
Stefan:
Well, hello, everyone. And welcome to another episode of the Key Ingredient podcast. Today’s a special episode. I’m actually joined by the chief meteorologist at WINK News, Matt Devitt. Matt, thanks so much much for joining us today.
Matt Devitt:
Hey, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Stefan:
I’m excited for our viewers to really get to know you better, Matt. I mean, I’ve had the benefit of knowing you for a number of years and not only do you do an absolutely terrific job, keeping us all posted on when we need to bring our umbrella out or when we need to worry and prepare for the next hurricane, but you’re also an absolutely terrific person. And I will share with you that a lot of times when I’m out and about, and I talk to people about WINK News, your name always comes up, and everyone always says, “I just absolutely love Matt Devitt.” So that’s why I wanted to have you on today because everyone just loves you. And I just want everybody to really get to know you better.
Matt Devitt:
Well, I appreciate that. And it’s one of those jobs, and I’m very blessed that I get to do it, where ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a weatherman. And now that I get to literally live out a dream every single day, I’m very blessed. And that’s why I’m always happy. I love doing this job. Outside of marrying my wife, it’s one of the only things that has ever really made sense to me, and I enjoy coming in to work every single day. I love it.
Stefan:
Wow. Well, we could tell definitely, it definitely shows through the television. Matt, let’s kind of start from the beginning. I definitely want to discuss with you about your journey in depth, but I guess start out and really just tell our viewers kind of who Matt Devitt is.
Matt Devitt:
Well, Matt is a guy who, like I said, I have a passion for the weather, and I think a lot of people sometimes when they go about life, their passion, or something that they absolutely love, comes to them at some point in their life, or maybe it even doesn’t come to them and they have to work hard to find their goal, find their love, and I was very lucky that I have always wanted to do the weather since I was seven years old. And I find my myself very grateful for that, that my path and my journey was set at a very young age, and literally when I was seven years old.
Matt Devitt:
And how this all came to be was… So picture this kid, Central Florida, there were storms outside, and I’m looking out the window, and all of a sudden, I see a funnel cloud drop from the sky. And of course, seven years old, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, there could be a tornado,” so I run downstairs to tell my parents. And I said, “Hey, Mom, hey, Dad, I think there’s about to be a tornado.” And at the time, they said, “Go play with your toys, go play with your toys.” They didn’t believe me. They didn’t believe me.
Stefan:
Well, that’s what most seven-year-olds do, Matt, but anyway.
Matt Devitt:
A lot of crying wolf. And so two minutes later, a tornado warning was issued, and my parents looked at each other they said, “Oh my God, he was telling the truth.” So at that point, the idea of telling somebody about the weather, which in that case, my parents, I was sold. I loved it. And at an early age, in order to apply that passion, that love, I did science fair projects in middle school, high school, all of it based on the weather. And then when I was 18 years old, I had to make the decision of, “All right, how serious do I want to pursue this passion?” And I ended up going to Penn State Meteorology. And at that point I was living in Florida, and I was living in Texas for the first 18 years of my life.
Matt Devitt:
My dad was affiliated with the space program, so I moved from Central Florida to Houston, and that’s where I was in middle school and high school. And so I said, “You know what, let’s do the cold, let’s do the snow. Let’s try it out.” And then after my time at Penn State, I realized that I never wanted to do the cold and the snow ever again.
Matt Devitt:
But I will tell you, Penn State was a great experience. This is one of the biggest misconceptions with a meteorology degree, you think, “Oh, you’ll study hurricanes, you’ll study tornadoes.” You do, but you also do a lot more. For example, two years of calculus, one year of computer science, physics, chemistry. It is extremely, extremely rigorous. And for example, my graduating class, so from freshman year to senior year, 67% had dropped out because of how rigorous the calculus within our degree actually got. A lot of it is you’re doing triple integrals, you’re doing heavy calculus. And that actually is tied into meteorology.
Stefan:
Interesting.
Matt Devitt:
Now I will tell you, how much of that I use nowadays-
Stefan:
Well, that’s typical, but yeah, I get that.
Matt Devitt:
But I will say it was good to have that backing, and it was good to have that knowledge. Now, I will tell you, there are other divisions of meteorology where they do use that calculus, but at least with my job, where a lot of it is taking complex material and broadcasting it in the easiest and most relatable way, that’s my job. It’s to take these complicated computer models, and that I use every day, and trying to make it into a simplified version so that the public can grasp it the best and understand it in the best way. And that’s what the job is. It’s taking something complicated and making it into a way that is understandable and also enjoyable at the exact same time.
