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Five decades ago the US national average price of a gallon
of regular gasoline was 35 cents. For those who went
grocery shopping they paid 23 cents for a loaf of bread, 62
cents for a dozen of eggs, 12 cents for a pound of sugar and
$1.10 for a gallon of milk. You mailed a letter for six
cents, bought a new car for $2,000 and drove it to your
$40,000 new home. Records show that the population of the
United States was 202,677,000 and of that number there was
one who in the radio industry stood out among the rest.
That person, W. Charles Welch affectionately known as
“Charlie Chuck”.
On February 4, 2019, Charlie Chuck will celebrate 50 years
of Broadcasting. His career ladder includes, broadcasting
with WKLR, Booth Broadcasting and one year later served as
the Station Manager; Sales Manager for KCOH in Houston, TX
as well as WWWS in Saginaw, Michigan; and General Manager
for WVOI JACOR Communications here in Toledo, Ohio. While
working for others, Charlie Chuck held on to his dream to
own his own radio station.
To make his dream a reality, Charlie Chuck petitioned the
FCC for a license in pursuit of an available frequency. The
process was a long and tedious journey that involved
attorneys, court proceedings, plenty of paperwork,
scrambling through red tape, multiple denials and in return,
multiple appeals. Despite what others would see as
obstacles, Charlie Chuck remained focused and after ten
years on his initial petition, WJUC-FM 107.3 THE JUICE
officially signed on the air, February 27, 1997. It was
then that he entered in the local history books as the first
African American male to build a radio station from the
ground up in Toledo, Ohio.
Fifty years ago, you would turn on the radio and hear songs
like, “I Don’t Know Why” by Stevie Wonder, “I Don’t Want
Nobody to Give me Nothing” by James Brown, Marvin Gaye song,
“I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and The Jackson 5 could
be heard singing, “I Want you Back”. But one song played
then and still applies today, was a song by The Edwin
Hawkins Singers, “Oh Happy Day”. This is a “Happy Day” as
we salute W. Charles Welch.
As the lyrics of “I’ve Gotta Be Me” (1969) sung by Sammy
Davis Jr. states, “Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong,
whether I find a place in this world or never belong, I
gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me. What else can I be but what
I am, I want to live, not merely survive. And I won’t give
up this dream, of life that keeps me alive, I gotta be me, I
gotta be me. Charlie Chuck did not give up on his dream and
for that reason we ask you to join us in congratulating him
on 50 years in Broadcasting!
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