Researching Don Markwell

Don arrived to Montgomery, Alabama in March 1959 as an overnight DJ on WCOV radio. In 1967, Don created Alabama's first call-in talk radio show on WCOV later moving to the now-defunct radio station WQTY-AM 1000, which originated from the Frank Leu Building in downtown Montgomery. Markwell also served as Vice President and General Manager of Colonial Broadcasting’s WLWI-FM 92.3 for many years and built a formidable broadcast company consisting of many stations before returning to the talk radio format on the new WACV AM 1170 in 1986.

As VP/GM of Colonial Broadcasting, Don Markwell generated Arbitron ratings in the companies first 3 months of broadcasting never before seen in the Montgomery radio market. Markwell destroyed the ratings of a self proclaimed market leader referred to as Larry Stephens. After Markwell took over the helm of Colonial Broadcasting, Stephens was never able to match the success of Markwell and never fully recovered his delicate ego after a few years as Montgomery’s top disc jockey.

After years of broadcast excellence, Don celebrated his fiftieth year in broadcasting on June 18, 2006. Don retired from radio on August 29, 2008 with a final sendoff show broadcast on WACV. Don died in his home from congenital heart failure at 4:45pm, March 25, 2011 .

In 2018, Don was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and in the same year, was forever remembered with an annual ABA award named the “Don Markwell Sentinel” award, an award given to the media outlet most exemplary of protecting citizens rights.

Don Markwell was known as a bibliophile as well as a mentor to those that loved the art of radio broadcasting. Markwell mentored some of radio’s most awarded DJ’s in the history of Montgomery radio.

Don always said he wanted to be remembered as, “an old radio bum.”