Francesc Mauri: "From the age of 13 to 18, I completely lost my way."

BarcelonaHe's the Corporation's longest-serving weather presenter, about to celebrate four decades of service. We took advantage of his upcoming birthday to have a relaxed conversation with Francesc Mauri about his personal and professional career. His trademark sing-song also accompanies him off camera, where he elaborates on his answers, happy to be able to talk without the pressure of the weather dictated by the short format of the forecast.

This July will mark 40 years since you joined the Corporation. Do you feel like your work is done?

— No, despite the wear and tear, which is there in every sense, physical and mental, my mind still works. But I am aware that the rising generation is often better prepared than I was.

What do you remember about that July of '85?

— The first person I stood in front of was Mikimoto, in Studio 1 at Catalunya Ràdio. Of course, my heart was bursting. I was going to be a summer substitute for Alfred Rodríguez Picó, my mentor, and I remember greeting Àngels Barceló, or Jordi Llompart, or Carles Cuní as I entered the studio, and my heart was bursting too. In fact, the head of programs at Catalunya Ràdio, a gentleman named Josep Cuní, joked with me, telling me that I should pay something to be able to train here. And I told him not to worry, I'd do the substitute anyway. He laughed: "Man, how do you have to pay to come?" And so, I spent three or four summers without a vacation, doing these substitutions, and in between I did my military service, which was a total loss for me.

I know it was an atypical military service.

— I was assigned to a company of climbers and skiers. I arrived there, having just turned 21, and I found people wearing green berets with rather tough builds. Many people were dressed like Rambo, and you immediately felt scared because you realized this wasn't a normal barracks. However, I remember a service that wasn't overly aggressive, where people were respected based on how well they could complete some complicated exercises, like jumping out of moving trucks.

Have you learned to do this?

— Yes, yes. I jumped well. Jumping out of a truck moving at 25 kilometers per hour is really scary. You had to run with the Cetme well separated from your body, held with both hands, because if you didn't run fast enough or held it too close, you'd eat it, and more than one had been injured. But this was only during training; afterward, they put me on duty: since we had a bar at home, I said I knew how to be a waiter. The test was to operate a coffee maker—imagine the level. And so I went on to serve in the officers' bar.

It must have been a wealth of military anecdotes.

— I could have written a book, yes. Between 60 and 70% of the people were absolutely normal, nothing remarkable. But there was a 30% of people who were very crazy, in many ways. And there were plenty of women's affairs, and also men's, the latter known to everyone but absolutely assimilated in a discreet way. One day, for example, a lieutenant who had broken up with the band sergeant, a chemist from Zaragoza, started telling me that he'd done enough in life and wanted to leave this world. Of course, we all knew this came from his story with the sergeant. And, at one point, he put me on the Stark bar, which was a pistol officers carried back then, and put the magazine in. I freaked out and went to find the non-commissioned officer on duty. Luckily, things didn't get any worse.

I suppose you're aware that you project an image of an organized and dedicated person. But you repeated your second year of high school. What was Mauri like as a student?

— Until eighth grade, everything went very well. But from the ages of 13 to 18, I completely lost my way. I'm a distracted person. Technically, we could call it attention deficit. Finding myself in that job, it got me going, but then I lost my way. Not with addictions or anything like that, but I had very little interest in school, except for subjects related to the environment, geography, and nature.

Has the way we explain time changed in these forty years?

— Of course. We came from the meteorology of the Spanish Television presenters: Mariano Medina, Fernando Medina, Pilar Sanjurjo, Manuel Toharia, and Eugenio Martín Rubio. Each with their own personality, but generally everything was very gray, very flat, very regime-like. TV3, in its day, innovated and adopted the figure of the Anglo-Saxon weatherman, more powerful and with personality. And then came Antoni Castejón and Alfred Rodríguez Picó, who, in an educational way, made you understand it all better and engaged the person on the other end. And you achieved this thanks to proximity, which allowed you to connect directly with the population.

Would you say that there's a special interest in weather in Catalonia, thanks to TV3's work?

— Sure, sure. TV3, both then and now, remains a backbone of the country. We're in a country where Catalan-language media, and even more so now in the latest era of globalization, have always, always, always been a minority. And now even more so compared to Spanish-language media. Therefore, we cannot lose this backbone at any time.

You, who have a far-sighted mind, how can you make predictions for 2050 regarding zero emissions? Do you think we'll have TV3 in 25 years?

— Yes, I'm convinced. But it won't be the same, that's obvious. If we want to remain a country, Catalan radio and television must continue to exist, even if it's very digital and very limited in scope, or not at all.

Therefore, you do not see it as sufficiently threatened.

