After more than 35 years working at Global Calgary, weather anchor Paul Dunphy has been honoured with an RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award.
An endorsed weather broadcaster of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, Dunphy has been delivering the forecast on Global Calgary since 1985.
“I am very humbled to receive this award,” Dunphy said, adding it “came out of the blue.”
“It’s nice to have recognition after so many years of work.”
Dunphy began working in Global Calgary’s weather department 36 years ago.
“I was part-time at first and eventually became full-time, which meant leaving my full-time job as a radio DJ,” Dunphy explained. “I worked at CFAC (now the Sportsnet The Fan 960) and also at CHFM as a DJ and commercial announcer/producer.
“Back in those days, almost all TV weather presenters were radio DJs who worked half-days on the radio and then did the evening weather on TV news programs. DJs were a natural choice because they are used to working without a script and could be told to go any length of time in order to get the show back on time if there was a time crunch.
“Weather presenters at that time were also encouraged to be comedians as much as possible and to inject humour into the weathercast,” Dunphy said. “I am not a funny guy, so in order to have enough to talk about while on-air I started taking meteorology courses so I would be able to better explain why we were getting the weather we were getting.”
During his time at Global Calgary, Dunphy has worked every shift possible, including a 13-year run on the morning show.
“For three of those years, I also did the 5 p.m. news, 6 p.m. news and 11 p.m. news. Those were long days,” he said. “Moving to just the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. shows felt like semi-retirement.”
Dunphy said working at Global Calgary has “always been a pleasure” because of the “great bunch of people” he works with.
One of his closest friends at the station is Linda Olsen.
“What can I say about this amazing lady? As you well know she is sweet, kind and genuine and never in a bad mood. We have never had even one minor disagreement,” Dunphy said.
“I, like everyone else at Global Calgary, think she’s just the best of the best and I am so appreciative to have her as a friend and a co-worker.”
Meanwhile, Olsen had some kind words to share about her colleague and his well-earned award.
“I am so thrilled for Paul to receive this special recognition,” she said. “Paul is one of most wonderful people to work with. He is so professional and supportive of his colleagues and he cares so much about the work he does every day.
“It is a pleasure to work alongside Paul and to call him a friend.”
Dunphy said although he is “past retirement age” he continues to work because he would miss it — and his co-workers — were he to leave.
“So for the time being, at least, I am content to stay on at Global Calgary.”
Global Calgary news director Carmela Gentile said the prestigious award is well deserved.
“Paul is kind, generous and puts our viewers first in everything he does each and every day. He is so deserving of this prestigious award and we are fortunate to have him as part of our team at Global Calgary,” Gentile said.
Dunphy took home the Prairie Region Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s RTDNA Awards on May 18.
On top of Dunphy’s lifetime achievement award, Global Calgary was nominated for 13 RTDNA Awards this year.
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