In dog years, two years is a long time. In Three Dog Night time, two years was enough for Chris and Sarah Brandolino to discover that you can take the family out of Central New York, but you can’t take the Central New York out of the family.
The Down Under adventure for Chris, Sarah, Sydney and Dominic Brandolino has ended, the family jetted back home on Dec. 4, and one of the most unassuming TV personalities to occupy local airwaves will once again talk about the weather, for WSYR-Channel 9. Or rather, they planned on jetting home last Friday, but 3-year-old daughter Sydney was sick enough that the airline pulled the family off the jet until she could get medical clearance. That delayed their return to the States by one day, barring another emergency.
So we conducted an e-mail interview in his waning days in Australia.
When we last checked in with Chris Brandolino, 35, he and the family were settling in to life in a different country halfway around the world. He had left his established, 11-year position on WSTM-Channel 3’s morning news broadcast Today in Central New York for the Southern Hemisphere, where he forecasted daily weather for the Australian government’s Bureau of Meteorology’s Special Service Unit Branch. While it seemed like a dream job—and in many ways it was for a self-defined weather geek—it was still 12,000 miles from home, and the Brandolinos really missed Central New York and, amazingly, all our snow.
So with a child on the cusp of kindergarten, and a work contract and visa that were set to expire, now seemed like a logical time to move back home. Once the family gets settled, you’ll find Brandolino back on the airwaves, on Channel 9 in the morning and at noon, doing what he attended SUNY Oswego to do—forecast weather. The fact that he’s comfortable on the air, and comforting to those who tune him in, is a bonus. His slightly goofy persona always made him stand out, although he likely never would have supplanted Central New York’s still-favorite team of weather guru Wayne Mahar and his presumably zonked-on-catnip sidekick Doppler.
As for why Channel 9 contacted Brandolino in the first place, it was all a matter of timing, good timing, as it turned out. Dave Eichorn had announced he was leaving the area’s No. 1 news team and weekend meteorologist Kyle Pieper had a new job with an ambulance service. “For me, it worked out,” admits Jim Tortora, director of News and Content for Channel 9. “It’s a good lineup, having four very experienced people.”
But why Chris Brandolino? Tortora explained the unexplainable. “Anytime we did research, we found out that Chris has a great appeal out there. It’s rare in any size market, anybody who has that kind of intangible buzz. You don’t know what it is, but you want to get your hands on it. I saw him as a great and rare addition to Channel 9. Chris has an appeal that you can’t put your finger on.”
Brandolino’s contract begins Jan. 1, but he likely won’t take to the air until Jan. 4. “We got a brand new weather system last year, and he has to come up to speed on that,” Tortora says. “But all the transition will occur within January. It was rare to have a commitment this far in advance. It’s been a year in the making and it’s great that he’s been able to stay in touch with Central New York. It’ll be great to get him in here.”
Q: How long was your stint in Australia? A full two years? Was that the term of your work contract?
A: Strictly speaking, our time here was just one month shy of two years. My contract, and work visa, were for two years.
Q: Did you intend to come back after that contract was over, or were you and Sarah going to wait and see?
A: When my family and I left Syracuse, New Year’s Day 2008, it was our intention to wait and see what happened. Two years would give us a chance to really experience things and decide if we wanted to stay longer. I was told by my boss {here} that there was a good chance that I could stay longer than two years. We knew we wouldn’t stay in Australia forever; however, we thought there was a pretty good chance we’d be here for several years.
Q: What was it like dealing with the change of seasons in an opposite way? So you had a warm Christmas and Easter and a cold July 4th—although Aussies don’t celebrate that, do they?
