David Devall (born 1931) is a Canadian retired broadcaster and meteorologist. He served as the chief forecaster at CFTO-TV in Toronto for more than 48 years beginning in 1961, and was recognized as having had the "longest career as a weather forecaster" by Guinness World Records and the World Records Academy upon his retirement on April 3, 2009. [1] [2] Devall was also a recipient of the RTDNA Canada's lifetime achievement award in 2010. [3]
Devall was born, raised, and educated in Toronto (graduate of York Memorial Collegiate in the old City of York).
While studying at Ryerson Institute of Technology's radio and television arts program, he also served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) where part of his training centred on meteorology. In 1956, while still a student, he worked at CFPL-TV in London, Ontario; he then moved to Toronto radio station CFRB, where he stayed from 1957 to 1958. [4] After graduating in 1958, [5] he worked at CHEX-TV in Peterborough. [4] When CFTO launched in 1961, Devall auditioned with 2,000 other hopefuls; he was one of six people hired as a broadcaster, and he started at the station on January 7 of the same year.
Devall's voice was heard across Canada as Jim Perry's announcer on many of his game shows, including Definition , Headline Hunters and Eye Bet . [6] As well. he appeared in Ford television commercials on the popular Hockey Night in Canada program. In 1975, Devall was offered a hosting position with ABC's Good Morning America ; he turned down the offer and remained with CFTO-TV. [7] While at the station, he also served as a continuity announcer, voicing promos, bumpers, program intros and outros, station IDs and the nightly sign-off sequence. [4]
Despite various new weathercasters joining the station, Devall remained the chief weather presenter at CFTO until his retirement, and also appeared daily on co-owned CTV Newsnet to present the national weather forecast. His funny antics have made him popular with Toronto viewers. During his early years at the station, he presented the weather forecast from behind a clear acrylic glass weather map, which necessitated writing backwards with a grease pencil. After electronically generated weather maps were introduced, he continued the tradition with a single daily weather word. [4]
Devall was made an honorary colonel of the Canadian Forces Squadron 436 at CFB Trenton in February 2007. [5]
Devall retired on April 3, 2009. Two days earlier, it had been announced that Devall had set the newly created Guinness World Record for the "longest career as a weather forecaster" at 48 years, 2 months, and 27 days. [7] That record was surpassed by fellow Canadian broadcast weather forecaster Peter Coade in 2013. [8]
As part of his send-off, CFTO and the City of Toronto announced that the roadway leading to CTV's Toronto studios, Channel Nine Court, had been temporarily renamed "Dave Devall Way" in his honour. [9] [10]
Following retirement, Devall has made appearances in television commercials for local businesses, including an area Toyota dealership in 2010 and Loblaws in 2011. In July 2012, Devall appeared in a string of commercials for Shoppers Drug Mart. [11]
He was also one of several retired longtime CFTO employees (including the more recent departures of Tom Gibney (2007) and Jim Junkin (2010)) who returned for a retrospective on the station's fiftieth anniversary on December 31, 2010. [11] He appeared briefly at the end of longtime CTV anchor Christine Bentley's final broadcast on September 14, 2012. [11]
One of Devall's major appearances after retiring was as the master of ceremonies for the 2013 Portraits of Honour Juno Beach Dinner Gala, in Cambridge, Ontario. [12] In 2020, Devall was interviewed about his work on Definition for the GameTV documentary series The Search for Canada's Game Shows. [6]
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a division of the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE. It is Canada's largest privately or commercially owned network consisting of 22 owned-and-operated stations nationwide and two privately owned affiliates, and has consistently been placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network in key markets.
299 Queen Street West, also known as Bell Media Queen Street or Bell Media Studios, is the headquarters of the television/radio broadcast hub of Bell Canada's media unit, Bell Media, and is located at the intersection of Queen Street West and John Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building previously served as the headquarters of CTVglobemedia until Bell Canada acquired CTV again in 2011 as well as CHUM Television, a division of CHUM Limited, until CTV acquired CHUM in 2007, and was once known as the CHUM-City Building. It is now head offices and downtown Toronto studios for Bell Media.
