Nexstar’s WKRG 5 adds mobile weather vehicle, ‘The Beast’

Nexstar Media Group’s WKRG 5 in Mobile, Alabama, has added a mobile weather vehicle ahead of hurricane season, dubbed The Beast.

The vehicle serves as the station’s mobile weather lab and includes multiple cameras, weather sensors and storm tracking tools.

Set Design

WKRG

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Accelerated Media Technologies – who has worked with other Nexstar stations and cable network NewsNation – handled the build-out, which uses a Chevy Tahoe as the base. 

The vehicle is based on AMT’s Vision Series platform and includes 5G transmission and cellular news gathering via TVU Networks.

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The Beast includes a 360-degree rotating camera on the roof along with a Pulsar 800 weather sensor from Columbia Weather.

Inside the vehicle, small cameras are included for live hits. The cameras include AMT’s DriveLive Camera system.

Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub provides video monitoring and routing inside the vehicle 

The back of the vehicle includes a 43-inch monitor for remote weathercasts and field reporting, such as at Friday night football games.

Along with shark teeth and storm graphics, the vehicle includes the “beast” branding in a streaky, hand-drawn font. The beast branding also extends to a special hashtag created for the vehicle, #Beast5. 

The Beast joins WKRG along with a new studio that launched in late June.