Chief Meteorologist
Email: Jeff.Crum@news14.com
Chief Meteorologist Jeff Crum
Jeff spent his early years in Ohio, and then moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., as a teenager when his father, Dick Crum, became head coach of the University of North Carolina football team. Jeff learned broadcasting from the ground up -- his first job was as a cameraman on his father’s sports show. He also worked on the Dean Smith Coach’s Show.
Jeff has his dad to thank for his interest in meteorology. Coach Crum was a weather forecaster in the Air Force Reserves in the late '50s. He became more seriously interested in his father's field in the early '80s while Coach Crum was obtaining his private pilot’s license.
A National Weather Association-certified meteorologist, Jeff joined News 14 Carolina before launch after five years at WALB in Albany, Ga., where he was the morning and noon meteorologist and co-host of Today in Georgia, a nationally top-rated morning show. Jeff also worked as a meteorologist for ABC-25 in Columbia, S.C.
After receiving his bachelor's degree in public relations at Appalachian State University, Jeff earned a master's degree from the University of South Carolina.
His love of the outdoors has taken him from the Appalachian Trail to Grandfather Mountain. Jeff has worked as a canoe instructor on the Cape Fear River and taught hang-gliding along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. All of those hobbies, he says, helped him understand the complexity of forecasting weather in the Carolinas.
Jeff’s favorite hobby is weather. He says meteorology is an inexact science and stays up-to-date on the latest training, theory and modeling trends. His passion is evident in the name he chose for his Dalmatian – Doppler.
When he is not in the studio, Jeff keeps track of the weather on his home computer. He enjoys cooking – especially making gourmet candies from Grandma Crum’s recipes.