Remembering Don Welch
We’ve lost the life of the party. A man with a booming laugh, whose enthusiasm was contagious. Don Welch passed away October 15 at the age of 75, ending his battle with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. The illnesses gradually took away his mobility, but never his sunshine.
The Dayton, Tenn. native first made his mark in Chattanooga broadcasting in the 1960s, as a news reader and disc jockey on WDXB radio. Jerry Lingerfelt was in charge of hiring and firing, and got to know Don well, hiring and firing him numerous times.
He remembers one of Don’s more memorable farewells. “I came in one day, and Don had left a pile of his equipment on my desk, with a handwritten note, saying ‘I Quit!’ That’s Don,” Lingerfelt said.
Don’s most famous goodbye would come in 1989, when his performance on the news, made the news. He had left Chattanooga the previous year. Nashville had come calling, in need of a weekend weatherman. WTVF had heard of his folksy persona, so Don accepted their offer. The good times lasted ten months. There were disagreements over clothing and hairstyles, and one night during the live newscast, Don had had enough. Saying he felt “squashed, persecuted and kicked in the teeth” by station management, he looked into the camera and said, “Folks, have you ever been backed into a corner and they thought you were going to take it?” The camera crew froze. Is this really happening? Is this some kind of a joke?
He went on. “Well, that’s what’s happened to yours truly here at Channel 5. I’ve been put in a position by management that I cannot accept. So this will be the last time you’ll see Don Welch in Nashville.” With that, he walked off the set, leaving the stunned anchorman to say, “We’ll be right back!” The Associated Press picked up the story, and the tale of Welch’s live-TV walkout went national.
Within days, he was back on the air in Chattanooga, where he stayed until his retirement in 2014.
Don’s broadcast career spanned 52 years. After leaving radio in 1967, he became an announcer at WRCB Channel 3. Then-news director Fred Gault said, “He was hired to read commercials, and worked his way into the control room where he learned to direct newscasts.” One day, they needed somebody to fill in doing the weather, and Don figured, “I can talk my way through anything, I can do this too.”
For the next six years, did a little bit of everything on Channel 3, eventually becoming the full-time weatherman.
In 1975, WTVC Channel 9 was determined to get the station out of last place in news. The station had selected Darrell Patterson as its new sports anchor, then hired Bob Johnson as news anchor, but needed a weather personality to complete the new team. They hired Welch away from Channel 3, and suddenly the last-place newscast was clicking.
Welch was 33, a few years older than Johnson and Patterson, so it was assumed he would provide some maturity for his younger teammates. Instead, he led them on a nightly ride of on-air chaos.
Some called it “happy talk,” but Bob, Darrell and Don chalked it up to natural chemistry. “I’d talk about wooly worms and Grandpappy’s weather lore,” Welch said. “One time Bob asked me if it would rain tomorrow, so I got out my lucky quarter, flipped the coin, and tails said no. It didn’t rain, so we kept using that quarter. Finally they made me stop doing that, I don’t know why!”
The Bob-Don-Darrell team was only in place for about five years, but many viewers still remember the trio fondly, calling them “The Three Musketeers.”
During his most recent stint at Channel 9, he hosted morning and midday shows. He also found time to be a pipefitter, a Shriner, and a snare drummer for Highlander Pipes and Drums.
Don’s hearty laugh will long be remembered, as will his hairstyles, ranging from buzz-cut, to Tony Orlando, to Santa Claus.
During my recent visits with Don at health care facilities, I was impressed by his spirit. The nurses seemed starstruck when he would wheel over to exchange jokes. “I grew up watching you,” they would say. “You’re like family.” One of them told his wife Sammie, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ve always thought he was so sexy.” Sammie laughed and said, “Go ahead and tell him. He’ll love it. Besides, a lot of women think he’s sexy. He won’t mind one bit!”
Until the very end, with his infectious smile, and a hint of mischief in his eyes, Don Welch charmed us all. Those of us who knew him will be telling “Welch stories” as long as we live. And as Sammie said, he won’t mind one bit.
David Carroll, a Chattanooga news anchor, is the author of “Chattanooga Radio and Television” and “Volunteer Bama Dawg,” a collection of his best stories. Books are available at ChattanoogaRadioTV.com, or by sending $23 each to David Carroll Book, 900 Whitehall Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You may contact David at 3dc@epbfi.com