Welcome to Percy Saltzman's Official web site
New! The Archives at the University of British Columbia have a collection of Percy's papers. The summary of what's at UBC is here.
New! Check out our rebuttal to Oliver's Twist. It can be found here.
Despite Percy's, er, present condition, he was discovered in New York in 2011. Check out Percy Saltzman Poster in New York City.
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PERCY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING Percy Philip Saltzman passed away, quietly in his sleep, in the early morning hours of Monday, January 15th, 2007. |
Percy Saltzman was the first face on Canadian TV when on September 8, 1952, CBC TV inaugurated English language broadcasting in Canada.
Percy lasted 30 years (1952-1982) during which he surfed the airwaves with 9000 weather performances (6000 TV, 3000 radio) plus 1000 interviews.
During his career Percy Saltzman garnered the Order of Canada; a seat in the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame; and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and China's accolade as the world's first weather entertainer.
Percy conned the CBC into giving him the air in the first place. "Who wants to watch a talking head spouting weather? Or even doing News?", they said. Like Hollywood, nobody knew nothing about nothing.
Percy Saltzman started TV Weather in glorious black and white, with a thick piece of chalk, a blackboard map, glasses without glass, a motor mouth, and a farewell flip, all larded with ham and schmaltz.
Each night when Percy finished his frantic three-minute weather blast, the map and he were coated in a thick cloud of chalk dust. Instant chaos they called Percy Saltzman.
This web site is about Percy's amazing career as a broadcaster and a meteorologist.