A: Ah, great question! This fact was probably one of the biggest challenges we faced. See, I started to realize how one really associates time of year and seasons with holidays. For example, as most Central New Yorkers know, when it starts to get cooler, autumn is upon us and Halloween and Thanksgiving will follow . . . and when it gets cold and snowy, Christmas can’t be too far away. Well, all of this is thrown out the window in Australia, at least for a person from the Northern Hemisphere. As it gets warmer and becomes summer, one starts to see Christmas decorations. Huh? What? Come again? It just doesn’t seem right. And when winter sets in here (or at least a poor excuse for winter; let’s face it, the word cold and 35 for a low temperature is not winter for anybody from upstate New York) and the days are shorter one doesn’t think of apple pie and the 4th of July.
In short, it’s really, really weird on your body. Your sense of time of year and everything that goes with it is totally off.
Q: Did you or the kids develop an accent? Are there Aussie idioms your kids picked up?
A: My kids do have an Aussie accent, specifically, my daughter, now just about 4 years old. Actually, more accurately, they have a hybrid of an Aussie/American accent. It’s the vowels, especially the “Os,” that come out very Aussie.
As for expressions and Aussie idioms? Without question! They will have to learn how to speak “American” again. During our first months in Australia, my wife had the foresight to teach them some Aussie terms because my daughter would eventually be going to pre-school once a week (what’s called “Kindy” here) and she wanted her to be able to understand what was being said. For example, tea is a meal or snack, so at school my daughter would have morning tea and we wanted to make sure she wasn’t expecting a tea party! “Zed” is said instead of “Z.” So it’s a “zedbra,” not a “zebra.” Other words, like footpath (sidewalk), textas (markers), and school holidays (vacation) were learned. I could go on and on!
My favorite is when my daughter tells me “no worries” and my son talks about his “mate.”
Q: Did you come away from Australia with any culinary favorites? And did you try Vegemite?
A: As for Aussie cuisine . . . that’s kind of tough. With regards to a “dish” per se, probably pavolva. It’s a classic Australian dessert. Or any lamb dish. Aussies adore lamb.
Yes, I tried Vegemite. It’s disgusting (sorry, Australia), well at least I thought so . . . as well as any non-Australian. It looks like axle grease, but Aussies love it. It’s commonly enjoyed on bread or crackers with butter and just a thin layer of Vegemite on top of the butter.
Q: When you realized it was time to leave Australia, did you think of going someplace else other than Syracuse?
A: That never really happened. In fact, up until everything started to unfold and develop with Channel 9, we had the same intentions as we did when we first arrived in Australia: stay here for several years and see what happens.
Q: How did the deal with Channel 9 come together? Did they contact you? Did you contact them? What is the deal, anyway; meaning, what is your position, chief meteorologist or do you have to start at the “bottom”?
A: Here’s how everything happened. Late last year the news director at WSYR, Jim Tortora, sent me an e-mail saying that if I ever thought about getting back into TV, he’d like to have a chat.
When I received the e-mail I really had to think about what the next step would be and what would be best for my family, while at that same time, I had to evaluate what direction I wanted my career to go. I started thinking how I missed Central New York and snow (believe it or not!) and how much I missed telling the weather. What I mean by that is I missed verbally telling the weather, giving a weather report, so to speak. Keep in mind, ever since I was in the first grade—no kidding—I was telling people the weather and this is something I missed, more than I thought I would. At my job in Australia the weather forecasts are given via an e-mail PDF attachment. Now, this is not a bad thing; however, for somebody who was used to telling people the weather, it’s quite different.
I also started thinking that somebody was trying to tell me something. There is a place in my life for religion. Years ago my grandfather told me that there will be a few times in a man’s life when the Lord will be talking to you, maybe once or twice. And when it happens you’ll just know. He told me when the Lord speaks, that I damn well better listen.
So I listened.
After chatting with Jim a few times, things got serious, and I brought my old agent in to wrap things up.
As for what I’ll be doing, I’ll be the meteorologist on The Morning News and the noon news. I will also be working my way onto {the 10 a.m. infotainment program} Bridge Street. And to be honest, I could not be more excited . . . a bit nervous . . . but truly looking forward to it!
Q: The blog that you did occasionally and posted on Facebook and www.9wsyr.com—was that your idea to tease your viewers about your imminent return? Or was it more innocent than that?
