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'Radio Free' Montone: There's Something Happening Here

By John Montone, 1010 WINS

If you're one of the millions of listeners who wakes up each morning to 1010 WINS, you're likely familiar with the voice, and tone, of the station's intrepid reporter John Montone.

Best known for his no holds barred, man on the street reporting, Montone has been getting in the faces — and ears — of New Yorkers for what seems like an eternity.

Montone is ready to add to his repertoire and bring his unique reporting style to print.

So please take a look and listen to John's new venture: Radio Free Montone — a weekly blog where Montone takes you behind the scenes of news radio in New York City, and gives his observations on reporting in the greatest city in the world.

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- "There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear." - Buffalo Springfield-1967.

A few days after Superstorm Sandy's surge drowned Jersey shore towns and turned lower Manhattan into the world's largest outdoor saltwater pool, I visited a climatologist at Columbia University. This man of science assured me that monster weather systems would become much more common as the planet heated up and ocean waters rose. And he suggested all levels of government begin prep work to stave off massive destruction. Perhaps a sea wall in the lower bay and steel doors to seal off subway entrances.

Radio Free Montone: Something Happening Here

I then sought out an opposing opinion which was provided by 1010 WINS old pal, meteorologist Joe Bastardi -- Joey Bats I call him because of the animated manner in which he delivers his forecasts.

"You know what a climatologist is, John?" asked Joey Bats.

"No."

"He's a meteorologist who can't predict the weather." Bam! Bastardi was rocking. The planet is not heating up, claims Bastardi, if anything it's getting cooler. The real cause of these killer storms, he believes, is not climate change, but climate cycles. And Bastardi has charts and graphs to make his case.

"The Atlantic is warm right now,' he said, "and the Pacific is cool." So the east coast gets walloped. He told 1010 WINS we are living through a climate cycle similar to the one that brought us killer hurricanes from the 1930's through the 1950's.

Oh, yea…he also says Sandy WAS NOT a real big storm….beware the next one.

But whether it's a CLIMATE CHANGE or a CYCLE, it's getting pretty weird. Recently a tsunami was reported -- not in the Indian Ocean, but in the Barnegat Inlet on Long Beach Island. A meteo-tsunami to be precise -- a rogue wave on an otherwise tranquil day, that knocked some fisherman off the jetty into the drink.

And recall the recent tornado warnings near New York City and the DERECHO, yes, the DERECHO…a ginormous straight-line storm extending for hundreds of miles and packing the wind power of a hurricane.

"There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear."

What do you think is happening here?

And now, I'd like to hear from you. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

John Montone 1010 WINS News.

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