Matt Devitt:
So after Penn State, here’s what a lot of people sometimes either don’t realize about the business or it starts out with a struggle. And after I graduate at Penn State, here I had this degree and I’m thinking, “Oh man, I’m going to go right to Florida, right to back home,” which was the goal, it was to get back to Florida. And I have this degree, I applied to 44 TV stations. You know how many I heard from?
Stefan:
None.
Matt Devitt:
None.
Stefan:
Yeah, interesting.
Matt Devitt:
And I was not going to lie. I’ll be just completely honest with you. I was super pale, overweight, robotic in my delivery, talked way too fast. Man, I had zero, zero business being in the [inaudible 00:06:53]. I was very green, very unpolished, and apparently other TV stations saw that across the country. So what I did is here I was unemployed right after getting my degree, I moved back home. I lived with my parents to make ends meet. I ended up getting a job, get this, at Best Buy. So I was in the TV business-
Stefan:
Did you? Yeah.
Matt Devitt:
… but I’m selling TVs at Best Buy to make ends meet.
Stefan:
Wow.
Matt Devitt:
And just waiting, waiting for an opportunity and waiting for a chance. And finally, three to four months in, I had a TV station in North Texas, Southern Oklahoma, give me a shot, give me an opportunity. I’ll never forget it. I worked an 8:00 to 5:00 that day at Best Buy, and then I was in Houston, Texas. And what I did is I got the call at like 5:05, right after my shift ended. And they said, “Hey, Matt, can you come for an interview as soon as you can?” I quickly went home, packed a bag, drove five hours to the border. They put me up in a hotel. I got there at 11:00 at night. Then the next day, I did the interview. And then the next day, I did the interview, got the interview, got the job, and ended up moving up there.
Matt Devitt:
And here’s what a lot of people don’t… If you want to know misconceptions about the TV business and my first TV job was in the middle of nowhere, it was a small market, it was north of Dallas, and it was in essentially Southern Oklahoma. And it was minimum wage.
Stefan:
Was it really? Okay. Wow.
Matt Devitt:
It was minimum wage. They literally made something comparable, or maybe even more, flipping burgers across the street.
Stefan:
Huh.
Matt Devitt:
So my first job, full disclosure, it was between about, I think, 17 to 20K a year. And the 20 was through overtime and working six days a week hourly. So that was the glamorous part of the… And obviously I’m being sarcastic. That was-
Stefan:
Yeah, of course.
Matt Devitt:
That was the glamorous part about getting into the business, and I’m like, “Well, it’s my foot in the door, so.”
Stefan:
Sometimes that’s what we need to do, right? I mean, you need to sacrifice a little bit to be able to get your foot in the door, so interesting.
Matt Devitt:
And I was away from family, also because you’re entering the business, you’re working holidays, you’re working crazy hours. And like I mentioned a second ago, financially, you are hurting, you’re struggling. I remember I would joke. I couldn’t even buy macaroni at Walmart or Target without hesitating and saying, “Well, shoot, rent’s killing me, and I don’t know if I can do this.” And it was tough. I was living paycheck to paycheck for a while. And then the other part of the business is also your performance, and my performance and how I was on air, like I mentioned a second ago, was not very good.
Matt Devitt:
And I had essentially a coming to Jesus moment, about three months in, where my boss pulled me in. And every boss is different in this world. Some are nice. Some are not so nice. He was the latter. And he was very tough on me. He was very hard, he was not a very nice guy. And he basically pulled me in and said, “Hey, you’re not good. And if you don’t get better, if you don’t get better, we’re not giving you a long-term contract.” And he basically didn’t believe in me. And what I did is I took that as a challenge.
Matt Devitt:
Growing up, I was an athlete. I played soccer for 10 years. Didn’t do football, I should have with my size, but I never did football. But I was an athlete growing up, and whenever presented a challenge, I always wanted to take it head on. And so I went home that night and I said to myself, I was like, “All right, he doesn’t believe in me, game on, game on.” So what I did is I had… And I agree with him, I was terrible, I was terrible, but I was right out of college. I was right out of college.