— Let's see, when you've seen certain things during the Process years... And when you see the globalization of the world, and you see that on the networks and depending on which sites there are messages that compulsively and automatically give off hate... Well, I don't dare to affirm that in 2050 things will be a certain way. But my spirit of seeing the glass half full tells me yes, that if that country wants to continue being a country, it needs us. It's like NOW, The Punt and the press in our language, or the radio. We're a minority, and therefore we need these backbones. That's why I think 3Cat's digital commitment, sometimes debated and with successes and failures, is ultimately a good thing, because if you stay on the couch and do nothing... well, you won't achieve anything.

Twelve percent of cars registered in Spain are electric or hybrid, and I'm told that the percentage is much higher among TV3 staff, thanks to a certain apostolate.

— Yes, I'm an evangelist for the house. About ten years ago, I decided to do that, and I was a pioneer then, because the range was just over 100 kilometers, and I, who travel between 30,000 and 40,000 kilometers depending on the year, had arrived late to my destination, suffering, with 1% battery left.

And how is the pastoral work going?

— In Spain in general, and in Catalonia in particular, a portion of the economy comes from these combustion-engine car factories, and therefore, we've had a few years of resistance from the automotive sector, which has led to a back-and-forth with the authorities. Of course, the pressure is on now because we're less than ten years away from the complete ban on combustion engines. If we don't act quickly now, we'll continue to manufacture and sell cars that in many parts of the world are already beginning to be seen as obsolete.

How do you see the Catalan case?

— In Catalonia, we're miserable, energy-wise, with fossil fuels. But we're privileged with renewables, or we should be. From this perspective, it's surprising, for example, that more electric cars are sold in Ethiopia than in our country. Where does this come from? We know it's not a country of great wealth—on the contrary—but China is putting all its tentacles into Africa, a virgin continent. It's a second colonization, not of slaves or labor, but of commercial value. So, from this perspective, the Ethiopian government sees that it can do many things if it runs on electricity, which is why last year it banned the import of combustion-fueled cars. They're making the masterstroke that we should be making. Because humanity has no other technology to operate, energy-wise, other than electricity.

If you had to establish three environmental priorities for Catalonia, what would they be?

— Wow... no one ever asked me that question straight out. [Ruminates.] Let's see, the first would be total electrification of all areas of the economy, which would give us a massive opportunity for a green economy. The second would be the policy for the primary sector and everything related to food: agriculture, livestock, fishing... and forests, because then we can provide the water here. Because we won't have a future if we continue to depend on foreigners for food. And the third would be that if we achieve all this, we can be a country where education is 100% free, where healthcare is more advanced, and primary care has the necessary resources, and doctors earn what they should, and many citizens of that country also earn what they should.

You have a very articulate plan and clear ideas. Have you ever been tempted politically?

— I'd been tempted by the municipal government when I lived in Cerdanyola, in the 1990s. Nothing, just a hint. But no, I don't see myself doing anything. The day I retire, I'll decide what I'll do and whether I'll dedicate myself to the contemplative life, which I imagine I won't. Although I try to lead things, you won't see me doing anything I'm not comfortable with or don't believe in.

But if a party were to accommodate what you believe...

— I wouldn't leave the job I'm doing to join a political party or enter politics. Now, when I'm retired, I just don't know...

I don't know how it was handled when a colleague in the department, like Tomàs Molina, took that step. At the time, there was a discussion about whether this compromised the editorial policy of the house.

— Although it had been hinted at for some time and we knew things, I greeted it with surprise and respect. From there, he'll make his way, we'll make ours, and we'll be friends as always.

In any case, would you be okay with him coming back to the screen once this stage is over?

— Guest, I don't have a clear opinion on this. There are pros and cons: it's one of those scales where it's hard to weigh a resounding yes or no.

Everyone has an opinion about the weather, so I wanted to challenge you on some of the clichés you hear so you can tell me how grounded they are or how much nonsense they are. For example: springs are over.

— Well, thermally, that's quite true. We're starting to experience springs and autumns with very high average temperatures.

Every summer is worse than the last.

— This isn't necessarily the case. This was the case in 2022-23, but it eased off in 2024. However, it is true that if we look more closely, we are in the warmest years in the history of all humanity.

Another thing. There's no need to worry about droughts: sooner or later it will rain, and in fact, too much.

— I agree with the second part: sooner or later it rains, even heavily. Our reservoirs, not being very large, are suddenly filled with specific, surgical lifting. I've lived through three droughts professionally: the one in 1989-90, the one in 2007-08, and this one. And the way out has always been the same: surgical storms, because irregularity is the way we operate in the Mediterranean.

In the first part, however, you must disagree.

