The Weather Channel releases a CD: Savvy marketing?

On the new personal finance site we're about to launch, I'm contemplating doing a series called "Why Would Anyone Buy That" as a special weekly place to highlight all those consumer products that people buy and I don't understand why.

A soundtrack to The Weather Channel would seem like a pretty good place to start. Weather Channel Presents: Best of Smooth Jazz, released in October, seems like a sure candidate for the discount rack. But, actually, the eight Amazon.com customers who have reviewed it have generally been kind, giving it an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

According to the Associated Press, "The songs are among the channel's most requested selections and play during the forecast fixture 'Local on the 8s' that airs six times an hour. It's the cue that draws you to the TV set when you want to find out if you should take along that jacket when you leave home."

I can't imagine buying a CD with "The Weather Channel" in the title: It seems like an invitation to mockery: Possibly even lower than Kenny G and Michael Bolton. But regardless of what I think, you have to hand it to The Weather Channel's marketing people. Who ever would have thought that a station that provides 24-hour coverage of the weather, hardly a scintillating topic to most people, would build a strong enough brand that it can be used to sell CDs.

I can think of a few companies that are struggling to capitalize on their brands that could use some of The Weather Channel's marketing savvy.