Ever since Brad was a child, he enjoyed watching the weather on television along with severe weather cut-ins. He grew up in Oklahoma City, right in the heart of tornado alley where television coverage of tornadoes was always competitive.

Brad says two early memories that stick out in his mind the most were in April 1992. The first of which was when the local tv station was showing nine tornadoes on the ground at the same time near Mooreland, Oklahoma. The next was a traveling weather show put on by Mike Morgan, now of KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City.

"I wanted to be the first to arrive and get a good seat to the show, " Brad explains. Mike actually interviewed Brad live on the news that night as someone who arrived early to his show. Brad was pretty well hooked on severe weather and television ever since.

Brad also watched the large F-5 tornado that struck Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999. That tornado had doppler measured wind speeds of 318 mph. He says, "Seeing the large tornado and the devastation on television was incredible to watch. It makes you realize what an important job television broadcasters have in weather emergencies to keep the public safe." That same feeling was realized once again on March 12, 2006 when Bentonville and much of Benton county experienced an F-3 tornado. "Doing live shots from Bentonville the following day and seeing in-person the destruction to many homes changes your perspective on your job. It's our duty to give the most accurate and timely warning we can in a way that everyone can understand."

As a senior in high school, Brad started interning at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City to start his career. He remained there for the next five years as an intern and eventually became a fill-in weekend morning weather anchor at KFOR. After graduating college, Brad started work as daybreak and midday meteorologist for KVII-TV in Amarillo, Texas.

In college, Brad was a National Merit Scholar and attended the University of Oklahoma for his education. He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology and a minor in mathematics. During his time there, he spent two years working for the National Severe Storms Laboratory. There he worked with the experts on Doppler radar to help test new scanning strategies for the National Weather Service's NEXRAD radar. Brad is also a licensed amateur radio operator and a member of the American Meteorological Society.

Brad says, "I am glad to be living in western Arkansas where the weather is so active. It offers anything from tornadoes and severe weather to winter storms." Brad also enjoys exploring the natural beauty that Arkansas has to offer. He enjoys a good hike on a trail or just driving around seeing new places. He joined KFSM-TV in July 2005 as morning and noon meteorologist. Brad has earned the new designation of Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) from the American Meteorological Society. The CBM designation is the highest broadcasting recognition awarded by the AMS. Brad was also the recipient for "Best Weathercast" from the Arkansas Associated Press.

brad.flickinger@kfsm.com
Sign up for News and Weather Alerts