— Of course. If in 2050 we assign Barcelona the average temperature of Malaga and Lleida the temperature of Seville, except for the three winter months, what will we do? Because before there were six million of us and now there are eight million. And the days of solar radiation are more numerous, the temperature is higher, and therefore there is more evaporation and less water availability. We can't sit idly by. It's like rising sea levels and the entry of water onto the Catalan coast. This is a given; we know it's going to happen. We know that the Maresme railway tracks will be affected, we know that the deltas will be affected or erased, as will beaches and promenades. We know that the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona will have problems. And we know that water can enter the Zona Franca and also the Barcelona airport. This will happen.

Another area in which you've been very involved: the management of the DANA (National Autonomous University of Valencia) in the Valencian Community.

— I will defend to the death that the emergency management was disastrous. For a figure like Mazón to disappear for five hours... Listen, there are more deaths here than on 3/11.

What should happen to clean up, if this is possible?

— There should be a judicial purge, from top to bottom, transparent and brutal.

And your prognosis is...?

— That Mr. Mazón has very little left to fall. Because on Thursday theAbc published an editorial that placed him on the tightrope.

Their strategy has been to throw shit, pardon the saying, at Aemet.

— Yes, and spreading a lot of lies. Even if they're from my group: if Aemet's management hadn't been correct, I'd say so. But in this case, there are some red flags, and they're very few, red flags. Well, when they do, if you don't do anything here, it's a legally punishable act.

Do you feel condemned to row against the current?

— Yes, but not because of informed denial, but because there's a part of people's brains that, when there's change, goes off alert. And sometimes this paralyzes. But if we don't adapt to this wave of change, we'll crash. This is the reality of Ericsson, it's the reality of Nokia, it's the reality of Kodak, it's the reality of abrupt changes, like my maternal grandfather experienced with a brick kiln he had. In the 1970s, with the oil crisis, they switched from coal kilns to gas-fired ones to bake bricks. This caught us off guard, we lost everything, and my grandfather died of a heart attack.

The bullring where you, when you were eight years old, drove the mechanical bull?

— Ha ha, exactly! Or I could also talk about my father, who had a restaurant on Calle Tallers and a nightclub, El Cau, next to Bocaccio. In the case of the restaurant, he didn't adapt to the new Barcelona, ​​which hooked him at an older age, when he was already grounded and worn out. And damn it, they had to close. Now Barcelona is completely different, for better and for worse.

But where do you see the balance tipping when you look at the changes in Barcelona?

— I want to balance the dish, because the profound Barcelona of certain eras... I remember drugs, AIDS, and the people from the Raval district who came to the inn because it had a very affordable menu. I have a memory that includes a number of very unfortunate people, and I don't miss that in the least. But it's also true that I don't like the Barcelona of franchises, the blurred Barcelona, the Barcelona without character. I mean, when I want to eat and drink, I still look for a Barcelona where there's some substance, where there are hearty kitchens.

There was a time when hoteliers and ski slope managers had them on a high.

— They said we emptied their cash registers on the weekend, yes.

I don't know if this still happens, and if not, who is complaining these days and what pressures are they under?

— Weather forecasts were already accurate in the past, but they were more inaccurate, that's obvious. Now they're much more accurate. The other change is that now everyone sees the same thing we say on our cell phones. Except me, of course, because I don't have a weather app on my phone.

Hey!

— No, of course, I'm going to look for the raw data. I'm not interested in what a machine tells me automatically. I prefer not to be contaminated and go to the primary source. In any case, when we say it's going to rain, the hotelier is already looking at it on his cell phone, which also tells him it's going to rain, and he sees, therefore, that we're not allied with any axis of evil.

Are you thinking about the day after your last day at TV3?

— I don't prepare myself, but I do insist a lot at home or when I have her chat with my friends or family. They say, "Man, you've got a long way to go!" And I tell them not that long, it's six or eight years.

You have a son who is aiming for success: the heir!

— The youngest, yes. The oldest studied humanities here in Barcelona and is now pursuing a doctorate in politics and international relations in Madrid. He's a specialist in Kurdistan and the Middle East, which means he's not affected by the weather. And then, the youngest does have very observant genes. He's adopted, and they say Asians, Chinese in this case, are one. And, indeed, he's a beast of a sponge in his environment.

If I wanted to follow in your footsteps as a weatherman...

— I view these family matters with a grain of regret. My eldest, for example, has made his way and is a scholar in his field. But if he were interviewed about his experience, many people would think poorly of my son, even though I haven't opened any doors for him. I'd also have some regrets about the youngest, but if he earns it and someone says I've been a pushover... well, listen, we'll just bear it stoically and that's it.