Career

(Click on any picture to enlarge.)

The Start

Hosting and operating at VOWR

Karl Wells began his broadcasting career at VOWR, a United Church of Canada radio station in St. John's. At age sixteen Karl became their youngest announcer ever. At that time ( the early seventies ), VOWR was a little heard station serving its small audience with mostly religious programming and classical music. Karl worked initially as a host, along with an operator, but it was not long before he learned how to operate the control board himself and became one of the station's first announcer/operators.

In less than two years Karl was given responsibility for creating some new programming for the station. His first effort was a show called Rendezvous. It became one of the most popular programs on the schedule, featuring inspirational readings and popular instrumental music. Karl began receiving fan mail for the show within weeks. Soon he would be given an even greater challenge in the programming area.

At that time, VOWR did not broadcast on Friday evenings. Karl sought permission to make an entirely new schedule of programs for Fridays. Given the green light, Karl created a line-up of shows very different from anything then airing on VOWR.

The greatest departure from traditional programming was a show he called 30 for Country. It was simply a thirty minute program of country music hosted by Karl Wells every Friday evening. Karl felt strongly that if VOWR was to survive in an increasingly competitive market, it needed a much larger audience, and since no other station was offering country music, he believed a country show might be the answer. It was! 30 for Country became an instant hit; so much so that soon it became 60 for Country, then 800 Country, ( 800 being the station's frequency ).

One of the last programs Karl created for VOWR was an early morning offering called The Breakfast Show. It consisted of easy listening music, along with news and weather. The Breakfast Show began as a Sunday morning program but can now be heard throughout the week.

Today VOWR is well known for the style of programming Karl Wells introduced over thirty years ago; and partly to his credit, VOWR now boasts an audience of several thousand devoted listeners.

CBC Radio

Karl's CBC career began in the mid-seventies when he was heard as an actor in several national and regional dramas. A few years later he became a permanent CBC announcer
and worked in areas ranging from current affairs to arts and entertainment. For example, he hosted Newfoundland Today during the 1977 Canada Summer Games, and was the first host of Weekend AM. He also continued to do some acting for CBC Radio.

Karl with 'His Worship,' John Murphy and wife Sheilagh Guy

He became a regular performer of characters on the CBC morning program. Many of his early characters were written for him by journalist, Fred Armstrong. Karl was heard as Pottle of the Constabulary, a fumbling crime fighter with a canine partner called "T. Alex." Another character was known as The Honourable Member, a newly minted member of the Newfoundland House of Assembly who would write to his mother every week about his exploits in government.

But, by far, his most popular character was His Worship. Karl became known for a remarkably accurate imitation of Mayor John Murphy of St. John's. Soon he was employed to perform it weekly on radio, with scripts supplied by the well known satirist and Leacock Award winner, Ray Guy. It made a sensation; and during the early eighties, His Worship was the most popular feature heard on The Morning Show.

CBC Television

In 1978 Karl's television profile began to rise. He was asked to become the nightly weather reporter on the Newfoundland and Labrador news program, Here & Now. His natural ease before the camera, combined with his personality and ability to ad lib, made him an obvious choice for this assignment. Today, for many, the name Karl Wells is synonymous with 'the weather'.

Karl (left) with the '78 Here & Now team

An early weather ad

Shortly after Karl began his new assignment, he was asked to perform one additional duty. The CBC was creating a new program called The Journal. It would be followed by a new fully produced news program in Newfoundland and Labrador called Newsfinal. Karl was asked to anchor; and for the next twelve years he would be seen nightly on Newsfinal and Here & Now.

With 'Rusty' and Gloria at Santa parade

From time to time, while Karl performed his regular news and weather duties, he would take on extra assignments. During the eighties and nineties he hosted the annual Easter spectacular called Stars of the Festival, featuring some of the best performers of the Kiwanis Music Festival. Other assignments included hosting special broadcasts like The Jaycees Santa Claus Parade and a classical music series called Music from Memorial University.

In the late eighties Karl was able to collaborate once again with Ray Guy to create a satirical character for television called P. Michael Hynes. This character was an irascible and opinionated shopkeeper who would rant weekly to an unseen customer about everything from the Meech Lake Accord, to the latest happenings at St. John's City Hall. P. Michael Hynes was seen weekly on Here & Now and blazed a trail for other characters that would later appear on the program.

