My Monday column suggesting an "Instant Replay Weather" segment to make the TV meteorologists accountable for their accuracy brought a blizzard of e-mails endorsing the idea, and complaining about wrong TV forecasts.

My favorite response came from Diana Frey, spokeswoman for Cincinnati public services:

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Finally someone else actually understands what we go through with the weather forecasts!

"Tell me, would you still have your job if you only got it right 40 percent of the time? I know I wouldn't.

"Believe it or not, I had one of the local `weather experts' call me at home (after working 18 straight hours trying to dig out of their latest "prediction") to verbally assault me because I said on the air that not one single weather forecast the night before (Monday, Feb. 10) got the timing right.

"He was highly insulted and told me so. He wanted to know why I didn't just monitor his weather, and no one else, so we would get it right every time when to send out the trucks. Yeah, right, OK, will do, buddy, you were so close on this one ...

"Anyway, thanks for putting the blame where it belongs."

When I asked Frey to identify the weatherman, she didn't want to name names - but said he worked for a station on the dial between Channel 6 and Channel 11.

And this came from a man who schedules snow-clearing crews in Boone County:

"I used to get up early to listen to all four stations to see what they were calling for.

"Sadly, now I watch WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington (Channel 6 on Insight cable) to tell me what the weather is going to be in Northern Kentucky. They seem to get it right more often, without telling me how many dogs or cats need homes today, or that Girl Scout Troop 225 is visiting ...

"I wish some station would just give me the weather, get it most of the time correct, and give it in zones like a lot of large cities do."

Gong show: Several longtime TV viewers recalled that Channel 9's Al Schottelkotte News, the No. 1 newscast here for two decades, would ring a gong whenever weatherman Todd Hunter had made an inaccurate forecast.

On the Channel 9 news set was a tote board keeping track of the "Gongless Days."

Schottelkotte "would compliment the weather guy when there was a string of `gongless days,' " recalled Richard Morris of Harrison. "News broadcasting has certainly changed a lot since then, but not necessarily for the better."

Several readers also noted that TV meteorologists in other cities give viewers a "five-degree guarantee."

At WSJV-TV (Channel 28), Fox's South Bend, Ind., affiliate, the station adds $28 to a jackpot every day that meteorologist John Fischer makes an accurate forecast.

"They not only talk about yesterday's prediction, but viewers could mail in their name and address and in the event that John Fischer, the chief meteorologist, was wrong, they could win cash! The amount of cash grew each day that his forecast was within the five degrees," said Greg DeSimone, who moved here from South Bend 18 months ago.

"I wouldn't care about the cash, I'd settle for just being right!" DeSimone said.

On the bench: For the first time in 15 years, Marty Brennaman will not be slipping away from the Reds spring training camp to call NCAA basketball tournament games on radio. Host Communications has lost the NCAA rights to Westwood One, which will use its own announcers this year.

"I'm in forced retirement," Brennaman says. He has called regional games for 15 years, and the Final Four for the last 11 years.

Reds fans should warm up their radios: Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall broadcast the Reds' exhibition opener at 1:15 p.m. Thursday on WLW-AM (700).

Reality check: Fear Factor meets Celebrity Survivor - that's the best way to describe ABC's cheesy I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here! (10 p.m. today, Channels 9, 2).

One of the 10 celebrities camping in the Australian rain forest must do a "Bush Tucker Trial" - a repulsive Fear Factor stunt like putting bugs and rats in their pants, or swimming with alligators - to win meals for the gang.

WCIN honors: WCIN-AM (1480) will salute the "50 Most Influential Blacks in Cincinnati in the Past 50 Years" with a banquet at 7 p.m. next Friday at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center. The event kicks off WCIN-AM's yearlong 50th anniversary celebration.

Tickets ($50 each) are available by calling the station, 281-7180.

Talk shows: Today's guests from TV Data:

Wayne Brady (10 a.m., Channel 9): Randy Jackson, Michael Michele, Jarod Miller.

The View (11 a.m., Channel 9): Sara Rue, Julianne Moore.

Caroline Rhea (3 p.m., Channel 19): Harvey Fierstein.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.