PHOENIX — NBC News' TODAY weatherman Al Roker stopped by 12 News Monday morning to talk weather, climate change – and bacon – ahead of Tuesday's Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism ceremony in downtown Phoenix.
Roker is the 2021 recipient of the award which was created in 1984 to honor prominent journalists.
"Roker, an author, producer and one of the most recognizable personalities on television, will be presented with the award at an in-person ceremony in Phoenix on March 1 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown," Arizona State University, home to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said in a press release.
Team 12's Scott McDonnell sat down with Roker to talk about his new initiative:
McDonald: Here in Arizona, we've had our fair share of weather stories, with floods, droughts, wildfires. We've also dedicated a lot of time to covering climate change. You launched a major initiative at Today: Today Climate?
Roker: Yeah we've got the Today Climate unit, we've been covering climate for a long time but we thought now is the time if there was ever a time to really dive into it and to brand it, to say 'hey, we think this is important and we think you should, too.'
And by the way, I think most of our viewers do think it's important as I'm sure your viewers do as well because climate, no matter who you are, where you live, it's going to affect you. Whether it's directly or indirectly, it's going to affect you and it's certainly going to affect our children and
This is one of the, if not the, greatest overarching crisis of our time.
And did you know Roker got engaged at the Grand Canyon?!
Roker said he proposed to his wife ABC News Correspondent Deborah Roberts 28 years ago while he was in town hosting the Fiesta Bowl Parade. The couple has been married for 27 years.
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