Why Al Roker Once Did A 34-Hour Weather Broadcast

Al Roker is one of the most celebrated news anchors and meteorologists of today. He’s best known for his time on The Today Show. Roker joined the show in 1996, and his weather reports became very popular, particularly his coverage of Hurricane Wilma and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Roker is a jack of all trades with multiple ventures and accomplishments, but he seems to love his job on The Today Show the most. In fact, Roker enjoys what he does so much that he once did it for over a day straight.

Al Roker’s “Rokerthon” brings more than just entertainment

In November 2014, the weatherman created “Rokerthon,” an event where he did a nonstop weather broadcast for 34 hours to raise money to benefit the USO. During the broadcast, several of Roker’s colleagues and other guests stopped in to join in on the fun, including Tamron Hall, Alan Alda, and Candice Bergen. Roker won the Guinness World Record for longest uninterrupted live weather report for this event.

Roker received admiration from various people for his achievements, although the long broadcast wasn’t without incident — the weatherman left his microphone on during one of his bathroom breaks. Still, he succeeded in his goal of raising money in an entertaining way. Even then-Vice President Joe Biden congratulated Roker. “All that money for the USO! Thanks buddy! But you should have spoken to me earlier about live mics. I could have told you something,” he joked to Roker over the phone.

Because of the success of the first Rokerthon, Roker continued this tradition and raised money for various causes. Roker hosted Rokerthon 2 in November 2015, but this time, he took it on the road. The anchor reported the weather from 50 different states in one week. Roker took whatever vehicle he could to get to each destination in time and ultimately broke another world record. Rokerthon 2 supported the charity Feeding America.

Rokerthon 3 was launched in March 2017. This involved Roker visiting various colleges within three days and setting a Guinness World Record at each campus. Some of these festivities included forming the largest human letter and the longest conga line done on ice. There hasn’t been any news on when Rokerthon 4 will be, but we expect it’ll be just as impressive as the rest.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Flipboard Share via Email

Related Articles

Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston Movie Rumors
Jennifer Aniston Upset About Brad Pitt Seeing “Angelina Jolie Lookalike”?
Jennifer Aniston To Set “Record Straight” About Brad Pitt, Justin Theroux?
How Vin Diesel Got His Big Break In Hollywood
Nicole Richie Has ‘Baby Fever’ Now That Cameron Diaz Has Welcomed A Child?
How Alec Baldwin Feels About ‘Beetlejuice’ Now