Jim was hired to replace Chris Warren as weekend evening weather anchor in 2009. He spent a few years in that slot before moving to the #2 evening weatherman, working 4PM and 9PM newscasts, as well as NWCN.
When Rhonda Lee was hired full time, Jim shifted back to weekends. Who knows if they let him know he was going to be non-renewed at that time, or if he saw the writing on the wall. I read somewhere one of his adult children is in Florida, so this gets him closer to his family.
More generally ... Jim Guy is a true journeyman meteorologist. He's worked a bunch of markets over his 30 year career, with two long stints - KSTP for 12 years, and KING for 8. He had a good run in Minneapolis as the morning meteorologist at KSTP (where he was replaced by former KIRO weatherman, Patrick Hammer). When KING hired him, I was surprised to see someone in their 50s get a shot at a top 15 station, especially in a slot (weekend evenings) that is typically reserved for up and comers.
Anyways, watching him work, it was clear why he never really "stuck" anywhere. He reminds me of Monty Webb, who has had the same all over the place type of career. Jim Guy is a likable talent, with an easy personality and had great chemistry with everyone he shared a set with. He knows his weather, and comes across as the "authoritarian" weatherman (which fit well on a station with Jeff Renner and Rich Marriott). But his delivery... Being a weatherman requires being able to speak extemporaneously about what's on the green screen. And the best, they can just walk right through the weathercast without pausing for a second. They deliver the weather as if they're reading a script, but they're not. They're just that good. Jim Guy would get tripped up on his own weathercasts, pausing mid-sentence or occasionally looking like he lost his train of thought as he moved to the next slide. I found it a little distracting, something to be expected of a rookie in market 100, not a 30 year vet working in a top-15 market.
With Jim Guy's exit, TEGNA has now fully gutted what was the strongest weather department in town. Jeff Renner, Jim Guy, Lisa Van Cise, Mary Lee, and Keisha Burns have all exited, leaving Rich Marriott as the only personality left doing weather that was here 18 months ago. For a station that hung their hat on their weather coverage and was the top station in the market for 20 years in the primetime newscasts, I'm still struggling to figured out the corporate strategy here.
You mentioned Monty Webb above. I may have mentioned this before, but he is currently doing weekday mornings on KNDU/KNDO (Tri-Cities/Yakima). This one time Seattle and Louisville weather anchor is in market # somewhere below 200. Perhaps his choice, but not sure.
