive platform featuring a dedicated app, website and various social media accounts that feature daily updates, live broadcasts and in-depth weather coverage.
“Honestly, there are multiple reasons as to why,” Eddie tells Downhome of his decision to launch Sheerr Weather. “First and foremost, I think I needed a change of scenery. My career with NTV was lovely and fruitful, and I’m forever grateful to the station, everybody I worked with and the Stirlings for hiring me and bringing me to Newfoundland. Without them and a fateful phone call from a colleague of mine one day, I wouldn’t have the life I have now. So I’m extremely grateful for that, but I was with NTV for the better part of 12 years, and that’s a long time to be with an organization.”
A husband and father of two, Eddie’s duties doling out weather across the island and beyond during NTV’s supper hour newscast, First Edition, and award-winning Evening Newshour kept him away from home during peak daddy-daughter time. It was this, as much as any desire to broaden his horizons, that led to his departure from NTV, he explains.
“I had to be live every evening between 5:30 and 7, and those were basically my non-negotiable hours. And it was getting to the point where I was seeing the girls in the morning and seeing them in the evening, but any parent knows that little kids in the evening are not always the most fun,” he says. “So I was seeing them once in the morning and coming home, and it was really a challenging environment to walk into at the end of the day. I wanted a little more flexibility to be around the kids and help out Susan more in the evenings, and have the flexibility to be around when I need to be around. And that’s part of the reason I wanted to have a change.”
Having amassed a dedicated following and an audience of thousands across his various networks, Eddie saw the viability of a comprehensive and dedicated news platform tailored to this province. Accuracy, accessibility, authenticity and dependability are the pillars of Sheerr Weather, building on the reputation Eddie has amassed with viewers.
“I felt with my skillset and the audience I’ve been able to garner off the news on social media that I had a really strong chance of launching a successful digital-first, weather brand in the province where I can deliver the weather information on my own terms,” he says. “There are no restrictions on how I can cover the weather. Four o’clock in the morning or six o’-clock in the evening, if we have severe weather moving in, it can be covered in a way that deserves to be covered and that the province has never really had before.
“I got into weather when I was a teenager because I like talking about the weather and social, right now, in my opinion, is the best place to talk about weather,” Eddie adds, explaining that his multi-pronged business model will evolve over time, though he’s determined to keep his content free.
“It’s as close to a professional operation as someone can do on their own. And I don’t want to put anything behind a paywall, so I’m funding it with local advertisers, and the appetite for that has been really, really good so far.
“I was able to build NTV’s weather brand up significantly in the last 10-plus years. Part of that was them giving me the platform to do so and the freedom to do it for a long time, and part of it was my ability, like you said earlier, to go above and beyond. And that’s how I want to operate. That was my goal,” he says, admitting that there are long days and sleepless nights that come with the gig, though the need for dedicated service keeps him level.
At the time of our interview, Newfoundland and Labrador had been hit with one of the driest summers on record, with wildfires popping up across various areas of the province. For Eddie, this meant consistent up-to-the-minute coverage and forecasting for a worried population. It’s the type of dedicated forecast his audience has come to expect, and a perfect example of the need for Sheerr Weather.
“In my opinion, there’s a need for more frequent information updates for the province when we’re having severe weather events. And my goal with Sheerr Weather is to be able to fill that void when there’s a lack of information and be a trusted voice and a calm- ing voice to the public when they need it most. And that’s something I really tried to do when I was on television. And I’m trying to maintain that now as well. Just put out factual information, but information that people find value in. And I don’t mean value monetarily. I mean value as in it makes them feel better, even if there’s no update. Or people watching from far away who want to know a bit more about what’s going on. And that’s my why. I want to provide the best weather information or weather-related information to the province that I can, and that’s what kind of drives me to do what I’m doing, and was a big driver in why I decided to go down the entrepreneurial path.”
Visit sheerrweather.ca for dedicated forecasts and all things NL weather-related. The Sheerr Weather app is available to download now for iOS and Android devices.
