Weathers Music Corporation

Weathers Music Corporation has been a strong source of music products and support for music activities in Oregon, and particularly in Salem, since 1950. They have grown with the population increase and changes in the industry, gradually offering a larger number of services. They began with only band instruments and pianos, but now include all instruments, repairs, printed music, accessories, sound equipment, digital electronics, lessons, a recital hall, and more.

Founded by Walt and Bernice Weathers, their son Keith is now the General Manager.

A few years before Walt Weathers was born in Touchet, Washington (near Walla Walla), a “music man” came into his father’s town. As in the Broadway show, “The Music Man,” he helped organize a town band, selling uniforms and instruments in the process.

Walt’s father, a banjo player, was recruited to play tuba in the band. Here’s a photo of Jessie Weathers, in that uniform, at a 4th of July picnic in 1909 with his wife, Anna, and two of his children, Blanche and Dolph (all of which are facing the camera). Eighty-five years later, we have a photograph of Walt in the same uniform his father wore in that town band in 1909. Walt Weathers wore the uniform in 1994 when guest conducting the Salem Concert Band in one of their yearly “In the Steps of Sousa” concerts.

This was NOT the inspiration for Walt Weathers to go into music merchandising, but he eventually did do all the things that “music man” did, and much more. Along the way he founded Weathers Music Corp. which is Salem’s largest music store, and has become a landmark on south Commercial St.

After graduating from Linfield College in 1936, Walt taught math and organized the band at Canby Union High School. As their “Music Man,” inventing a uniform, procuring instruments, and teaching the band how to play was all part of the job. Six years later they marched in the Rose Parade.

Walt met his wife Bernice while they were students at Linfield College. After Walt had been teaching at Canby Union HS for one year, they were married. She has been his wife and business partner ever since.

Walt spent six years at Canby, then four years working as a radar officer in the Navy during WWII. After his 1945 discharge, he joined his wife and infant son, Keith, in Salem. He began working for Doug Jaquith, a local music store business owner, visiting schools, and selling used and refurbished instruments, which were in short supply during and right after the war.

Mr. Jaquith was very encouraged with Walt’s success selling these instruments. Since manufacturers were allowed to go back to making instruments again after the war, he was also confident that there would be a huge resurgence in school music. So much so, that he expanded his business to Eugene.

So in 1946 Walt and Bernice moved to Eugene, where they worked with three other men Jaquith had brought to Oregon, including Lyle Glazier (who would later start his own Salem business).

Things went well at both stores for a while, but new instruments were still in short supply from the manufacturers and, after a while, Mr. Jaquith closed the Eugene store. His four former employees decided in 1947 to form the “Eugene Music Co.” and go on their own. They moved to a smaller store and resumed servicing the area’s musicians and schools as a corporation.

It was hard to support four families with the one store, and Walt and Bernice wanted to come back to Salem, so they returned in 1950 and, with Lyle Glazier, opened the “Salem Music Instrument Co.” across from the Elsinore Theatre at 159 South High Street. Together with the Eugene store, they were still a corporation.

Early in his career, Walt became aware of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and began attending their yearly meetings.

As school music began a period of tremendous growth, an associated organization was formed within NAMM, which made it possible for dealers who worked mainly with school music to share ideas. This was named the National Association of School Music Dealers (NASMD), and it had a strong effect on Weathers’ business practices, and on music in our nation’s schools. Walt served in various offices in both these organizations

After seven years, the Weathers joined forces with Jim and Priscilla Wiltsey and, in 1957, opened “Wiltsey-Weathers Music” in the Capitol Shopping Center, (This was in the block just north of the present McDonald’s which is near the State buildings and 12th St. It is now a parking lot).

Their new store just happened to be in the same space as Doug Jaquith’s final store had been (The last of many sites which he had occupied.).

Priscilla Wiltsey had a large music studio at 1630 20th St. NE, and taught piano, accordion, banjo, and steel guitar, plus she brought in others to teach other instruments not taught in the schools. Her husband, Jim Wiltsey, kept the books for the studio and cared for the properties and equipment. (Wiltsey Road in south Salem is named after Jim Wiltsey’s parents.)

Together, Wiltsey and Weathers covered all the connections with instruments taught “in school” plus “out-of-school” instruments. They formed a new partnership. Jim was developing a sales program for a new musical instrument –the electronic organ. Bernice was taking care of the books and helping with customers when needed.

