‘Mister Weather’ receives Golden Bell accolade

Recently retired weather presenter Jen Li-yu (???) was honored with a special contribution award at the 56th Golden Bell Awards (GBAs) Saturday, in recognition of his prolific near three-decade television career.

Nicknamed "Mister Weather," Jen earned the distinction of becoming the first weather presenter to appear on all three of Taiwan's original broadcast stations, TTV, CTV, and CTS. His award also made him the first meteorologist honored by the GBAs.

The 76-year-old made his television debut as the forecasting spokesman for the government's Central Weather Bureau (CWB), later becoming a nightly fixture for generations of TV audiences as a weather presenter on channels such as TVBS.

Viewers of all ages were known to approach Jen in person to tell him that they had grown up watching his reports.

With his signature delivery and calm demeanor, Jen was noted for determined reporting in all manner of weather conditions, keeping up a habit formed during his pre-broadcast career of staying behind with colleagues during typhoons to keep the nation informed.

According to his friend and fellow broadcasting legend Paul Lee (???), Jen's record for staying on shift at the CWB was 16 days straight.

By the time of his retirement this year, Jen had presented nearly 500 typhoon-related updates, and almost 19,000 weather reports.

Before embarking on a broadcast career, Jen spent 25 years in meteorology, retiring from the CWB in 1993. He later made his debut as a television weather presenter on TTV the same year.

"Being the weather spokesperson at the CWB was the catalyst that made me a weather reporter on TV," he said.

As he accepted his award at the GBAs Saturday, Jen said he was "very honored and happy," adding he was "surprised that a weather reporter would get such an accolade, since my job was unlike any of my predecessors."

"I would like to encourage and thank all of my colleagues and the crew for their hard work. Anyone who works so hard deserves to and could receive recognition," he said.

"I had only done one job in my career, and that was to analyze, forecast and report on the weather. My job was to consolidate all the data to provide the latest weather to the general public."

Jen concluded by imploring those that had grown up watching him to learn from and pay attention to weather and climate.

"Global warming and climate change around the world are more obvious as of late. Massive floods are everywhere. Climate change is real and here."

Ending on a more lighthearted note, Jen briefly came out of retirement to give one last weather report, before leaving the stage to applause.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel