Blue Dot: TV Meteorologist, surfer and all around chill guy Bill Martin

By Dave Schlom,

Published April 25, 2025 at 9:56 AM PDT

Retired TV meteorologist Bill Martin on his surfboard scanning for waves and weather.

Host Dave Schlom visits with recently retired TV meteorologist Bill Martin. Bill grew up in Paradise, Calif., and went on to a legendary, Emmy-winning career as a television meteorologist on KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland, CA.

The Bay Area's favorite weatherman retired after 38 years but now is sharing his weather forecasts and love of California's natural beauty on his YouTube channel.

A passionate surfer and lover of the outdoors, Bill's family has profound roots in California, and it shows in his passion for the Golden State's beautiful and diverse natural landscapes.

From covering storms, wildfires, and tsunamis to big wave surfing at Mavericks near Half Moon Bay, Bill has been a welcome personality in Northern California's living rooms for decades!

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Dave Schlom

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.

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Matt Fidler

Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.

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