CP24 is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. and operated alongside the Bell-owned CTV Television Network's owned-and-operated television stations CFTO-DT and CKVR-DT. The channel broadcasts from 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto.
CFRB is a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West.
CFQC-DT is a television station in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, the station has studios on 1st Avenue North and 23rd Street East in the Central Business District neighbourhood of Saskatoon, and its transmitter is located near Highway 41 and Burgheim Road, northeast of the city.
CFCF-DT is an English-language television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT. The two stations share studios at the Bell Media building, at the intersection of Avenue Papineau and Boulevard René-Lévesque Est in downtown Montreal; CFCF-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Royal.
Definition is a Canadian game show, which aired on CTV from September 9, 1974 to March 10, 1989, and recorded at its flagship studios of CFTO-TV at 9 Channel Nine Court in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario. For most of its run, it was hosted by Jim Perry.
Headline Hunters is a Canadian game show that appeared on CTV from 1972 to 1983. It was originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir. It was hosted by Jim Perry, who hosted two other Canadian game shows and several American game shows concurrently with its run. CFTO-TV meteorologist Dave Devall, who worked with Perry on the aforementioned two series, served as the announcer and was a de facto co-host for this series. It was a Glen-Warren Production for the CTV Television Network and was filmed at the Glen-Warren Studios in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.
A weather presenter is a person who presents the weather forecast daily on radio, television or internet news broadcasts.
Harold Earnest Taft Jr., affectionately known as "The World's Greatest Weatherman" and "The Dean of TV Meteorologists", was the first television meteorologist west of the Mississippi River and held the post for a record 41 years.
CFTO-DT is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 flagship CKVR-DT, channel 3. CFTO-DT's studios are located at 9 Channel Nine Court in Agincourt, and its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower in Downtown Toronto. The station shares the Agincourt studio complex with CTV's headquarters, which includes studios for the network's news programming, along with most of Bell Media's specialty channels.
Compass is a 60-minute local CBC television news program based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Broadcast weeknights from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. AT on CBCT-DT, it is the only PEI-specific television newscast available in the province.
Percy Philip Saltzman, was a meteorologist and television personality best remembered for being the first weatherman in English-speaking Canadian television history.
CHEX-DT-2 is a television station licensed to Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, serving the Regional Municipality of Durham as part of the Global Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Simcoe Street in Downtown Oshawa and a transmitter on Enfield Road in Clarington.
The following is a list of media outlets for Hamilton, Ontario:
Johnny Esaw, CM was a Canadian of Assyrian descent, a sports broadcaster and television network executive. He was a pioneer of sports broadcasting in Canada, best known for his involvement with figure skating, football, and international hockey.
9 Channel Nine Court is an office and studio complex owned by Bell Media in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The civic address of the complex refers to the over-the-air channel on which CFTO-TV, the building's original tenant, broadcast. It is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highway 401 and McCowan Road near the Scarborough City Centre.
Bolsover is a village in Canada, located in the city of Kawartha Lakes, west of the village of Kirkfield at the junction of Kawartha Lakes Road 48 and Kawartha Lakes Road 46. The village is located to the south of Canal Lake. The community is likely named for Bolsover in Derbyshire, England.
Christine Bentley is Canadian journalist and former news anchor on Toronto, Ontario, Canada television station CTV Toronto. She was an employee of the CTV News since 1977.
Peter Coade is a Canadian retired meteorologist and television and radio weather presenter. In 2013, he was certified by the Guinness World Records as having had the longest career of any weather broadcaster―50 years, 8 months and 21 days―having started in 1962 and continuing until 2013. He held this record until 2016, when American meteorologist Dick Goddard, a weather broadcaster from Cleveland broke it.