KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It was July 1, 1999 when Gary Lezak first debuted on KSHB-TV, now NBC Action News.
Due to a no compete clause in his contract Gary had to be off the air for six months, but during his absence his dog Windy, who was not under any contract, was involved in a huge promotional campaign stating "Windy's master back at the maps July 1".
Do you remember the promos? It actually created quite a controversy and Windy was in national publications as Gary was switching stations to become Chief Meteorologist.
There were four 30 second spots made and we are going to link them to this story for your viewing pleasure. The promotional campaign was designed around Windy the weather dog's preparation to do the weather. Four actors were hired and they were cast as consultants to teach Windy the necessary techniques in her possible new talent of actually doing the weather. Thank goodness for Gary Lezak Windy wasn't able to pull this off. But, the promos are fun to watch anyway.
Windy passed away a few years ago. She had made over 800 public appearances with Gary during her 16 1/2 year life, including an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show and an entire segment on the Animal Planet's K9to5 program years ago. We all miss her so much. We hope you enjoyed her over the years and we hope you also enjoy watching these commercials as it is Gary's 10th anniversary at NBC Action News.
Click on the video player in the top right corner to watch the promos.
