A Fair-Welk Toast to One of the Longest Running Shows on KCPT

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Lindsey Foat

Photo of a man smiling while filming with a large camera

KCPT said its final adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen and good night to The Lawrence Welk Show last Saturday evening.

For 29 years — barring pledge drives (like the one we’re in now – donate here) and Auction (RIP) — Welk’s musical family had a home on our station.

Now, if you’re like many people (including some in programming here at the station) you may be saying it’s about time and good riddance. But bear with me as I count the ways I’ll miss my weekly television dates with Larry Welk.

So “ah-one, and ah-two, and…”

1. Nostalgia — The Lawrence Welk Show made its national debut on ABC in 1955, and even then was devoted to celebrating a simpler, more wholesome time. Considering historical realities like segregation and stringent gender roles, I’m not sure that time actually existed, but watching Welk you almost believed there was a trouble-free and bubble-filled era. While many Baby-Boomers, like my own parents, find the chiffon and polyester costumes as suffocating as the show’s sentimentality, The Lawrence Welk Show, was my escape from reality.

2. The color palette — My KCPT colleague Karen Mell once told me that The Lawrence Welk Show was her weekly dose of color therapy. The show began broadcasting in color in 1965, and thank goodness it did. In a 2009 article for The Believer titled “The Maestro From Another Planet,” Ken Parille poetically sums up the sensory experience of watching the show: “Many of the performances are nearly psychedelic in that they combine an almost jarring combination of colors, costumes, props and performances into a seamless visual and aural experience.” “When Welk went color,” Parille wrote, “he fashioned a new universe in which time and history were irrelevant.”

3. As Jay-Z once said, “Rags to rich, I ain’t done.” — Welk was born in 1903 on a farm in North Dakota to German-speaking immigrants from Russia. One of eight kids, Welk grew up very poor. He told The Reading Eagle in 1970 that, as a kid, his yearly spending allowance was ten cents. That same article notes that by age 67, Welk’s empire was worth between $25 to $50 million. With his accordion, Welk clawed his way to commercial success and outlasted a lot critics, which brings us to No. 4.

4. It’s hip to be square — In his autobiography “Wunnerful, Wunnerful,” Welk said that reviews of the first episode of the show were mixed, and most critics didn’t think an orchestra playing dance music in front of camera could capture an audience. Boy howdy were they wrong! A 2004 article in The New York Times about the longevity of Welk fans points out that even 12 years after his death more than three million households tuned into PBS each week for the show. “His viewers outnumber those for MTV, VH1 and BET on Saturday nights,” the article notes. Among the fans interviewed is 32-year-old woman from Austin, Texas. “She began to see Welk as ‘an icon of fringe, wholesome nerdiness,’” the reporter wrote in explaining the appeal for a younger generation.

5. The music — The “champagne music” featured on the show goes far beyond beloved Glenn Miller and big band standards. Some of my favorite performances involve more “modern” tunes. Take for example Jo Ann Castle’s version of the Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall.” It’s a song that many of us now associate with the movie Pulp Fiction, but played with Welk’s trademark light and polished style it’s absolutely magical. And of course there was time Welk mistakenly dubbed Brewer and Shipley’s “One Toke Over the Line” a “modern spiritual.”

6. My Grandma — A lot of people have fond memories of watching The Lawrence Welk Show with their grandparents. While my grandma didn’t introduce me to Welk (I grew up without cable and watched despite my parents’ protests), the show came to be one of the special things we shared. I will forever treasure the Saturday evenings we spent together eating popcorn for supper and humming along together. Two years ago, when she was on hospice care, I sang the theme song to her over and over again, and we played it at her funeral a few weeks later.

Although The Lawrence Welk Show started on ABC, the re-runs of the show have been on public television stations since Oklahoma Educational Television Authority acquired the rights in 1987. They knew even then that the majority of their audience would trend geriatric. But public media is tasked with providing quality content, even when it may only appeal to a small and not commercially viable audience. Welk and public television has been a match that rivals the show’s dancing duo Bobby and Cissy. I know it’s time to bid adieu, so with ah-one, and ah-two…

What memories and thoughts do you have of The Lawrence Welk Show? Whether wunnerful or otherwise, share with us here.

Stay tuned for a special event coming later this fall where we’ll toast nearly three decades of Saturday nights with Welk.

To the Devoted Fans of the Lawrence Welk Show at KCPT Public Television 19: What can I say? I was so touched by the mammoth Birthday card you sent, with the names of all you nice people. To think you cared enough to call in is one of the nicest birthday gifts I've ever received. May I express my hearfelt thanks for your kindness to all of you who supported our show so generously. With every good wish and a truly big thank you from this old music man! Musically yours, Lawrence Welk. — Just two months before his death, Welk penned this lovely thank you note to his fans at KCPT, who sent him a birthday card.
Lindsey Foat

Photo of the cover of an old KCPT Program Guide — Welk graced the cover of the December 1987 KCPT Program Guide.
Lindsey Foat

Photo of old piece of paper describing Lawrence Welk show — The Lawrence Welk Show first aired on KCPT on Saturday October 3, 1987 at 4pm. In 1999 the show moved to 6pm, and then to 5pm in 2000 where it remained until now.
Lindsey Foat