According to his WOR program of 2/26/64, "Sam Weller" was said by Shep to have been the program director at the radio station where he first worked.
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| [ Courtesy: Steve Glazer - 05-27-2016 ]
Larue Bolling ("L.B." or "Sam") Weller was born on December 30, 1899, in Anchorage (Jefferson County), Kentucky. While still in his teen years, he worked as an electrical tester at General Electric Co. in Lynn, Massachusetts. By 1923, Weller was the chief announcer at WGR in Buffalo, New York. That same year, he married Myrtle Thompson, a pianist and vocalist from nearby North Tonawanda, thereafter taking off for the West Coast. With the Depression, Weller held a number of odd jobs, including buyer for a mail order house in Chicago. Myrtle died in 1930, and the following year he married Miriam J. Esslinger.
By WWII, Weller had worked at several radio stations in the Chicago area -- including WIND in Gary, Indiana -- and was also an accomplished singer, often appearing on broadcasts with various choirs and barbershop quartets. In the fall of 1943, Weller joined Hammond's WJOB as its program director, remaining in that position for some years, including during the time Shep worked there as an announcer in 1945.
Weller passed away on June 29, 1958, in Porter County, Indiana, where he had resided for some 19 years after leaving Chicago. At the time of his death, he was treasurer of radio station WLOI in LaPorte. |
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