WBTV morning meteorologist Al Conklin will forecast Salisbury and Rowan County weather for WSTP 1490, the radio station has announced.

Conklin will be doing this in addition to his duties at WBTV.

WSTP spokesman Lance Poole notes that Conklin’s addition to the station, effective April 1, is a first step in improving local coverage on the station by providing accurate local weather information. Poole added that more news about the new 1490 will be forthcoming.

Conklin began his forecasting career in radio at Accu-Weather in Pennsylvania and remained there for four years as a broadcast meteorologist. He began his television career at Wilmington’s WECT in 1989 as a meteorologist/environmental reporter. After a two-year stint at WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Fla., and a year a WTVJ in Miami, Fla., he returned to the Carolinas and WBTV in April 1993.

Conklin, a native of Nanuet, N.Y., earned his bachelor’s degree in meteorology from State University of New York. His hobbies include music, traveling, Civil War history and gardening. His favorite sports teams include the New York Yankees and the Carolina Panthers. He is married and the father of two daughters and a son.

The license to operate WSTP 1490 was transferred on March 10 from Tim Coates and Rowan Media to 2B Productions, a group headed by Salisbury attorney Bill Graham that represents the Catawba College Foundation. WSTP and WSAT were both purchased by 2B Productions within the past year and will be used as a real world training ground for students at Catawba College.

WSAT general manager and morning show host Buddy Poole is overseeing the transition, which involves WSTP moving its studios from Statesville Boulevard to the WSAT building on Jake Alexander Boulevard.