Matt Devitt:
And so what I did was the beauty of where I lived, I also would get Dallas, Texas signals. So we not only had my own TV market, but we also would get Dallas TV signals. So what I would do daily is I would watch the best in the business. I would watch the chief meteorologists in Dallas, and I studied what they did well, what they did well every single day for hours. And then as time went on, I crafted my own brand, what they did well, what they didn’t do well, what I could maybe do better. And then, Stefan, slowly as time went on, weeks, months after, it got a little bit better, got a little bit better, slowly and surely.
Matt Devitt:
And then by the time that my news director, my boss, who remember, he didn’t believe in me, by the time he saw that I was getting better, he brought me in to say, “Hey, oh, oh, you’re getting better. Let’s give you a deal. Let’s get you a contract.” And the irony is on that day, I actually gave in my notice to say, “Hey, another station reached out to me. They want to bring me to Arkansas. Thanks but no thanks. And this station believes in, you should have from the start.” And because I wasn’t under contract, he didn’t put me under contract, and I was just hourly, I was able to do that.
Stefan:
Wow, wow.
Matt Devitt:
So I had a station in Arkansas pick me up. So in total, I worked in Texas for a year, and I was basically thanks but no thanks, pal, for, you know. But it was great motivation to step it up, learn in the business. My next job, I was in Arkansas for a year. Great, crazy weather, Arkansas. Arkansas, hands down, if you’ve ever been, was such a mind-blowing experience in how beautiful it is. Oh, I had never been to Arkansas. I never knew. If you’ve never been, I was in [inaudible 00:13:21] Arkansas, the Ozarks, beautiful foliage. It was fantastic. It’s home to the global headquarters of Walmart. You have the University of Arkansas, you have Tyson Chicken, a global headquarters, a lot of business in Northwest Arkansas.
Matt Devitt:
And they injected a lot of money into the community. And it beautiful, enjoyed working there. I was there for a year, but it wasn’t my goal of coming to Florida. So then from Arkansas, I lived in Savannah, Georgia. I was there for three and a half years, but still putting in my time, developing as a meteorologist. And then as time went on, 2016, there was an opening at WINK TV in Southwest Florida as a morning meteorologist. And I said, “All right, the hours are going to be crazy, but let’s do it.”
Matt Devitt:
I started in 2016, doing the mornings. And the typical schedule with that was going to bed at eight o’clock in the evening, getting up at 1:45 to 2:00 AM, then shaving, showering-
Stefan:
Wow.
Matt Devitt:
… stuff, getting to work at 3:30, forecasting between 3:30 and 4:00, making graphics for the show, because we make all the graphics from 4:00 to 4:30. Show started at 4:30, and it goes all the way to 9:00. It’s fast, it’s furious, and one of the biggest misconceptions with meteorologists on TV is that everything we say is off the top of our head. It’s not scripted. It’s not like the anchors or the producers. Everything we say is off the top of our head.
Stefan:
Yeah.
Matt Devitt:
You’re sick, if you’re tired, anything like that, if you got bags under your eyes, you got to cover it, you got to play it off. And you basically have to make sense, you have to be entertaining, you have to be accurate all on those early hours. And it was a challenge, first off, for several weeks, for several months. But Stefan, my turning point was Hurricane Irma.
Matt Devitt:
And of course, when I first started out, and I know we’ll get into greater detail with this, with the questions that we have coming up, but as you’re new to the area, people don’t know who you are. They’re like, “Who’s this guy giving me the weather? Can I trust him? Who is he?” And you have to, as time goes on, with accurate forecasting, you develop that trust and you develop that backing. And for the first year, it took a while for people to say, “Hey, this guy that just moved here, I don’t know if I can trust him,” but for me, the big turning point was Irma, where I feel like I was able to gather everyone’s trust and do that in a way where I was just real with everybody.
Matt Devitt:
With Irma, just because I was in a studio, forecasting the hurricane, doesn’t mean that I was immune from the hurricane myself. At that time, my parents were in the cone, I was in the forecast cone. And just because I was in the studio, I’m just like everybody else. I had to prep for the storm. I had to plan accordingly for the storm. I was worrying about my family, I was worrying about my friends. But what I was able to do, not only with my friends and family, but for viewers at home, and I will do this, Stefan, with every storm in the future is to do it in a calm manner and to not hype it, to not scare anybody.
Matt Devitt:
Because I remember during Irma, during the downtime, and there wasn’t much, where I would be watching MSNBC, Fox News, Weather Channel, and you would turn it on and they’d be scaring you. And “Oh, you’re not going to make it if you don’t do this, and it’s going to be the worst storm that you’ve ever been through.”
