My father died on January 2nd and I'm trying to finish his obituary. I Googled "Don Welsh KWOW California" to see if there was anything on the Internet about the station or my dad. How fun it was to find him mentioned on this site. Thank you for adding me.
After KWOW he was hired by Bill Weaver at KLOK am 1170 in San Jose, California. That must have been around 1973 or '74. We drove up to the station at night and a handsome man in hip 1970's bell bottoms and an open-buttoned silk shirt - complete with a gold chain and hairy chest, let us in. My memory may be wrong but I think it was Tom Campbell. He led us into the back and let me pick out a game from a pile of many promotional contest prizes, surely. I chose "Sorry."
Dad would bring 45s home so I could give him my opinion.
I felt very important. My bedroom was on the second floor and I'd play the records out of my window to be the DJ for the workers picking tomatoes or other crops in the field on the other side of our back fence. I'm a writer now and those days have inspired many stories.
Dad worked for KLOK and then KXRX, which was preprogrammed. He was also the voice of KNTV 11. I loved going with him when he recorded what would be used over the next week, or maybe two weeks at both KXRX and KNTV. KXRX was in a small studio that felt stark--no salespeople, music clerks, other DJs scurrying about. So different from KLOK. But it's there that he was given the opportunity to host a live Sunday evening interview talk show called Religion on the Line. I was in middle school and the program ran past bedtime. But one Sunday he gave me permission to stay up late because he was going to interview Viv Venus, a woman who said she was from Venus and her religion was love.
He never judged people's beliefs, at least not that I could see. It was when he interviewed Dr. Robert Scott, a Religious Science minister in San Jose that his life started to head in a different direction. The questions he'd ask guests were authentic and came from true curiosity. I don't know how long that show ran but my father started studying RS and eventually left radio to attend ministerial school. He helped many people over the years and had churches in Miami, Lancaster, Templeton, and San Bernadino. He received an honorary DD in 2006 and his early radio name, "Dr. Don," was now a real title. Just a different vocation.
He went back to KLOK for a time while in school. I don't remember how long he'd been with KXRX but believe the station was sold. I was 17 or 18 when I answered the request lines at KLOK and took YES/NO votes (It was KLOK, Yes/No Radio at that point). We did count the votes but I don't believe Bill Weaver paid much attention to the outcome. I had fun working with my dad. The listeners had no idea I was his daughter. During my short stint at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, I worked for Weaver at KLOK fm. It was in a building on Maiden Lane, downtown. I answered the request lines and took votes there, too.
I flew to San Bernadino to get Dad in 2020, just before the shut downs. We learned he was in the beginning stages of Parkinson's and dementia had already started its awful takeover. He lived with me in Florida until last year, when he wasn't able to walk. I couldn't care for him so moved him to a skilled nursing center. The last thing to go before his heart was his beautiful voice. I was with him when he passed on January 2nd.
I sure do miss him.
Kind regards and thanks,
Laura Welsh Kepner
After KWOW he was hired by Bill Weaver at KLOK am 1170 in San Jose, California. That must have been around 1973 or '74. We drove up to the station at night and a handsome man in hip 1970's bell bottoms and an open-buttoned silk shirt - complete with a gold chain and hairy chest, let us in. My memory may be wrong but I think it was Tom Campbell. He led us into the back and let me pick out a game from a pile of many promotional contest prizes, surely. I chose "Sorry."
Dad would bring 45s home so I could give him my opinion.
I felt very important. My bedroom was on the second floor and I'd play the records out of my window to be the DJ for the workers picking tomatoes or other crops in the field on the other side of our back fence. I'm a writer now and those days have inspired many stories. Dad worked for KLOK and then KXRX, which was preprogrammed. He was also the voice of KNTV 11. I loved going with him when he recorded what would be used over the next week, or maybe two weeks at both KXRX and KNTV. KXRX was in a small studio that felt stark--no salespeople, music clerks, other DJs scurrying about. So different from KLOK. But it's there that he was given the opportunity to host a live Sunday evening interview talk show called Religion on the Line. I was in middle school and the program ran past bedtime. But one Sunday he gave me permission to stay up late because he was going to interview Viv Venus, a woman who said she was from Venus and her religion was love.
He never judged people's beliefs, at least not that I could see. It was when he interviewed Dr. Robert Scott, a Religious Science minister in San Jose that his life started to head in a different direction. The questions he'd ask guests were authentic and came from true curiosity. I don't know how long that show ran but my father started studying RS and eventually left radio to attend ministerial school. He helped many people over the years and had churches in Miami, Lancaster, Templeton, and San Bernadino. He received an honorary DD in 2006 and his early radio name, "Dr. Don," was now a real title. Just a different vocation.
He went back to KLOK for a time while in school. I don't remember how long he'd been with KXRX but believe the station was sold. I was 17 or 18 when I answered the request lines at KLOK and took YES/NO votes (It was KLOK, Yes/No Radio at that point). We did count the votes but I don't believe Bill Weaver paid much attention to the outcome. I had fun working with my dad. The listeners had no idea I was his daughter. During my short stint at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, I worked for Weaver at KLOK fm. It was in a building on Maiden Lane, downtown. I answered the request lines and took votes there, too.
I flew to San Bernadino to get Dad in 2020, just before the shut downs. We learned he was in the beginning stages of Parkinson's and dementia had already started its awful takeover. He lived with me in Florida until last year, when he wasn't able to walk. I couldn't care for him so moved him to a skilled nursing center. The last thing to go before his heart was his beautiful voice. I was with him when he passed on January 2nd.
I sure do miss him.
Kind regards and thanks,
Laura Welsh Kepner
