Don Elliot Heald

Don Elliot Heald (1922 – February 19, 2009) was an American broadcaster and broadcast executive. He was most known for his tenure as general manager of WSB-TV, the leading television station in Atlanta, and as the voice of time station WWV and the Audichron system used by time-and-temperature phone numbers in hundreds of cities.

Early career and time at WSB-TV

Heald was born in 1922 in Concord, Massachusetts, and attended the University of Florida. There, he worked at the university's radio station, WRUF, and got into broadcasting.[1] While at WRUF, the station manager encouraged him to drop his last name and go by Don Elliot on air, which he later regarded as a mistake.[2] He graduated from the university and became an employee of a new Atlanta radio station, WCON, which began broadcasting on December 15, 1947; in 1949, he was promoted to news editor.[3]

In 1950, The Atlanta Constitution, owner of WCON, merged with The Atlanta Journal, which shut down WCON in favor of keeping the Journal's WSB.[4] Heald joined the staff of WSB's affiliated television station, starting as an announcer and being promoted to news editor the next year.[5] Among the programs he hosted was Today in Georgia, a 9 a.m. morning program produced when WSB-TV sought not to air an hour of NBC's Today that was targeted at western states.[2] In 1958, Heald was promoted to sales manager of WSB-TV and began using his full name again.[5] Heald was appointed station manager in 1963[6] and, along with all the general managers of Cox Broadcasting stations at that time, was named a vice president in 1969.[7] In 1974, Heald anchored WSB-TV's newscasts during a labor dispute.[8][9]

Under Heald, WSB-TV hired the first Black reporter on Atlanta television news and, later, the first Black evening news anchor, Monica Kaufman Pearson.[1] For most of this time, WSB-TV was Atlanta's top television station, only finding itself in a three-way ratings battle in the late 1970s when its network, NBC, faltered in the national ratings.[10] In 1979, Heald announced his intention to retire in 1980, to coincide with 30 years with the WSB stations.[11] He left the WSB-TV post at the end of 1979 but remained a vice president of Cox Broadcasting.[12]

Voiceover work

Heald's voice was used by Audichron, an Atlanta-based company, as the voice of time-and-temperature phone services in cities throughout the United States and beyond. In 1971, an Audichron representative estimated that 12 million calls a day were fielded by equipment in 600 cities using recordings of Heald's voice.[13] Heald was one of several Atlantans who recorded material for the firm; other voices used by Audichron included Jane Barbe and John Doyle, a WSB-TV weatherman.[14] Heald's voice was on Audichron equipment used by the National Bureau of Standards atomic clock broadcast on shortwave station WWV; WWVH, the time station in Hawaii, used Barbe's voice.[15][16] In 1991, when the magnetic drum Audichron equipment was replaced with solid-state hardware utilizing digitized recordings, Doyle's voice replaced Heald's on WWV.[16]

Heald was the longtime voice of The Protestant Hour, a long-running Atlanta radio ministry program which debuted in 1945. Heald became its announcer in 1948 after being recruited initially to do the Episcopal segments as a member of a local church.[17]

Post-retirement ventures

After retiring, Heald became an investor alongside Herman J. Russell and M. B. "Bud" Seretean in Russell-Rowe Communications, which won a construction permit to build a new television station in Macon, Georgia and, under another name, applied for channel 8 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Heald was named president of the Macon station,[18] The station began broadcasting as WGXA on April 21, 1982.[19] With Heald, Russell and Seretean in advanced age, the partners sold the station in 1995.[20]

Heald was also involved in charitable ventures, including as president of the Peach Bowl[21] and as chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society.[22] Heald was credited with convincing the society to relocate its national headquarters from New York City to Atlanta in 1987.[1]

Personal life and death

Heald died of congestive heart failure on February 19, 2009, in Atlanta. He was survived by his wife, Sara Farmer Heald, as well as three sons and seven grandchildren.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kloer, Phil (February 22, 2009). "Don Elliot Heald, 86, former TV anchor, GM". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. p. B7. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Rawlings, Paul (February 12, 1955). "Don Elliot's 'Today in Georgia': Atlanta's Own Video Shows Keep Pace With Networks". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 3. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Don Elliot Named WCON News Head". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. June 30, 1949. p. 26. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "WCON Will Cease Operations Tonight". The Atlanta Constitution. May 31, 1950. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "WSB Staff Changes: Elliott, Moore, Others Promoted". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. January 12, 1958. p. 14-D. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Two Given New Posts In Cox Broadcasting". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. September 1, 1963. p. 6-A. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Cox Names 3 Execs Veeps and 10 Others Get Their Chevrons". Variety. September 24, 1969. p. 51. ProQuest 1014855387.
  8. ^ Goodman, Bob (February 8, 1974). "Union Calls Strike At WSB Radio, TV". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 4-A. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Notice to All WSB-TV Friends". The Atlanta Constitution (Advertisement). Atlanta, Georgia. February 9, 1974. p. 2-B. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "NBC Peacock Molts, But WSB Unruffled". The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. May 27, 1979. pp. 1J, 4J. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Williams, Dick (September 26, 1979). "WSB-TV's Heald to Quit in '80". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 20-A. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Williams, Dick (March 31, 1980). "No Mawkish Tribute: Don Elliot Heald 'Roast' Mixed With Humor, Insults". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 11-B. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Allen, Paul (March 10, 1971). "You've Heard Don Elliot Heald's Voice—Time After Time After Time". Tucson Daily Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. p. 29. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Taylor, Ron (April 20, 1976). "Helllooo: It's Jane Barbe, the Woman Behind the 'Telephone Lady'". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 6-A. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Moody, Sid (May 14, 1978). "Knowing the exact time is really of the essence". The Morning News. Wilmington, Delaware. Associated Press. pp. C-1, C-14. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b Nelson, Glenn K. (2019-09-24). "A Century of WWV" (PDF). Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 124. doi:10.6028/jres.124.025. ISSN 2165-7254. PMC 7339760. PMID 34877165.
  17. ^ "The Protestant Hour: Long-running radio ministry broadcast nears 50th anniversary". The Atlanta Journal/Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. December 11, 1993. p. E8. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Walker, Tom (October 2, 1981). "Don Elliot Heald named chief of new TV station in Macon". The Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 9D. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Bills, Steve (April 22, 1982). "New Macon TV station goes on air". The Macon News. Macon, Georgia. p. 1B. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Billips, Mike (February 22, 1995). "N.C. company buying WGXA". The Macon Telegraph. Macon, Georgia. p. 1B. Archived from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Thurston, Scott (February 23, 1984). "Insurance executive to push his game plan for Peach Bowl". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 19-A. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Reach Out: Miss Georgia applications due Jan. 15". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. January 3, 1986. p. 3-B. Retrieved July 6, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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