Former WTOC anchor Doug Weathers reflects on military service and television career

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Former WTOC anchor Doug Weathers joined WTOC’s Dawn Baker on the Welcome to Our Community show.

Weathers, known largely for his career in television, joined us to talk about his military service. He shared a story about talking his mother into signing his papers for him to join the service.

“I talked her into signing the papers for me because I was only 16. You know, I was a pretty big boy. And, uh, to get me in, she signed the paper. So I got in and, uh, took my basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. And then, uh, I went from there to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and I was shipped out to Germany. Uh, this is right after World War II and before the Russians blockaded the autobahn going into East Berlin. And I was there for all of that. And I was there for the, uh, Berlin Airlift, which everybody’s probably forgotten by now. You know, it’s been 80 years ago or so,” said Weathers.

Military service spans two conflicts

Weathers explained how long he was in the service

“A little better than two years before they caught me and said, ‘Hey, you, you, you didn’t do this right.’ You know, okay, I didn’t. And, uh, so they got me out. But I re-enlisted when the Korean War broke out. And, uh, that’s when they sent me to Hunter. And I was here in 1951.”

Weathers said from Hunter they sent him to Okinawa during the Korean War, where he served for a year and a half before coming back to Hunter.

“I came back here and started back as a medic at Hunter Army Airfield,” Weathers said. He worked as a medic, ambulance driver and truck driver during his service.

‘Everything just kind of worked out’: Television career begins by chance

Weathers’ television career started when someone from the newly built WTOC station approached him at a service station where he was working.

“I didn’t know what television was, you know, when I, uh, came here. I don’t think anybody did, you know. But anyway, they were building a television station here, WTOC and I found out at 516 Abercorn W. T. Knight. And, uh, they got it built and signed it on the air. And I wound up here working with them,” said Weathers.

He reflected on his career in television.

“Never in 1,000 years did I think anything about film being the catapult to getting a lifetime job,” Weathers said.

The station hired him, launching his broadcasting career in Savannah.

“Savannah has just been wonderful for me,” Weathers said. “Not just Savannah, but the entire area here, the Coastal Empire.”