Stefan:
They do, yeah.
Matt Devitt:
Making it seem like it’s doomsday.
Stefan:
They play on fear. That’s correct.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah.
Stefan:
Yeah.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah. And I said, “You know what? I’m going to hit it to people straight. If the situation,” pardon my French, “if the situation sucks, I’m going to say it sucks.” You be real because that’s what people need in a situation like that. They don’t need scare tactics. They don’t need hype. You tell it to people like it is. And that is what I’m going to do with every future storm. Just be real, because we’re dealing with a very real situation.
Matt Devitt:
And when it comes to a hurricane, you got to think about the storm itself. There’s almost two storms. You have the physical storm and then the psychological storm. And when people get nervous and scared of hurricanes, the reason why is they don’t know what’s going to happen next. “What type of wind am I going to see? What type of surge? Do I get to keep my home?” And my job is to fill in the psychological holes and to prep you, and by doing that, hopefully lowering stress levels. And that’s what I wanted to do with Irma. And that’s what I’ve been doing with every single storm after that, just the facts, no hype. And that will always be the goal.
Matt Devitt:
So I was doing mornings for five years, and then I got the call that Jim Farrell, he’s accomplished so much, and there was literally nothing more to accomplish. He’d been here for the community, and now it was time for him to start loving life, enjoying life. He’s got a newborn.
Stefan:
I know, yes.
Matt Devitt:
Got a newborn baby, so that’s when WINK reached out, they said, “Hey, how would you feel about being chief meteorologist?” I said, “Let’s do it.” I will say, I do get to sleep more, which is nice.
Stefan:
Yeah, what’s… So you have to tell us what the schedule is now, how it’s changed a little bit.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah. So the new schedule, instead of going to bed at 8:00 PM, I’m getting up at 8:00 AM. I get a full night of sleep, which for five and a half years, I was getting by on about four to six, in that range, include napping like grandpa at 2:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon. So the morning shift was tough. Yeah, if you ever see a morning show, mad respect to everybody, it’s very difficult on not only your body, but also your family and those that are impacted. It really is, it’s quite a sacrifice, but they do it with a smile, as you see every morning, and they’re very, very hard working, including Corey, Lindsey on the WINK morning show, Therese O’Shea, and Sherman, who’s doing mornings as well as Nash Rhodes, he’s doing mornings too. So it it’s an incredible sacrifice, but they do an awesome job.
Matt Devitt:
So since March, March 12th, I have been the chief meteorologist, and it’s been a great experience to where we can start a new chapter. We can do new things. And that has been the goal going forward as we have a new weather team, but also a team that works incredibly hard every single day gathering more experience. And what’s great is I have, with my team, different meteorologists that are incredible at different things. Like for example, I have Dylan Federico, he’s a tropical weather expert. He, oh my goodness, even attempts to rotate, he knows about it, just an incredible tropical meteorologist. KC Sherman in the morning is like the smoothest and most casual meteorologist I’ve ever seen, not a challenge that she can’t take.
Matt Devitt:
And also, we do weather in English and Spanish, and we have a meteorologist named Amanda Pappas who can do both English and Spanish weathercasts. And that’s what WINK can bring to everybody at home, a multifacet network of getting you the weather first and most accurate in Southwest Florida.
Stefan:
Yeah, by the way, I didn’t know Amanda did it in Spanish as well, the news.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah.
Stefan:
The meteorology. So that’s interesting. Okay. And you do have a great team. Like you said, there’s been a little bit of a change, but I think it’s been a positive one. I mean, all great. I will also give a little bit of credit to the women out there on the set because not only, and you correct me if I’m wrong, did you have to get up super early when you were on in the morning, but the women actually, they go through a little bit more with the makeup and all that. I know when I would speak with them when I’m in the studio, I mean, they’re getting up super, super early. I mean, Sabrina and Therese and everybody, so that’s difficult. That’s a difficult thing.
Matt Devitt:
It is. And granted, I don’t have much hair anymore, and trust me, it’s getting worse as the days go on. So I don’t have much to maintain here, and one of the misconceptions with TV is I do have to put on makeup. So I do that with my little get ‘er done makeup kit. I do that for a few minutes, but yeah, the women have to do full makeup, hair done, and all that. And also women have it a lot harder than men do in this business. We have, oh, Stefan, the emails that I could tell you that women get, terrible, terrible.
Stefan:
Really?
