Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 6, 2010
Don Welch still bringing county boy charm to television
David Laprad
Don Welch is a 35-year veteran of News Channel 9 WTVC. Since 2005, he’s hosted the station’s community features program, “This N That,” from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- David Laprad
If it’s 12:30 p.m. on a weekday, then Don Welch is talking about a little of this and a little of that.
For the better part of the last 35 years, people in the Chattanooga television viewing area have been able to tune in to WTVC News Channel 9, at one time or another during the day, and catch Welch at work. But as the host of “This N That,” which premiered in 2005, he seems to have found his place in the world.
Perched atop a chair that’s almost as tall as he is, he waits as the show’s jazzy theme song, beckons viewers to their TVs, and then launches into 30 minutes of affable chitchat with a variety of guests. It would be the perfect marriage of medium and talent, if only Welch were single.
“As my wife says, this has been my mistress. It’s not a job, it’s what I love doing,” he says.
Welch is sitting at his cubicle in Channel 9’s spacious newsroom, punching his script into his computer, scanning emails for story ideas and occasionally looking at the large LED clock at the far end of the workspace. It’s barely 10:30 a.m., giving Welch time for a short trip down memory lane.
“I’d been doing the morning show for about 14 years when my boss called me into his office and said, ‘We’re going to make some changes.’ My heart almost stopped. I said, ‘Am I still a part of this station?’ He laughed and said, ‘We’re going to do a midday show.’ And I said, ‘Can we start tomorrow?’”
The station wanted the show, which the sales department dubbed “This N That,” to be fun; Welch wanted it to also be informative. Guests would talk about what they do, discuss events taking place around town, or answer questions about current events, among other things. When WCTV launched the show two months later, the format worked like a charm. It’s still working its charm on viewers today, who have made “This N That” the No. 1 local show in its time slot.
For the show scheduled to begin in just under two hours, Welch had lined up a bankruptcy lawyer, the coordinators of the Read 20 program and representatives from SunTrust Bank, who would be talking about the ways in which the company is giving back to the community.
While Welch loves the variety, he wishes he had more time with his guests.
“I love to talk, and I’m nosey, so I’ll stop people in the middle of an interview and say, ‘Wait a minute, could you explain that?’ By the time they’re finished, we’re out of time.”
Since it’s Monday, Welch will also be running a feature he shot at a nearby winery. With a canvas as diverse as Chattanooga, Welch has plenty of fodder for good features, but if one thing is the bait that lures him toward a story, it’s curiosity.
“If I see some old guy whittling, I want to know why he’s whittling, how he whittles and what he whittles with,” he says.
Welch had also prepped a piece on the ten catchiest songs in country music. As he scans the online article that inspired the segment, he pages down to the No. 5 tune on the list, scrunches up his nose, and says, “I hate that song!”
A Dayton, Tenn., native, Welch’s ability to attract viewers and hold on to them is one of the things that landed him a job at Channel 9 in 1975. He was doing weather at Channel 3 when the station brought on him, Don Pattersonand Bob Johnson to handle the evening news. At the time, the station was No. 3 in the ratings, with an eye on becoming No. 1.
“The general manager said, ‘Our research shows you guys are hot, so let’s have some fun.’ We did the happy talk format. If we had a death and destruction story, we’d play it straight, but the rest of the time, we did everything under the sun.”
Welch and his buddies built an audience, and within six months, were at the top of the heap at 11 p.m.
In 1980, Welch and Channel 9 parted ways, and the former weatherman worked as a pipefitter until returning to the station in 1983 as the host of “Good Morning, Don.” In 1988, he “got a wild hair” and moved to Nashville, Tenn., to do weather at New Channel 5 WTVF. Things went poorly.
“That was one of those situations where the grass looked greener on the other side of the fence, but when I stepped over, it turned brown,” he says.
When the station’s news director refused to give Welch his bi-annual clothing allowance, Welch quit – on the air.
“I showed a couple of weather systems, and then said, ‘When you back an old dog into a corner, he’s going to bite you, and management has backed me into a corner. Folks, this is the last time you’ll see Don Welch on television in Nashville.’ I walked over to the news desk, and Chris Clark said, ‘We’ll be right back!’ When I got home, my wife asked, ‘Is there anything you’d like to tell me?’”
Welch, who can spin a tale like no one else, seems to be enjoying the chance to spend more than four minutes on a story. Leaning forward in his seat, he describes his return to Chattanooga to do talk radio at WGOW (“I grew my beard down to here,” he says, holding one hand at chest level) and coming home to Channel 9 in 1992 to host the morning show.
He continues, talking about becoming a Shriner, and the thrill he gets out of being a snare drummer for Highlander Pipes and Drums.
“We were invited to participate in the No. 2 St. Patty’s Day parade in the country, which is in Savanna. We did well enough to be invited back next year,” he says.
Having spoken of marching, he realizes the LED clock across the room continues its advance toward 12:30, so Welch returns to the task of preparing for his show. Midday new anchor Sarah Jennings has already abandoned her cubicle, which means Welch has less than 30 minutes to put on make-up, strap on his earpiece, slip on his jacket and gather his guests.
With just a few minutes remaining until airtime, Welch stands next to his set, making small talk with the people he’s assembled for the show in an effort to set them at ease.
“We’re going to play TV,” he says. Everyone laughs, some nervously.
As “This N That” begins, it’s as though Welch has simply walked a few feet and started a conversation with a second group of people. His delivery is professional, but has country boy appeal, and the show moves along at a nice clip. Welch talks about the songs that get stuck in the “cranial jukeboxes” of his viewers, and as he speaks with the lawyer, he makes good use of their 240 seconds by asking the right questions.
By 1:05 p.m., Welch has recorded his promos for the following day’s show and vacated his set.
Although Welch occupies one of just a few spots along Channel 9’s “Hall of Fame,” he remains humble about his success.
“People think it’s a big deal to be on television, but it’s just a job. It’s cool in the summer, and warm in the winter and sometimes I get to meet a big star, but I have pressures, too,” he says.
Despite the tension that comes with pulling off a live television show every weekday, Welch comes across as relaxed and congenial, both on and off the air. His viewers might be surprised, then, to learn he’s notorious for voicing his opinion. They’ll find out soon enough, however, as he’s considering adding a segment to “This N That” during which he lets loose with his thoughts on a certain subject.
“What was Lindsay Lohan thinking when she (went to court with an obscenity painted on her middle finger)? From time to time, we might do interviews about stuff like that, just to stir things up,” he says.
Welch is a natural television personality, so it’s hard to picture him doing anything else. Of course, if he has his way, he’ll be doing it for a long time to come.
“Since I’m 68, someone is always asking me when I’m going to retire. And I always say, ‘When they carry me out.’”
As long as Welch continues to warm the tall chair on his set, 12:30 will be a special part of each weekday in Chattanooga. Like a spot of sunshine poking through cloud cover, Welch gives people a chance to set aside their own pressures, and enjoy a little of this and a little of that.
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