Bill Vessey has said "Adios, Amigos" as he retires from the chief meteorologist role at KIII Corpus Christi after being with the station since 1992. Normally, the popular met opens his weathercasts with "Hola Amigos."
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According to 3News, Vessey was born in the Bronx but did like many others have and got to Texas as soon as he could.
Growing up in Kingsville, TX, he graduated from Texas A&M University Kingsville with a journalism degree and later worked in radio there.
Vessey starts his television career
TV news came calling and so did Corpus Christi. Vessey joined KIII in 1978 as a reporter and assignments editor.
Then it was off to San Antonio radio.
"One of my goals was always to work at KTSA (550 AM) and was up there for in the early 80s," Vessey told KIII anchor Joe Gazin on television.
Vessey eventually returned to Corpus where he worked for KRIS as a sports director from 1985 to 1990 according to Fandom. As the cruel TV news business goes, he was fired according to Gazin's report and ended up working as an announcer at the Corpus Christi Greyhound racetrack.
Vessey returns to KIII
The former KRIS sports director, wrote a letter to his friend Joe Gazin at KIII and the news managers at the time. He got a call back.
"And I remember the news director saying, 'well, come on, we need somebody to do weather during Good Morning America on Monday and Tuesday morning. You interested,'" Vessey told Gazin on TV. "I said, 'I've never done weather.' 'Oh, you've been on TV, you can do it.' So I went in for a screen test. I stunk. I was bad, with a capital B. Got a call the next day, 'you're hired.'"
That role led to his morning weather gig on 3 News First Edition with Regina Garcia and his daily opening phrase, "Buenos dias, amigos!"
"Hola Amigos!" became the new phrase once Vessey was promoted to the evening newscasts and his chief meteorologist title for the last ten years.
The multiple Texas Associated Press Award winner also has as an Adjunct Professor of Meteorology for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
"Whether it be a tornado or straight line winds or bad or hurricanes or that stuff," former KIII and abc13 KTRK news director Richard Longoria told Gazin in the TV news report. "Bill is the master at being able to interpret our weather and to then pass that interpretation, that knowledge, on to the audience in a way that is just astounding."
In November of 2019, Vessey suffered a hemorrhagic stroke causing him to be off air for three months.
Alan Holt takes over for Vessey
Taking over for the retiring Vessey is KIII morning meteorologist Alan Holt who has been with the station for nearly nine years.
He previously worked at KTWO Casper, Wyoming.
I blogged earlier this year about how Holt won the best Weather Report category in the Corpus Christi Caller -Times Best of the Best awards.