Matt Devitt:
Oh yeah.
Stefan:
Well that’s unfortunate. Yeah.
Matt Devitt:
But that’s why they have to put a focus on trying to look as good and as presentable as they can because sometimes not everybody, not everybody, but you do get a few bad eggs where they send rough emails, very judgmental about looks, or I’m sure you sometimes will hear this in the news where a woman who is so excited about having a child, she’s pregnant, she’ll go on TV, and people will be judgmental about her weight and about her being pregnant. No-
Stefan:
That’s terrible.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah. And one of the things to never, ever, ever, ever do is to ask a woman if she’s pregnant. Sometimes have viewers send emails to that person asking that, and I’m like, “No, you can’t do that.”
Stefan:
Oh, boy, no, no, you never, like you said, we all should know that at this point, you do not do that. Oh, wow.
Matt Devitt:
I will be the first to tell you, women have it way harder than men do in this business. And it is part of the job as with anything, whether it’s TV, movie, whatever, image does play a part of it. And obtaining that image is a demand, and it’s something that, unfortunately, I’ll be the first to tell you, women have it harder than men in this business. And they do it with a smile, they’re very positive, but I will say they have a heck of a time, but they do a fantastic job, dealing with the trolls from time to time and staying positive. And also not only keeping themselves positive, but also spreading that positivity to other women in the business that might be getting the same thing. It’s a great network with TV reporters and anchors, especially with reporters, anchors, and even meteorologists, where they come together to support each other in situations like that.
Stefan:
Yeah, I want to go back to something you mentioned before, because I think it was important that you brought it up, which is the fact that you don’t use a teleprompter, right? So as a meteorologist, everything you do is kind of on the fly. I mean, you have to, and I don’t think people realize how difficult that is. But one other thing I don’t think a lot of people realize is really the green screen that you use when you’re presenting the weather. I explain that to some people every once in a while, because I want them to know how difficult that is, so maybe if you don’t mind, just kind of expand on that, let our listeners and viewers know kind of how that works.
Matt Devitt:
Sure, so how it works is we have green screen, and basically the system knows if it’s green, it pops up my weather system. I go to the green wall, I’m looking at the camera, which has a reflection of what is broadcasted on TV. Then I look to the right, I look to the left. I have other monitors that show that display, but obviously you have to get comfortable with where everything is. When I first started out in the business, I would say, “Oh, hey look, hey, look at this storm system in Kansas.” And in reality, I’m pointing to South Dakota. So you have to get comfortable with where everything is.
Matt Devitt:
And the other thing, Stefan, where it gets confusing is not only are you thinking off the top of your head, but if you’re sick, if you’re tired, you got to brush it off. You have to make sense. You have to be accurate. You have to be entertaining, because if you’re not entertaining, someone changes the channel. And then also, you have to do it for three and a half minutes without sounding awkward, with flowing well, with putting on a show, telling a weather story. And also as part of that, I have an IFB in my ear, a director is getting in my ear, talking to me, and a producer as well, getting into my ear saying, “You have two minutes left. You have one minute left, you have 30 minutes, you have 30 seconds left,” telling me how much time I have left while I’m talking off the top of my head.
Matt Devitt:
It’s a perfect orchestra of different elements, which have to be perfectly timed, make sense, because with every show you’re allocated 3:30 to 4:30, and if you go heavy or too long, or if you go short, it’s a domino effect, and you’re screwing up the rest of the show.
Stefan:
Sure.
Matt Devitt:
So if I go heavy, then the producer, who they’re not going to be too happy with me because [inaudible 00:27:27], they have to take out stories after that.
Stefan:
So you could throw everything off by being too heavy, basically.
Matt Devitt:
Exactly.
Stefan:
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Devitt:
So that’s why I have the IFB in my ear. They’re telling me how much time I have left while I’m trying to talk off the top of my head. And another strategy that I have when I’m on TV is, and let me kind of explain this, because it’s going to be interesting, one of my strategies that I do is that when I’m saying something, it’s actually what I have in my head three seconds prior. So the best way to explain it is I’m always thinking three to five seconds ahead of what literally is coming out of my mouth. So that way I know there’s no awkward silences, there’s no awkward pauses. I’m literally always thinking ahead from what actually is coming out of my mouth.
Stefan:
Wow. Wow. Very, very difficult. Well, listen, I want to go back to kind of the weather. Now, we’re in the middle of, obviously, hurricane season. Is this considered the middle or are we at the latter point? I mean, where are we on the scales?
