CLEVELAND, Ohio – Don Webster, who became one of the most popular personalities in Cleveland television history during 35 years at WEWS Channel 5, died Thursday at his home in Westlake. He was 79.
The unexpected death was announced by WEWS, but the cause was not immediately available.
Webster retired from the station 19 years ago this week, but he remained an on-air presence doing commercials and through a tour business with his wife, Kandi. The couple had returned to Cleveland after retiring to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
“He was one of the most humble and interesting people I’ve ever met in the business,” said Channel 5 General Manager Steve Weinstein, “It’s a sad day at Channel 5 and in Cleveland.”
Webster’s career was unsurpassed in its variety. Hired away from a TV job in his native Hamilton, Ontario, he arrived at TV-5 in September 1964 to host an “American Bandstand”-type series called “The Big Five Show” and a game show called “Quick as a Wink.”
The latter lasted only 13 weeks in a ratings battle against “The Mike Douglas Show.” But “Big Five,” at 5 p.m. Saturdays, was such a hit that it was renamed “Upbeat” & nationally syndicated to 90 cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. It lasted until 1971.
Webster meantime added other duties including booth announcing and delivering weather and sports. He hosted “It's Academic" (now known as “Academic Challenge”), nine years of live Ohio Lottery shows and even the final days of "The Gene Carroll Show," after the deaths of Carroll and two replacements on the local amateur hour.
He had a brief stint co-hosting "The Morning Exchange" before starting “Afternoon Exchange” with Wilma Smith in January 1978.
He served as assistant to the general manager and then station manager 1983-89. "Management was probably the low point,'' he recalled in 1999. "It started out well, but I ended up being a bean counter and bookkeeper more than a television person. That just didn’t sit well.”
He returned to the air in 1989 as the lead weather forecaster for “Newschannel 5,” and said he “enjoyed it more than I ever did before because I realized it was what I should be doing."
He said he left it when he was only 60 because his father had died at 34, when Don was 11, from a previously undetected congenital heart problem.
“The reality is, you never know how much time you’ve got,” Webster said. “When people ask me why are you (retiring), I think the answer is, I know I’m on the back nine, but I don’t know what hole I’m on. That about sums it up – you’ve got to get out and do what you enjoy when you can.”
Information on survivors in addition to his wife and on services was not yet available.