Quick Facts
Biography
David H. "Dave" Brown (born September 1, 1946) is a former chief meteorologist from 1977 to 2015 for WMC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Brown is an American Meteorological Society Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and holds the Seal Of Approval of the National Weather Association.
Brown grew up in Trenton, Tennessee. He came to Memphis to study political science at the University of Memphis, and began his broadcasting career in 1962 as a disc jockey at WKBJ Radio in Milan, Tennessee as a sophomore in high school at age 15. He moved to WIRJ Radio in Humboldt, Tennessee one year later. He moved to WHBQ-AM Radio56 in Memphis, where he was on the air from September 1964 to October 1968. This station was the first to play a song by Elvis Presley on the radio. In October 1968 he accepted an offer to become a staff announcer and host of Dialing For Dollars across the hall on WHBQ-TV. He began his career in meteorology as weathercaster on the initial broadcast of WHBQ-TVs 12 noon newscast in May 1972. He was named chief weathercaster from 1973 to 1977 before joining WMC-TV.
For a large portion of his broadcasting career (most of the period between 1967 and 2002), he also co-hosted the Memphis Wrestling television program (and its predecessor, Championship Wrestling), most notably for 25 of those years with Lance Russell, the rest with Corey Maclin. Russell and Brown have been described by wrestling insiders and fans as the greatest television announcing team in the history of wrestling. Heel wrestlers and managers in the Memphis area like Jimmy Hart would nickname him "Dave Brown the Weather Clown", while others would nickname him "Howdy Doody".
In August 2014, Brown announced that WMC-TV had agreed to his request of a reduced schedule. Effective September 1, 2014 he was seen on the 6pm newscast only. In his announcement, he noted that he has worked since the age of 10, most of which he worked six days a week. 52 of those years have been in broadcasting, more than 37 at WMC-TV. The reduced schedule was the first step to Brown's retirement, which was effective on August 31, 2015, when he took the title of Chief Meteorologist Emeritus.
Brown has been active in the campaign against drunk driving since the May 1997 death of his daughter, granddaughter and unborn grandson due to a drunk driver. Brown has spoken to students, civic clubs and church groups in four states about the problem of impaired driving.