Matt Devitt:
Good question. We are now on the back nine of-
Stefan:
Okay.
Matt Devitt:
We have, I did a graphic yesterday on WINK. We have 46% of the hurricane season remaining, which pros and cons, pro is that we’re on the back nine, we’re on the down slope. Here’s the problem. October is a notorious hurricane month for the state of Florida. Off the top of my head, Hurricane Matthew, which brushed the Florida East Coast in 2016, Wilma… Were you here with Wilma in [inaudible 00:29:06]?
Stefan:
I was not here with Wilma, no. Irma, I certainly was, but not Wilma.
Matt Devitt:
Wilma was this gigantic storm, with an even massive eye. It passed by just several days before Halloween. So that was in October, that was a major hurricane. Then, do you remember Hurricane Michael? It was the cat five in the Florida panhandle.
Stefan:
Yeah, I don’t remember that. Was how long ago, roughly off the top of your head was that?
Matt Devitt:
2018.
Stefan:
It was 2018? Okay. I don’t know why… I was here. I don’t know. I don’t remember that. Okay.
Matt Devitt:
Oh, that’s okay. Yeah, that was a cat five in October. So October can be, despite the fact that we’re getting the pumpkin spice things out and we’re thinking fall, we’re thinking, “Hey, it’s going to get cooler,” and you can get cold fronts during October, but you also can get hurricanes. It’s the interesting month where both can happen. And then gradually as we hit November, December, things start to wind down. I will tell you last year on November 11th, we had Eta. That was the cat one hurricane. It stayed offshore, but we still had rain and wind. So October, my message is I just don’t want people to lower their shields or not let their guard down because October can every now and then be a hurricane month. But we’re technically on the back nine, so.
Stefan:
Well, that’s comforting. Thank you. You mentioned Jim Farrell before. I mean, obviously working with Jim, I mean probably as a bit of a mentor based on his experience in the business, I mean, what do we not know about Jim that you think people should know? I mean, obviously he’s a hilarious guy. I know that, but-
Matt Devitt:
Oh, I think that’s actually one of the things that a lot of people don’t know about his humor. His resume, his reputation speaks for itself. He’s the hurricane guy, he’s been here for years. Charlie, Irma, and Wilma, he’s been there for Southwest Florida during big storms. And he kind of does it in a style where, like we were reiterating, and I’m going to continue this legacy here of his, where it’s no BS. It’s, “Here’s what it is, here’s what’s going to happen, no hype,” and that’s how he’s always been with storms. And I will continue that guidance and that direction with all future storms, because that’s what people need.
Matt Devitt:
And with Jim though, despite when we have a hurricane, he’s serious, and this is exactly what’s going to happen, he also has a great sense of humor. He’s really funny. It’s almost like a dry humor, but when the cameras are off, he’s actually really funny. He also was a great chief, he was very reasonable, and he has been a mentor to just so many meteorologists, not only in Southwest Florida, but across the entire country.
Stefan:
Yeah. I agree. I mean, I remember during Irma, I mean, both of you on there, the comfort is what we look for, because I remember being with my wife, we were watching you guys reporting on Irma. It was our first major storm. We did not know what to expect. And we felt like you were speaking to us directly. And I really mean that when I say that, because there was a point during the storm where it was shifting, and I think a lot of people were feeling they were okay with the direction it was going, but then it shifted just a little bit. And it was almost that feeling that we had of, “Oh no, what’s going to happen?”
Stefan:
And the experience that you both provided, having been through this before, and the way you, I guess, told the story of what we should expect, I think was extremely, extremely comforting. So thank you for that. A little bit on a personal side, so is it about six months now or so that you’ve been married? Tell us a little bit about it, if you don’t mind.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah, yeah. So Southwest Florida has been fantastic for me, not only for this career, but I met my wife here, born and raised in Bonita. She works at Chico’s. She’s literally in the other room right now, doing a conference call with her bosses. And what I love about my wife, Elizabeth, is she gets the business. She knows the crazy hours. She knows the demand. And not only does she put up with that, but she’s very supportive. I roll ideas by her, and sometimes the best ideas that I will sometimes put on TV come from her. And she’s an incredible teammate, she’s an incredible best friend. I am so lucky that she is my forever partner. She’s definitely my better half, I could tell you, definitely my better half. And she knows the demand, she knows the shift, and for example, during hurricane season, she knows that we can’t take as many trips. She knows that I’m going to be working long hours. And I am just so blessed that I got to marry her in April on a unseasonably, I got lucky, unseasonably cool day. It was picture perfect.
