PEORIA, Ill. – Approaching a 50-year anniversary in the broadcasting industry, 25 News Chief Meteorologist Chuck Collins has announced his retirement. His last day on the air will be October 15.
“I want to thank the listeners and viewers all of these years. You are very special to me. Lets have some fun the next couple of months and see what happens down the road,” Collins said in a video posted on the 25 News website.
“When you think of the most trusted meteorologist in Central Illinois, everyone thinks of Chuck Collins,” WEEK Vice President and General Manager Peter Russell said in a news release. “Bill Houlihan may have been the origin star of local television weather, but Chuck in the king. I will personally and professionally miss him very much.”
Collins’ career began with his first paid broadcasting job at a 3,000-watt FM station in Sullivan, Illinois in 1976.
The Marquette Heights native earned a Radio/TV degree from Lake Land College in Mattoon and later graduated from the meteorology program at Mississippi State University.
He provided weather coverage at WMBD-TV for 23 years before moving to WEEK-TV in 2009.
Collins has been recognized several times as “Best Weather Person” by the Illinois Broadcasters Association and the Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Service.
He has made over 1,000 school visits and another 500 visits to community/church groups to talk about weather.
25 News has outlined some of Collins’ most memorable weather events as follows:
Drought of 1988
Groundhog Day blizzard – 2011
Washington tornado – 2013
Roanoke tornado – 2014
Illinois River Flooding – 2013
-44 degree wind chill – January 2019
New Year’s Day ice storm – 2021
Two major derechos – 2020 & 2024
