Albert Lincoln Roker Sr. Roker the son of Jamaican-born Isabel and a Bahamian-born bus driver was born in the New York City borough of Queens. At first, he aspired to become a cartoonist.
Al Roker attended Xavier High School in Manhattan and was raised as a Catholic, following the religion of his mother. He graduated with a B.A. in communications from the State University of New York at Oswego in 1976.
When Roker was recruited at Cleveland's WKYC, which was then an NBC owned-and-operated station, his career with the network got its start in 1978. Roker was elevated to the network's flagship station, his hometown's WNBC-TV, after five years in Cleveland.
In late 1983, Roker moved back to New York City and began providing weather reports on the weekends. After eight months, he took over as the station's nightly primetime forecaster. Dr. Frank Field, a 27-year veteran of WNBC-TV who departed the network due to a contract disagreement, was replaced by Al Roker.
Is Al Roker a true meteorologist?
Al Roker doesn't have a degree in meteorology, although few television weather forecasters possess degrees in meteorology.
