Former longtime WTOC meteorologist John Wetherbee dies. 'Wasn’t a nicer guy in the business'
Longtime WTOC meteorologist John Wetherbee died Thursday morning, according to several reports.
Wetherbee worked in broadcasting more than three decades and was a three-time Emmy Award winner. According to WSAV, he worked at WTOC from 2006-2018. In recent years, his work was mainly in radio with the Georgia News Network.
He was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame in 2014. Announced earlier this month, Wetherbee will be posthumously inducted into the Georgia Association of Broadcasters (GAB) Hall of Fame next year.
Danno Wolkoff said in a phone call to the Savannah Morning News that he met Wetherbee in the late 90s before working together in the mid-2000s. Wolkoff was president of Envision Networks from 2003 through 2020, when Wetherbee came to him to syndicate his radio show to the network. A deal was struck for Wetherbee to be the chief meteorologist for Envision Networks, a role he served in from 2008 through 2020, said Wolkoff.
"The consummate professional," Wolkoff said about Wetherbee. "John had that gift. He had the ability to localize and make weather forecast sound exciting, appealing, but most importantly, it sounded local."
Standing 6-foot-9, Wetherbee was known as a "giant" in the broadcasting industry, Wolkoff said.
"A lot of that was literal and figurative, but the most important thing that everyone needs to remember he was a gentleman and a friend to all," said Wolkoff.
In a statement posted on Facebook, GAB President Bob Houghton said, “I’ve known 'Big' John Wetherbee first as a listener when he was a rock and roll disc jockey in Chicago, and then after re-connecting again here in Atlanta. His energy never slowed down. I can tell you that when I called him to tell him he was being inducted into the GAB Hall of Fame, the very first thing he said was, 'How can I help you?' And that was so typical of John. There wasn’t a nicer guy in the business.”
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Wetherbee lived in Savannah in recent years.
He is survived by his wife Diana, his three daughters and five grandchildren.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated...
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: John Wetherbee, Georgia Hall of Fame meteorologist, dies