A: The blog I did was something I started in early January 2009, which, by the way, I need to thank my wife for all her help as most of the time it was a group effort! I, or we, are proud of the fact we did it for nearly an entire year without missing a week. I also felt that it was a way for me to connect with the people of Central New York and share my experiences. I am so glad I did it because it gave me a chance to reflect on everything we did here and I got some great feedback from people who enjoyed reading and sharing their experiences with us. It also allowed us to really document our time here, something that might not have happened otherwise. Or at least, certainly not as thoroughly.
About six months into the blog thing, I realized that I should be posting the link on Facebook. I mean, after all, everybody else was posting about their life and happenings. I thought, why not I? So to answer the question, that was on purpose.
Q: What are your thoughts about Channel 5 closing its news operations?
A: It’s really, really sad on different levels. Firstly, people lost their job. Secondly, WTVH was a legendary news organization in Central New York with legendary employees and for that to happen just doesn’t seem right.
Q: Did the recession hit Australia as well, or did you not feel it over there?
A: Australia, as I found out, is known as the “lucky country.” Having said that, Australia was the only developed nation (G-20 nation) that avoided technical recession. Imagine that: I went to the only place in the world that didn’t go into recession. Talk about lucky!
Q: Did you celebrate American holidays while you were there—Thanksgiving, July 4, etc.?
A: We tried the best we could. We would acknowledge them, but not in the same way as we did whilst (how’s that for a word?) in the United States. We have made some amazing friends here that are from New Orleans. We met them at the Sydney Airport as we were both moving to Perth. We made sure to do something with them on the American holidays and find ways to celebrate the Australian ones with them.
It was also hard to remember when some of them were because of the seasons being opposite. The weather really does give associations to the way you celebrate and the types of foods you celebrate with. Very hard to cook a big Thanksgiving meal when it’s 85 or 90 degrees out and I can’t find pumpkin to make a pie! Not to mention there is no Thanksgiving Day Macy’s parade or football on television!
We did find sparklers for the 4th of July and sang patriotic songs. I wonder what the neighbors thought about that!
Q: What will you miss the most from your time in Australia?
A: That’s a really tough question. I’ll give you three things I’ll miss the most about Australia, in no particular order:
1. The big, blue sky. I mean, it’s the biggest and bluest sky you’ll quite possibly ever see. Why so blue? Not sure. Perhaps one reason is that there aren’t any jet contrails. You know, the exhaust from airplanes. I’ve maybe seen one since I’ve been here. One day, there was one and people phoned the Bureau of Meteorology like a tornado whipping through Perth. It was unreal.
2. The beach. The most beautiful beaches are located in Western Australia. And because it’s so sparsely populated, there aren’t many people on the beach during the week. There were days when we had the entire beach to ourselves.
3. The lifestyle. It’s very laid back, which fits my personality quite nicely. Great work-life balance, too. Perhaps the best in the world.
4. OK, so I lied. The people. We’ve made some great friends here.
Q: And what did you miss the most about Central New York?
A: Our family and friends. I missed a lot of the things one takes for granted. The four seasons. You know, almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction season. Seriously, things like Lights on the Lake, or watching Syracuse University basketball, local foods, the farmers’ market. I could go on.
Q: Is Sarah returning to her old position?
A: Sarah decided that she really enjoys being home with the children, at least in the near term. She loved teaching, and more recently, working as a school librarian. However, right now her heart is telling her to be with our children. What happens down the line is very wide open.
Q: Do you think you will have other children?
A: We haven’t decided, the jury is still out. If we do have more, it will be much sooner rather than later.
Q: Are your families happy that you’re coming home or bummed that they won’t have a reason to go to Australia anymore?
A: They’re really excited to see us.
"Chris has an appeal:" In 2005, Chris Brandolino vied for the Girl Scout cookie eating contest crown. He ultimately beat out Dave Oja, while emcee Amy Robbins provided the play-by-play. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO
