The Boston Globe reports that long-time Boston television weatherman Don Kent has passed away.
For some thirty years, when New Englanders wanted to know what the weather forecast was, the ultimate voice of authority was WBZ’s Don Kent. Though he was not trained as a meteorologist, Kent was a self-taught weather expert and brought professionalism to a job that, as local television news became more and more formulaic in the 1970s, was so often used as “comic relief” or as an excuse to put a pretty girl in a tight dress on screen for five minutes to point at a map. Kent didn’t do goofy shtick, wear loud suits, or make happy talk. People knew that they could watch him on TV or listen to him on the radio and get a reliable forecast. These days, television weather forecasts dazzle with technology, though they over-sensationalize severe weather situations, but the model of using knowledgeable forecasters is a direct legacy of Don Kent’s career.
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