Ad for Music of the Festival

Karl as 'P. Michael Hynes'

Karl's Community

At the beginning of the nineties Karl embarked on what would become his most successful endeavour. He was asked to take the weather broadcast outside the studio. The original idea was to do the forecast from various outdoor locations around St. John's; a baseball field, the harbour wharf, or a busy street corner. He would also talk a little about where he was. The first broadcast was done outside the Newfoundland and Labrador legislative complex, Confederation Building. It was interesting television; but Karl soon came up with an idea that would transform the broadcast into something bigger than anyone could have imagined.

On the road with 'Weather with Wells' van

It was a simple idea and certainly not unique in television history. But, it was new for the time and new to Canadian weather broadcasting. Karl felt that if he were going to be at a particular event or location, it would be better television if he did a live interview with, and interacted with, people connected to the event. Of course, the interviews also allowed Karl to show his personality to great effect. The result was a highly successful format that eventually became known and copied by many public and private television operations across Canada, both local and national.

During this era Karl could be seen interviewing community groups, authors, activists, actors, historians, scientists, soldiers, musicians, and sea captains. It was an endless parade of interesting people.

Initially, many of these guests came from St. John's; but later many were from places all over Newfoundland and Labrador as Karl and the team took the show on the road. He did live broadcasts from Labrador City, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander, Bonavista, Grand Bank, St. Lawrence, Marystown, Carbonear, Harbour Grace, Brigus, Hibernia, even Paradise!

That's Paradise, Newfoundland, of course. Sometimes the interviews were fun, with antics for the camera, as when Karl would visit the Corner Brook Winter Carnival, or when he did his famous BBQ series; but many times they were serious. On one ocassion Karl spoke with a woman fighting breast cancer. Other interviews involved subjects like AIDS, poverty, organ transplantation, homophobia, the third world, single parenting, the war in Bosnia, and many other topics.

Dog lover Karl with RCMP K-9 unit

Filming the popular BBQ series

With Air Farce vets Don Ferguson and Roger Abbot

Karl and Gordon Pinsent

Feedback for what became know as, Karl's Community, built to a point where Karl was receiving almost one hundred calls a week; many asking if he could go here or there to do a broadcast. Ratings for the Karl's Community segment of Here & Now rose and remained high throughout its run. Karl's name became a much loved household word. Newspaper articles were written. In one, titled 'Weathering the News', for the Express newspaper of St. John's, a viewer said,"There's a radiation going from my TV screen to my couch that's just something special. What he says to Debbie ( Cooper ) he's saying to me."

Karl and interpreter at 'Tablelands'

With Capt. David Alan-Williams and wife aboard 'Matthew'

Meeting Hibernia crew at Bull Arm building site

Karl's Community was a major success. During the decade of the nineties he did literally thousands of live broadcasts. But, like all television production, it was the result of a group of individuals working together as a team. Karl's core team consisted of a skilled group of CBC ENG cameramen who also worked as soundmen, microwave technicians, and field producers! Karl says, "They are the best bunch of guys anybody could ever want to work with. They made me look good; and I would not have survived without them!"

New Horizons

In September of 2001, while still appearing on Here & Now, Karl made the move to national television, becoming a member of the CountryWide team, a morning news and information program on CBC's regional and rural affairs channel, Country Canada. It was one of over forty new digital channels launched that year.

On CountryWide with Doug Letto

On CountryWide Karl provided, during each hour of the show, a detailed weather forecast for every region of Canada. After that, viewers could enjoy one of his famous chats with CountryWide's Doug Letto. Quite often these chats turned into light-hearted rants about whatever happened to be on Karl's mind that day. His weather reports and chats became an important and popular part of the program, as witnessed in many e-mails and letters received by CountryWide during its two year run. The program came to and end in July of 2003.

At present, Karl is working as a food critic and restaurant reviewer for the St. John’s major daily, The Telegram. Late in 2007 Karl retired from CBC after a career of thirty-one years. He has also made a major commitment to host the annual Janeway Hospital Foundation's Children's Miracle Network Telethon on an ongoing basis. And, no doubt, other projects may develop to keep our irrepressible Karl even busier in the years ahead. For example, the grapevine says The Karl Wells' Cookbook is in the works.

Canada Now regulars, Debbie Cooper and Karl

To learn more about Karl and his other projects, please see the Interests section, plus all the other sections of Karl Wells.com...