Matt Devitt:
And everything that with Elizabeth, I’ve done over the past year, it’s been during this pandemic. And I did the engagement on Marco Island. It was the Marriott property.
Stefan:
Yeah, I was going to say, is it the Marriott? Okay.
Matt Devitt:
The JW.
Stefan:
Okay, yeah.
Matt Devitt:
So I proposed to her there, and that’s when it was during the strictest of the COVID.
Stefan:
Oh, boy.
Matt Devitt:
And basically that’s when they closed down all the beaches. I was supposed to, truth be told, I was supposed to propose to her [inaudible 00:34:29]. I had this epic trip planned, a two-week European trip. I was going to propose there. Oh, and then as time went on, we weren’t able to go to Europe. Then I was like, “Oh, I’ll do Hawaii.” Couldn’t do Hawaii. I was like, “Oh, let me do California.” Couldn’t do California. Literally, my proposal was plan G or H. And even when I proposed, Stefan, the beaches in Southwest Florida, and this is when it was the most strict, you couldn’t even beach. And so where I proposed from was the hotel balcony overlooking the beach and-
Stefan:
Very creative, I like that.
Matt Devitt:
But it was our date. It was a very special date for us. And then a year goes by. When we actually got married, it was 4/3/21, April 3rd, ’21. So we always say it’s a countdown to love. And then after that, we did a honeymoon in Hawaii, and we were there for two weeks. I had never been, it was absolutely beautiful. We went island-hopping. And now as of about two weeks from now, we’ll be hitting six months.
Stefan:
That’s great.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah, and we’re loving life, enjoying it. And yeah, maybe in 2023, there’ll be someone else joining us, a little baby Devitt.
Stefan:
Oh, okay. Well, we’ll have to stay tuned for that. Well, it’s funny because like you said, the timing of everything was a little bit challenging with the pandemic. I mean, even in Hawaii, I mean, going to rent a car, you ended up renting a U-Haul, correct?
Matt Devitt:
Ah, yeah. So what happened was, and I had never been to Hawaii, so I thought that everything was reasonably close by. I thought it was along the beach and small island. And I did get rental cars for three out of four of the islands. But the one that I didn’t was Oahu, home to Honolulu. And at the last minute, I’d say about two weeks out, I tried to get rental cars, and, oh, it was insane. The one-day rental car prices were 250 to 325.
Stefan:
Per day, wow.
Matt Devitt:
Per day. So I said the heck with that. And so I don’t know where it dawned on me, I remember seeing, I think like a few days before, when I was in Southwest Florida, a truck driving by where it said U-Haul 19.99.
Stefan:
19, yeah, a day.
Matt Devitt:
A day, and I [inaudible 00:36:52] it applies in Hawaii, and it did. And then when I did the calculations, and granted, they give you a limit with miles, but I’m like, “Hey, I’m on a small island. It’s not like I’m going to hit all my miles.” And so what it would’ve been, Stefan, 350 for the day if I got a rental car on Oahu, Honolulu. What it turned out to be with the U-Haul was $80.
Stefan:
Wow.
Matt Devitt:
I saved 250 a day, times two. I did it for two days. I saved $500 in two days.
Stefan:
Unbelievable. I remember when you posted that picture on Facebook. That was great seeing that.
Matt Devitt:
Well, it wasn’t the most glamorous trip with… and clunk-a-clunk. It wasn’t the smoothest ride, but hey, we got to see beautiful parts of the island. I literally picture this now, I was driving up to Pearl Harbor in a U-Haul, but it wasn’t like the U-Haul like where you would… It was a truck. It wasn’t necessarily the big blocky van and the truck that you normally see. It was a truck with a bed in the back. So it was a nice truck. It was a-
Stefan:
A little more stylish, okay.
Matt Devitt:
Yeah, it was a get ‘er done. It’s not like you’re driving a Porsche or Ferrari, anything like that, but it was get ‘er done. That’s my style. If it saves me money, that’s what I’m all for. And that’s what I did, I’ll never forget it, on Oahu.
Stefan:
Wow, wow. Well, listen, we’re running out of time here, so I want to be respectful of your time. Matt, if you don’t mind, just advice out there for… There are people out there right now, whether they’re seven years old or 17 or whatever age they are, and they’re thinking, “You know what? I would love to be a meteorologist.” I mean, what would be the number one bit of advice that you would give to somebody out there?
