WBBJ Meteorologist Eddie Holmes Retiring

JACKSON, Tenn. — After 39 years as a broadcast meteorologist, Eddie Holmes will be signing off for the last time.

“I’ve been notorious for having several jobs in addition to WBBJ. Now, I’ll be giving my full attention to the ministry,” said Holmes.

His childhood dream was to follow in the footsteps of the broadcasters that he watched when he was growing up. When asked about what kind of influence those people had in his life, Eddie replied, “from just being a student of watching TV meteorologists do their weathercasts, I tried to incorporate that into some of my style.”

His first ever broadcast in weather was in the Summer of 1977 at WKTA radio in McKenzie now known as WYN 106.9. He spent the next two decades as a radio personality, pastor, teacher, and broadcast television fill-in at WPSD in Paducah, Kentucky before starting to work at WBBJ in 1999.

“I landed a job at WBBJ while I was living in Mayfield, Kentucky. So I started driving all the way from Mayfield on the weekends.” Eventually Eddie would transition to living in West Tennessee.

There were a lot of events that helped shape Eddie’s career as a meteorologist but he said  none were as memorable as covering the EF-4 tornado that hit Jackson on May 4, 2003. That night, the Carl Perkins Civic Center, Tennessee Supreme Court Building, the downtown Jackson Post Office and National Guard Armory were damaged along with over a thousand other homes and buildings in West Tennessee.

“We were scrambling to keep the station on air and trying to keep the warnings flowing. It was controlled chaos to say the least!”

Those that have come into contact with Eddie along his career have the utmost respect for him. Jim Belles, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Memphis said Eddie seems to have an effect on the very environment he enters.

“He’s the kind of person that makes the situation or the area better than it was before he got there.”

Zwemer Ingram, a data manager with the National Weather Service reminisced on Eddie’s impact on others beyond meteorology.

“Knowing Eddie, he is a man of faith and that guides his life. It kind of bleeds over into other folks too.”

Eddie said that while you might not see him on WBBJ anymore, weather remains his favorite hobby. He said he will continue working in his ministry at Northside Baptist Church in Milan. He also hopes to continue to maintain his weather station at his home in north Jackson.

You can catch Eddie’s final weathercast on “Good Morning West Tennessee”, Saturday February 27 at 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.