Cloudy but fine
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Wang Lanyi (left), 30, and Feng Shu (right), 27, have joined Weather Forecast, a Chinese television institution.
A fresh wind is blowing through the offices of the world's most widely watched TV weather forecast. Two new faces are joining CCTV-1's weather team after 11 years of unchanged operation. But the tweak in presentation has caused something of a storm among viewers.
Thirty-year-old Wang Lanyi and Feng Shu, 27, have joined Weather Forecast, a Chinese television institution.
The program, which starts at precisely 7.31pm every night, first aired the year Feng was born.
Wang said her first hello to her new audience on the evening of June 25 and Feng on July 1.
It has become a long habit for Chinese families to watch CCTV-1's 7pm daily news (called Xinwen Lianbo in Chinese). Weather Forecast, which follows after a few advertisements, has become part of the habit too.
The anchors have become household names and are invited into the homes of hundreds of millions of people every evening. They become part of the family.
In 2007, the program scored the highest TV ratings in China, according to CTR Market Research.
A survey by CCTV says that in 2007, every night about 600 million people are watching the program.
The 7.5-second time interval between the two programs, consequently, has become the most competitive time slots for companies, which want to sell their products on CCTV.
Web portal Sohu.com won the bid for selling itself in the "golden interval" in 2008. The website did not reveal the specific price, but only said they spent tens of millions yuan.
Because of the huge ratings, Weather Forecast producers have only made three slight changes over the years. Their motto seems to be: if it works, don't fix it.
However some changes have been made.
Since 2001, anchors have used their hands to point to the map instead of a stick and the opening vision was changed from images of National Meteorological Center's building to child-friendly animations of four seasons.
The map of China was also moved a bit to the right because some viewers complained that the anchors blocked Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions.
So when any changes are made to such an institution, there is always going to be stir.
Many applaud the move to inject new blood, saying that the two hosts perform well with very professional presentation, especially Wang. The younger Feng was a bit nervous on his debut, but according to the recent online forum, most viewers think it is acceptable. Some, however, complain that press is making a trivial thing too big.
To recruit new staff is quite normal in every workplace," says Gu Shan, a university student.
"Why should we care so much about it, just because it is a CCTV program? And do we need six anchors for a 100-second show?"
"Weather forecast is not about the anchors, but accuracy," a netizen says on the popular tianya.cn. "If the forecast was not accurate, it wouldn't be favored, however beautiful the anchor is."
Wang Lanyi seems to agree.
In an interview with The Beijing News, she says a good weatherperson is able to make the audience remember the weather instead of the anchor.
Wang has been hosting weather forecast programs since 2001 for two TV networks before she was chosen by CCTV three months ago.
To become a CCTV anchor, Wang and Feng have to earn at least three certificates, namely, the top mandarin certificate, qualification issued by the Radio, Television and Film Administration, and the approval of an audition committee of CCTV.
Like most of the program's anchors, Wang did not major in meteorology in college. She studied in the school of "presentation art "- literally how to be an anchor - in Communication University of China, the same department and campus of the other four hosts of the program, namely Song Yingjie, Zhao Hongyan, Pei Xinhua and Yang Dan
Song, the first TV weatherman in China, is the only meteorology major in the team.
He graduated from Beijing Institute of Meteorology, now a training center of China Meteorology Administration.
Wang says she could make up by learning from meteorologists around. As the foremost weather program, the CCTV-1 weather forecast enjoys a close connection with China Meteorology Administration and the country's top experts.
The biggest challenge she thinks she faces now is how to build up trust among audience.
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