VIDEO: Ghiorse Turns 80 — Is He the Most Dominant Person in RI Media for the Past 50 Years?

VIDEO: Ghiorse Turns 80 — Is He the Most Dominant Person in RI Media for the Past 50 Years?

Monday is John Ghiorse’s 80th birthday. Over the past 50 years, he has been one of, or maybe, the most dominant person in media in Rhode Island.

Ghiorse became a household name as a star weatherman at WJAR-10 and then WLNE-6 in the 1970s and 1980s during the height of local television news.  During the Blizzard of '78, he became the most trusted person on television for his forecasting and weather reporting.

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In 2007, John was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2009, Ghiorse retired after 40 plus years on Rhode Island television.

"John Ghiorse has been a special part of the NBC 10 family for many years, and we appreciate all his hard work and commitment during his time here. He will certainly be missed at the station and we wish him the best of everything and a 10 on the Ghiorse Factor for his retirement," said Lisa Churchville, then the president and general manager of NBC 10 in February 2009.

Shortly after Ghiorse’s retirement, Josh Fenton, co-founder and CEO of GoLocal, was on the phone scheduling a breakfast with Ghiorse.

“I knew from the minute I sat down with John that he was one of the most forward-thinking people in media in America,” said Fenton.

“I had been meeting and talking with people all over the country discussing the future of media. Despite John’s entire career having been in local TV, he had tremendous vision about the future — he was 70 years old at the time and was prophetic in his analysis,” added Fenton.

Ghiorse was born in 1939 and was the oldest of nine children.

“He was fascinated by weather as a child, but he studied chemistry at Harvard College. After joining the Air Force in 1962, John studied meteorology at Penn State,” wrote WJAR’s Frank Coletta.

“He put that knowledge to use as a weather officer for the Strategic Air Command in Vietnam and Thailand.

Back in civilian life, John was working for the Travelers Weather Service in Hartford, when he heard about an opening in Providence,” wrote Coletta about Ghiorse’s arrival in Rhode Island.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A special thanks to Dave Layman -- a former colleague of Ghiorse -- for providing some of the photos in the video.