| Wee Willie Webber | |
| Birth Date: | June 11, 1929 |
| Birth Place: | Havana, Cuba |
| Occupation: | Broadcaster, Radio Personality |
| Years Active: | 1948 - 2010 |
| Death Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Children: | Bill Webber Jr. (b. 1959) Wendy Webber (b. 1963) |
| Other Names: | Wee Willie, Bill Webber |
Bill "Wee Willie" Webber (June 11, 1929 – May 23, 2010) was an American radio and television personality and pioneer. Webber worked in radio and television in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, region for more than 50 years.[1]
Webber was born in Havana, Cuba.[1] His father was British while his grandfather, an engineer, helped to pave the streets of Havana.[1] His family immigrated to the United States, and Webber was raised in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.[1] Webber graduated from Bushwick High School and attended classes at New York University.[1]
Webber enlisted in the United States Army after World War II and worked as an Army mapmaker while stationed in Japan after the war.[1] He successfully auditioned for the Armed Forces Radio on Honshu, earning the nickname "Honshu Cowboy" because he played country music.[1] His time in the Army allowed Webber to obtain U.S. citizenship.[1]
Webber began his broadcasting career in 1948, at WGYN, a now-defunct FM radio station in New York City.[1] He worked for other radio stations in Manhattan and in Lancaster, Pennsylvania during his early adulthood.[1]
Webber was hired as an announcer at WEEU-TV (channel 33) in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1953.[1] However, the station was unprofitable; it went off the air in 1955, after Webber left.[1]
In 1954, Webber began working in Philadelphia at WFIL and WFIL-FM as a "summer relief announcer."[1]
In 1956, Webber became an announcer at WFIL-TV (Channel 6). He began hosting Breakfast Time, a two-hour, morning children's show on Channel 6. The show, which featured cartoons, weather, and sports, aired until the 1960s.[1] In 1963, Webber joined WRCV-TV (Channel 3) as host of a quiz show. However, Webber's quiz show was canceled in 1965 when Westinghouse Broadcasting acquired the station and moved production of The Mike Douglas Show to Philadelphia.[1] In September 1965, Webber played the last song on KYW radio before the station switched to an all-news format.[1]
He next hosted the Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club, an after-school show which aired on WPHL-TV (Channel 17) in the late afternoon hours. The Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club ran for 10 years, from 1965 until 1975.[1] From 1976 to 1979, he hosted a similar show on WKBS-TV (Channel 48).
In the late 1960s, Webber became the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m air personality at WIP radio. He would remain in that time slot on WIP into the 1980s. Webber later was heard on WPEN radio from 1989 until 2005.[1] From about 2007 until 2010, Webber hosted a weekday program on WHAT radio and a Sunday afternoon show on WVLT in Vineland, New Jersey.[1]
Webber was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 1999.[1] He served as the president of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia from 2002 until 2004. From 2004 until 2006, Webber served as the chairman of the Broadcast Pioneers' board of directors.[1] In 2006, the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia named Webber its Person of the Year.[1] In 2007, Webber again served as the organization's Chairman of the Board, a position that Bill held at the time of his death in 2010.
Bill Webber died of a heart attack at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia on May 23, 2010, at the age of 80. He was awaiting heart surgery at the time of his death.[1] He was survived by his wife, Constance; daughter, Wendy Scheid; son, William Webber Jr.; and four grandchildren (Taylor, actor Drew Scheid, Owen, and Grace). Webber lived on Rittenhouse Square at the time.[1]
| Year | Station | City | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | WBRE-TV | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania | First TV job |
| 1953 | WEEU-TV | Reading, Pennsylvania | WEEU-TV was a short-lived TV station replaced by WITF-TV, anchored the weekend TV news at 11 pm and did the weather at 6:15 pm[2] |
| 1956-1963 | WFIL-TV | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Breakfast Time,[3] substitute booth announcer on American Bandstand,[4] host of Hess's Fashion/Toy shows,[5] the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Mummers Parade |
| 1964 | WRCV-TV | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Hosted TV quiz show Tug-o-War (cancelled so the studio could be used for The Mike Douglas Show)[6] and regionally syndicated Challenge Billiards |
| 1965-1975 | WPHL-TV | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | The Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club, The Bill Webber Show (the Philadelphia Phillies' pregame show)[7] |
| 1976-1979 | WKBS-TV | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Kids Block[8] |
| 2000 | WHYY-TV | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | A Walk Up Broad Street[9] |
| Year | Station | City | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | WGYN | New York, New York | First broadcast job[10] |
| 1950-1951 | Armed Forces Radio | Honshu, Japan | Korean War, nicknamed the "Honshu Cowboy" for playing country music to the U.S. troops[11] |
| 1952 | WLAN-AM | Lancaster, Pennsylvania | |
| 1953 | WPEN-AM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Sunday shift |
| 1954-1963 | WFIL-AM & WFIL-FM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Started as a summer relief announcer, then hosted an evening shift followed by an afternoon show |
| 1964-1965 | WRCV-AM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Did celebrity interviews that ran locally on WRCV-AM and nationally on NBC Radio Network program Monitor,[12] played last record before switch to KYW-AM all-news format |
| 1966-1988 | WIP-AM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Long time mid-day host[13] |
| 1989-2005 | WPEN-AM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Long-running Saturday show during "Station of the Stars" period[14] |
| 2006-2010 | WVLT-FM | Vineland, New Jersey | Sunday afternoon show[15] |
| 2009-2010 | WHAT-AM | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Mid-day program[16] |