[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 60 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
       ART LAKE: HALF A CENTURY OF RHODE ISLAND BROADCAST HISTORY

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I would like to share with my colleagues the 
news of a remarkable anniversary. Art Lake this year celebrates 50 
years of news and weather reporting in the broadcast industry, 
including about 45 years in television.
  There is one more fact that makes this remarkable anniversary even 
more extraordinary. In an industry noted for the temporary nature of 
its jobs and the transience of its newscasters, Art Lake has remained 
with the same station for all his years in broadcasting. That station 
is Rhode Island's WJAR.
  In an institution noted for the long service of some Members, we 
stand in awe of anyone who has put in so many decades at one of the few 
jobs that draws more daily criticism than politics. You see, Art Lake 
has worked 30 of those 50 years as weatherman.
  The fact that he has not only survived but has become such a constant 
and reliable figure in our lives, is proof of both his skills and his 
character. I speak for many Rhode Islanders when I express our 
appreciation, and wish both Art Lake and WJAR continued success.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article from a recent 
edition of the Woonsocket, RI, Call entitled ``Art Lake: 50 Years of TV 
History,'' be printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    Art Lake: 50 Years of TV History

                           (By Kristen Lans)

       Smithfield.--Spring will not be overly warm this year.
       Art Lake said so, with the confidence of someone who has 
     forecasted weather the past 30 years every winter, spring, 
     summer and fall for Rhode Island audiences.
       But Lake's career with WJAR-Channel 10 stretches further 
     back in time than that, with 1994 marking the 50th year he 
     has worked for the same station, first as a radio, then 
     television, news announcer.
       ``I am not overly happy to be this old, but I loved being a 
     part of the early days of television,'' said Lake, who 
     requested his age not be printed.
       As a teenager from Braintree, Mass., Lake began at WJAR as 
     a radio announcer when it operated out of the Outlet 
     Department store in downtown Providence.
       The department store went into the business to increase the 
     sale of records, said Lake, and the men's clothing department 
     was the only department which brought in more revenue each 
     year than the broadcasting department.
       In 1949, when the station expanded and began broadcasting 
     over television, Lake stayed as one of 10 television news 
     announcers.
       ``Art is like the station historian,'' said Doug White, 
     newscaster for WJAR-Channel 10. ``He can talk just as 
     comfortably about 1954 as he can about 1994.''
       White has worked with Lake at the same station for 16 
     years, although recently they cross paths infrequently 
     because of conflicting schedules.
       White said when he first began at WJAR he was assigned to 
     the noon newscast with Lake and found the weather forecaster 
     prepared for the ``curve balls'' live television can entail.
       Lake got his start on television when it was introduced to 
     the households of America.
       In those days, he said, there were ``weather girls'' who 
     sang the weather forecast in rhymes or drew the weather on a 
     chart as they described it.
       Lake's career in weather grew from a hobby and not a 
     college degree, because his degree from Emerson College in 
     Boston was in radio broadcasting.
       The week after Lake moved to Smithfield in 1954, Hurricane 
     Carol followed and its effects peaked his interest in 
     weather.
       ``I found out there was a lot more to know about weather 
     than reading a box in the upper right corner of the 
     newspaper,'' said Lake. ``I like to show people the movement 
     of the weather so people understand why it is happening.''
       Lake would go to T.F. Green Airport in Warwick and study 
     the weather charts for hours with National Weather Service 
     workers.
       He learned weather from meteorologist John Ghiorse, when 
     Ghiorse was hired by WJAR-10 to replace a ``weather girl,'' 
     in the early 1960s.
       In the old days, maps of the United States were painted on 
     the wall and the weather forecaster had to memorize the 
     forecast or refer to material written on cards.
       Now, Lake uses a computer to develop the weather maps, and 
     refers to a teleprompter for the weather forecast.
       The maps are not painted on walls, but only broadcast on 
     television screens for viewers, while Lake points to a blank 
     wall behind him.
       ``When I first started, weather people would greet you on 
     the street with ``why don't you get it right?,'' said Lake.
       Now they call and say their daughter is getting married 
     tomorrow and ask if she'll need a tent outside,'' he said.
       The veteran media figure remembers falling asleep at a 
     beach in South County one summer, and opening his eyes to a 
     circle of people surrounding him. They knew he was a 
     television figure, but not what he did and wanted Lake to 
     identify himself.
       Lake begins his workday at 3:45 a.m. and leaves the WJAR-
     Channel 10 studio in Cranston at 12:30 p.m.
       The best days are those when you were ``right'' with your 
     weather forecast the day before and it continues, said Lake.
       ``It's awful when you come in and a massive storm is 
     breathing down your back,'' he said.
       Although Lake received offers in the past to relocate to a 
     different station, doing so would not be feasible, he said, 
     because it would have entailed starting at the bottom salary 
     and working up again and again.
       In the early days, experience did not rate salary, 
     according to Lake, and his wife and three boys remained in 
     Smithfield.
       Everything in the broadcasting industry has changed, he 
     said, except the call letters of the station WJAR, where he 
     has worked half-a-century.
       Lake said he has not made any decisions on retirement.
       Although WJAR asked Lake to do a piece on his 50th 
     anniversary with the station, the forecaster has not accepted 
     the offer yet, according to White.
       White said television audiences received one impression of 
     television news programs from ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' 
     whose character Ted Knight displayed an arrogant attitude.
       ``Art Lake couldn't be any further from that character,'' 
     said White. ``I suspect when he decides to retire he will 
     slip out the back door after politely saying goodbye to 
     everyone.''

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