William W. 'Wee Willie' Webber, 80, host of Philly children's shows from 1950s to the '70s, longtime DJ
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TV's 'Wee Willie' Webber dies at 80
A host of children's shows from the 1950s to the '70s, he also got
generations to tune in as a longtime DJ.
By Walter F. Naedele
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20100524_TV_s__Wee_Willie__Webber_dies_at_80.html
William W. Webber, 80, a fixture on Philadelphia radio and TV for more
than 50 years, died of a heart attack Sunday at Penn Presbyterian
Medical Center while awaiting heart surgery there later this week, said
his son, William W. Jr. He lived on Rittenhouse Square.
Known as "Wee Willie" at 6-foot-5, Mr. Webber was a workhorse, a host of
children's TV shows and a radio disc jockey, often on the same days.
In 1956, he became host of a Channel 6 two-hour morning cartoon show
that ran into the '60s.
From 1965 to 1975, he hosted an after-school cartoon show on Channel 17.
And for three more years, his afternoon cartoon show was on Channel 48.
Mr. Webber was especially proud, his son said, of "his longevity in
Philadelphia."
On local radio and TV stations, "people don't last very long. They tend
to be in a market and then move on to another market."
Mr. Webber "wore well," his son said. More than that, "I think, he was
proud of helping to raise a couple generations of kids with the kids'
shows on Channels 6, 17, and 48."
In 1971, Rex Polier, TV critic for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin,
reported that Mr. Webber had added sports reporting to his repertoire as
part of a half-hour show before Phillies games on Channel 17.
"He continues also as host of Channel 17's four-hour daily movie and
cartoon afternoon kiddy bash," Polier wrote. "He will also continue his
disc jockey show daily on WIP from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m."
Mr. Webber told Polier that he was glad of his broad appeal: "I talk to
the kids and show them Astro Boy and the Three Stooges every afternoon.
In the morning I talk to their mothers on radio and play
middle-of-the-road music for them."
Mr. Webber was well aware he was fortunate to be working in the midst of
the baby boomer generation.
"I love the population explosion," he told Polier. "Every time it
explodes I get a whole new audience."
Before gaining fame in Philadelphia, Mr. Webber had some foreign dust on
his boots.
He was born in Havana, where, his son said, "my grandfather was an
engineer helping to pave the streets."
The family moved to the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, N.Y., and from 18
to 21, Mr. Webber worked for radio stations in Manhattan and Lancaster,
his son said.
While stationed in Japan as an Army mapmaker, Mr. Webber won an audition
with Armed Forces Radio, with offices on Honshu, the island that
includes Tokyo.
"He was nicknamed the Honshu Cowboy," his son said, "because he played
country and western songs."
A Havana baby. A Honshu cowboy. Then, an American.
It was the military service that earned him U.S. citizenship, his son
said, "because his father was British."
Broadcast Pioneer
In 1999, the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia named Mr. Webber to its
Hall of Fame. He was president of the organization from 2002-04 and
board chairman from 2004-06. In 2006, the group named him its person of
the year.
A biography on the website of the Pioneers, based on a 2005 interview,
states that Mr. Webber began his Philadelphia career "as a summer relief
announcer in 1954" at WFIL-AM and FM.
In 1956, he became a full-time announcer on Channel 6, where he was host
of Breakfast Time, the two-hour children's show.
When he was on Channel 17, the Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club
ran from 3 to 6:30 p.m. And on Channel 48, his Kids Block ran from 4 to
7 p.m., the website states.
Before the good years, the website states, "he became known in the trade
as 'Kiss of Death Webber.' "
In 1953, he was hired by WEEU-TV (Channel 33) in Reading, but "after a
little more than a year, the station went broke, and Bill signed the
station off the air."
In 1963, Mr. Webber joined Channel 3 in Philadelphia and hosted a quiz
show that "was canceled to make room for a newcomer to Philadelphia,
Mike Douglas," the website says.
And "it was Bill who played the last record on KYW Radio before it went
all-news" in 1965.
'I love the town'
Mail rooms are the portals to many careers, and while taking classes at
New York University after graduating from Bushwick High School, Mr.
Webber began his career in 1948 at an FM radio station in New York City
whose name is lost to memory.
The website's last entry, in 2005, had him at WPEN-AM from 1989 to 2005.
For the last three years, Mr. Webber had a records show on WHAT-AM five
days a week and a Sunday afternoon show on WVLT-FM in Vineland, N.J.,
his son said.
Mr. Webber was also a prominent fund-raiser for Easter Seals and March
of Dimes campaigns.
In 1971, he told Polier, "In my business, we're supposed to be
'floaters,' you know. But I hardly leave town from one year to another.
. . .
"I love the town. I can't even begin to count the Thanksgiving Day
parades I've been in."
Besides his son, Mr. Webber is survived by his wife, Constance; a
daughter, Wendy Scheid; and four grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
--
Trout Mask Replica
KFJC.org, WFMU.org, WMSE.org, or WUSB.org;
because the pigoenholed programming of music channels
on Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck
Hoodoo
'Wee Willie' Webber dies, a beloved radio, TV star
By JOHN F. MORRISON
Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20100524__Wee_Willie__Webber_dies__a_beloved_radio__TV_star.html
BILL WEBBER often said that he didn't look forward to retirement. He
said that he wanted to continue working until they put him in the ground
- "and maybe longer."
