Whitney Southwick

Updated 12:57 PM PST, Fri, Jul 24, 2009

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"A weatherman in San Diego? That has to be the easiest job in the world!"

Whitney Southwick hears this all the time. After years of trying to convince people that doing the weather here or anywhere else is anything but easy, he simply says, "OK, it's not the toughest job in the world, but it's the best!"

Southwick started doing the weather in a fairly roundabout way. Growing up an Air Force brat, he moved around a lot the first 20 years of his life. Southwick was born in Washington, D.C. and lived in Florida, Central California, Southern California, Maine, Texas and Michigan -- all before graduating high school.

After a couple of years playing college football and basketball in Merced, he blew out a knee and decided to recuperate in Hawaii. Whitney spent the next four years in paradise, doing everything from construction and working on a fishing boat, to a short stint as a tour guide which led him into the hotel business. It was here he also learned to sail and acquire a keen interest in the weather.

Southwick ended up managing the quaint Napili Village Hotel on Maui. He enjoyed what he was doing, but Southwick felt like was he was retired at age 21. He decided it was time to finish school and become something he had always dreamed of -- a sportscaster.

Southwick moved to San Diego, enrolled in school, and began working part-time at NBC 7/39, writing and producing the Today Show cut-ins. "Lucky for me, the anchorman in those days hated getting up in the morning, so when he fell back asleep one day, I got my break and anchored the news," Southwick says.

A month later, the job was his. Although Southwick thought he still wanted to do sports, the opportunity did not come for another ten years. In the meantime, he anchored and reported the news, covering thousands of stories.

For a couple of years, Southwick was a feature reporter of "Whitney's Window" -- nightly features on interesting events and people around the county. Then Southwick finally switched to sports. He did that for another three years, and suddenly without any explanation, decided to try something else.

Southwick spent a few years in marketing, restaurants, sales and even a couple of years selling advertising at the station. However, he believed he was meant to do one particular thing -- to be in front of the camera. Southwick kept his hand in broadcasting, doing radio news at KSDO and KOGO (he still does weather during the morning drive on KOGO). Weekday mornings you can catch
Southwick's forecasts on NBC 7/39 News Today At 5 a.m.

Today Southwick considers himself a "born-again broadcaster."

"I am lucky to be doing what I love -- living and working in what truly is America's Finest!" Southwick says. "It may not be the toughest job in the world, but for me, it's definitely the best!"

Drop Whitney a line: whitney.southwick@nbcuni.com