Matt Devitt:
Well, I love this job because it’s always changing. For example, every day, even if it’s small and even if it’s minor, every single day that I come into work, it’s different, whether it’s the high temperatures are different, whether it’s the rain coverage, different, that’s what I enjoy. And it’s weather, it’s Mother Nature. And to me, that’s fascinating. And I literally had, I’m glad you brought this up, I had a school talk last week in Port Charlotte. It was via Zoom, and I asked the group of kids, I said, “Hey, what do you want to be?” And I had athlete. What you oftentimes have is at the end of, when you ask that question, everybody always says, “Oh, I want to be a meteorologist. I want to be a meteorologist.” In reality, that’s nice of them, but I get it, they probably want to do something else.
Matt Devitt:
But when I brought up that question, I said, “You know what? You can do that. You can make your dream possible by working hard, [inaudible 00:39:55] a vision and dedicating yourself, your goal. And when times get tough, don’t give up, and keep working at it, keep working hard, and make that goal possible. There are going to be times where you’re going to have outside obstacles, you’re going to have personal [inaudible 00:40:15]. For example, here’s one for you that I actually don’t tell a lot of people. 10 years ago, and basically when I first started in the business, I had a phobia of talking in front of large groups. I [inaudible 00:40:30].
Stefan:
Wow.
Matt Devitt:
Oh, yeah. If I had a presentation in middle school, high school, or college, [inaudible 00:40:35] to it, and, “Yeah, I don’t know if I can do this. And hi, my name is Matt.” I was so nervous. I had a B- in public speaking, but what I did was I said, “You know what? I want to be a TV weatherman, and I’m going to work hard to…” And remember with the first station? “I’m going to work hard-“
Stefan:
Yes.
Matt Devitt:
“… make this a reality, and transform into someone who I don’t think, or at least initially I didn’t think [inaudible 00:41:08], but I wanted it. I wanted to turn around, I believed in myself, that I could turn the shy person into a meteorologist who’s on TV. That’s the goal. That was the vision. And that’s my advice to everybody at home, as long as you work hard at something, don’t give up, don’t let [inaudible 00:41:31] from accomplishing your goal. [inaudible 00:41:35]
Stefan:
I love that, and I appreciate that. Now, I just want to break down a couple things, because there were so many great messages in what you just said. First thing was you had a goal. I mean, you wanted to be in Florida, right? I mean, that was the ultimate goal. And you had to take some detours along the way, some nice ones, it sounds like, but you had to take some detours to eventually get to where you wanted to go. But that first station manager in a way really helped you, right?
Matt Devitt:
Yeah.
Stefan:
And if you think about it, now, you could have easily taken that criticism, and it could have destroyed your confidence. And it never feels good when somebody tells you something that straightforward. But instead you reacted in a positive way. And you trained like an athlete, right? I mean, you literally started playing the tapes and watching other people and seeing what they do and how they do it well, and you ultimately made yourself really great at that, so I think that’s terrific.
Matt Devitt:
I saw it as a challenge. I challenged myself, and I challenged what I could do in this business. And I knew that I was a rookie and I was inexperienced, but as with anything, the more knowledgeable that you get, the harder that you work, you can literally do anything, whether it’s being a TV meteorologist, whether it’s being an athlete, sky’s the limit, literally, sky’s the limit. And as long as you dedicate yourself and you don’t worry about the haters, because there are haters in this business.
Stefan:
There always will be.
Matt Devitt:
I get them every now and then. And although you are very gracious and kind in saying I have a lot of support, I still get haters from time to time. We all do in whatever we are doing in life. But what you do is you block out the haters, you embrace the people that support you and that love you, and you take that and you go full speed ahead, and don’t let anybody deter you from doing what you want to do. That’s how I’ve always been, and that’s how I always will be.
Stefan:
Love it. Matt, thanks so much for doing this with me today. I think you and I could go on for hours because you’re just so much fun, so fascinating. And I really, really enjoyed this. I’m glad everybody kind of got to get a glimpse of your career and how you started and where you ended up going today. So I want to thank you, continued success personally and professionally, and thanks just so much for doing this.
Matt Devitt:
Thank you very much for having me. I had a great time, really. I appreciate it.
Stefan:
I’m glad. Thanks again, Matt.
Matt Devitt:
Hey, thank you so much.