Donald George Webster (May 6, 1939 – December 13, 2018) was a Canadian-born

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

host, weather forecaster, and station manager who is best known as the host of the nationally syndicated music program '' Upbeat'' and the longtime weatherman for

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

ABC affiliate

WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...

Life and career

Webster was born in the city of Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1939. His father died when he was eleven years old. After graduating high school, he went to work in the radio business, working in stations in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, and

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In the early 1960s, Webster had become host of an ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

''-style dance show in Hamilton. In 1964 (after then WEWS general manager Don Perris just happened to see his Canadian show on TV while on vacation in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

) Webster was brought to Cleveland to host a local music and dance program called ''The Big 5 Show''. The show was a success, doing so well that in 1966, it was syndicated nationally under the title '' Upbeat''. The show had been able to draw many big names in the music industry to Cleveland to perform on the show, and with that Webster had numerous national job offers, including working for ''American Bandstand'' host

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...

. Webster however chose to remain in Cleveland, and when ''Upbeat'' was cancelled in 1971, he became the weatherman for WEWS' ''Eyewitness News'' newscasts. Webster was chosen for this job, as he had studied

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

en route to becoming a certificated pilot. Webster was the chief weatherman at WEWS throughout the 1970s, into the 1980s, and returned to the post through most of the 1990s. Webster had left the weather desk for a time in the 1980s to become WEWS station manager, stepping down in 1989 to resume his weather duties. In addition to ''Upbeat'' and weather forecasting, Webster had also during his tenure at WEWS-TV 5 served as host for the

Ohio Lottery The Ohio Lottery is a state lottery run by the Ohio Lottery Commission. Its games consist of scratch tickets; Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5 ("numbers games"); Rolling Cash 5, Classic Lotto, Keno, Lucky for Life, Mega Millions, and Powerball. The Lotter ...

drawings, was an original host of '' The Morning Exchange'', and hosted a local version of ''

Bowling for Dollars ''Bowling for Dollars'' is a television game show on which people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled. Unlike most TV game shows of the time, which were taped in either New York or Hol ...

''. He also hosted ''The Gene Carroll Show'' after Gene Carroll died, as well as serving as the long time host of '' Academic Challenge''.

Later life and death

Webster retired from WEWS in 1999, moving to

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, often referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia (as the crow flies), a ...

with his wife Kandi. Though he was retired, he still appeared occasionally in Cleveland media, doing ads for local hearing loss centers and assisted living facilities. Webster died on December 13, 2018.

Awards and honors

*1995 Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards Silver Circle Award recipient *1995 inductee — Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame *1999 inductee — Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame

References

External links

Don Webster's 20th Anniversary at WEWS (circa 1984)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Don Television anchors from Cleveland American game show hosts Canadian television personalities People from Chatham-Kent Canadian emigrants to the United States 1939 births 2018 deaths