William W. Webber, known as "Wee Willie Webber" to countless TV and
radio fans in Philadelphia for more than half a century, longtime
officer of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia and a man who never
turned down a request to do a fundraiser, telethon or other charitable
benefit, died yesterday. He was 80 and lived in Center City.
He had gone into Presbyterian Medical Center for heart surgery but died
before it could be performed.
Webber wore many hats in the local broadcasting scene, from hosting
children's shows, to playing what he called "middle-of-the-road" music
as a disc jockey to interviewing celebrities as a talk-show host.
He was still working until a short time before his hospitalization. One
of his stints was with disc jockey Jerry Blavat on WVLT in Vineland,
N.J., as well as spinning platters on Philadelphia's WHAT.
"He was a really good guy who just enjoyed doing the work he did,"
Blavat said. "He never wanted to be more than Wee Willie. He was
6-foot-5 and I'm 5-foot-6, so when I stood next to him, I told him he
really was Wee Willie.
"The persona he created was his own personality. If you sat with him at
a restaurant, people knew who he was when they heard his voice. He was
friendly with everybody. He loved the fact that people recognized him.
"He was a true professional. Whatever he was asked to do, he was right
on the mark, ready to do it. He loved personal appearances, meeting his
fans."
His fans spanned generations. Gerry Wilkinson, president of the
Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia, remembered watching Bill's
children's show, "Breakfast Time," in 1957 at the age of 8.
"Kids watched him on TV and their parents heard him on radio," said
Willie's son, William W. Webber Jr. "His fans covered a whole range of ages.
"He was really a great guy. He was my best friend as well as my dad. I
lost my dad and my best friend. The whole family is very proud of the
career he had in Philadelphia."
Bill Jr., who runs Selector, a music-software company used by over 7,000
radio stations around the world, said that his father "loved what he was
doing, loved people and loved Philadelphia."
Kal Rudman, publisher and philanthropist, can attest to Wee Willie's
generosity. Rudman was a school teacher who yearned to be on the air.
Bill Webber was at WPEN at the time and Rudman recalls rapping on the
window of the studio to catch his attention. Bill invited him in and
later uttered to supervisors what Rudman called "those immortal words,
'Why don't you give the kid a break?' "
Rudman went on the air at a station in Camden a short time later,
starting a long career as a DJ and announcer before he began publishing
music magazines and handing out money to worthy causes.
When the Broadcast Pioneers holds its annual dinner and produces a
program, Rudman always runs the same ad: "Thank you, Bill Webber, for
opening doors for me."
When his son, Mitchell, was born in the old Doctor's Hospital, Rudman
stopped off at the WPEN studios, at 17th and Delancey streets, and asked
Webber to make the announcement of the birth on the air.
"When I got to the hospital, doctors and nurses were standing around,"
Rudman said. "One said, 'You have a famous baby. We just heard his name
on the Bill Webber Show.'"
Bill Webber was born in Havana, Cuba, where his father was an executive
with a company that was paving Havana's streets. His father, Reginald
Webber, was a British subject, and his mother, Madeline, was from Brooklyn.
As a child, Bill was taken to Brooklyn where he graduated from Bushwick
High School. He later took courses at New York University and the
University of Pennsylvania.
Having been born in Cuba to a Brit, it wasn't until after his Army
service during the Korean War that Webber became a U.S. citizen.
He was a mapmaker in the Army before becoming a disc jockey on Armed
Forces Radio in Japan, playing country/Western music. He was called the
"Honshu Cowboy."
Returning to civilian life, he hosted a children's cartoon show,
"Breakfast Time," on Channel 6, starting in 1956, then an after-school
cartoon show, "Wee Willie Webber's Colorful Cartoon Club," on Channel 17
from 1965 to 1976. The show then moved to Channel 48 and was called
"Kid's Block."
All the while, he was a disc jockey and talk-show host on local radio.
He also did commercials and hosted a pre-game show for the Phillies.
He served as president of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia for two
two-year terms starting in 2002, and later became chairman of the board.
He met his wife, Constance Russell, while he was doing "Breakfast Time."
She was taking a tour of the station and he met her in the hall. They
were married in 1958.
In 1965, he played the last song on KYW before it became an all-news
station. It was Doris Day singing, "Que Sera, Sera."
"Bill always reminded us of what radio should be," said South Philly
rocker Charlie Gracie Jr. "Anyone who listened in knew Bill loved what
he did by his exuberance and enthusiasm. He could make the dullest
commercial sound like a trip round the world, the deal of a lifetime,
one that you should never pass up.
"Bill knew he was blessed to work in an industry he loved for so many
years, and he made us, his listeners, feel so good as we basked in that
radiance."
Besides his wife and son, he is survived by a daughter, Wendy Scheid,
and four grandchildren.
Services were being arranged.