About this time, the YAMAHA Corp. came out with a small reed organ keyboard (later electronic), and began franchising a “YAMAHA MUSIC SCHOOL”- an instructional course for preschool children. Research was showing preschool to be the most important age for exposure to music in a playful, but structured way, to ensure enjoyment and understanding of music later.

At first these classes were taught at Priscella Wiltsey’s music studio property. The first teacher was Joanne Ellis.

Wiltsey-Weathers eventually became the sponsor of the largest Yamaha Music School west of the Mississippi River. In 1970 they rented space in Lancaster Mall for a second store dealing mostly in keyboards, and rented larger space above the Lancaster store for these classes.

Dave Louthan, a local keyboard artist and teacher whom they had hired in 1967 to be keyboard department manager, was placed in charge of this store. Dave has been with the Corp. ever since, and is now the assistant general manager.

Walt Weathers is very proud of the impact he feels these classes had on many of Salem’s young children over the years, and feels that it has added to Salem’s reputation for high quality music instruction.

Jim and Priscilla Wiltsey retired in 1969, and Walt and Bernice bought out their interest in the store. In 1973 the business was renamed as the “Weathers Music Corp.”.

In 1974, their son Keith Weathers joined the business.

Keith Weathers was born in 1943 while Walt was in the Navy. He was never pressured to work in the business, but was always interested in music, studying piano and trumpet, singing in church choir, playing in school band and orchestra, and even conducting while still a student. His parents always told him that he was helping the business just by being a good music student and by practicing, performing, and directing in the school and church.

He does remember picking up a little money as a child by polishing the big silver sousaphones which the schools brought in for repair during the summer, and he did work behind the counters between his first and second years at USC (1966)

Keith had attended Englewood Elementary, Parrish Jr. High School, and North Salem High, graduated from Wheaton College (1965), and received a Master’s Degree from USC, during which time he had married his wife, Judy. While living in California, they were both teachers: Keith starting in 1967 at BIOLA College in LaMirada as a music professor and ensemble director, while Judy taught at the Riverside, California School for the Deaf. Along the way they had a son, Bart, and a daughter, Clarice.

He left BIOLA in 1974, moved his family back to Salem, and joined his father’s business. He felt he had achieved his goal of teaching in college, wanted to get his children and himself out of the source of year-round allergy problems they had in California, and also thought the business might be interesting. He also realized that he had a unique opportunity to enter into a fully developed music business.

When he joined the business in 1974, he felt comfortable because of his history in Salem, and his experience of being a teacher himself. “It seemed a good fit,” he said.

At first he was a “band instrument guy” in the store, helping band students and directors with their instrument needs. Shortly thereafter he began to be a “road man,” visiting the outlying schools each month. He would bring them supplies they needed, but also did minor repairs on instruments. This helped the band director by keeping the kids playing instead of sitting in the back of the room with a non-functioning instrument.

He learned to repair bent keys, replace pads and corks, re-cork joints on clarinets, straighten bent brass mouth pieces, etc. Most of all, he learned what to attempt himself and what to leave for the shop repairman.

For several years he was not involved in the administration of the store. Then he slowly began to become more involved in that, and soon was not on the road anymore. He became involved in personnel, advertising, inventorying, and administrative matters, much of which was new to him.

In 1978 ownership of the store began to be transferred to Keith Weathers, Dave Louthan, and another employee, Ken Yoder ( Ken left the business in 1986 and moved to the East CX2oast).

During this time the business was still located in the Capitol Shopping Center, which also included the old Sears store. The owners were Pacific Mutual Insurance. This, the first shopping center in Salem, was begun in the ’50s, and promoted vigorously with ads, tent sales, Santa arriving on the roof of Sears; even giving away Easter chicks. The Easter chicks caused the chagrin of many parents. After one such give-away, Keith and his sister raised four in their backyard until they were big enough to eat.

It was a very dynamic shopping center, with lots of traffic, and a good place to be in business.

Keith feels that eventually Pacific Mutual found the center no longer an attractive investment. It was land-locked by the State Government buildings and the railroad, and couldn’t expand. Pacific Mutual began looking for a larger property.

Gradually the major stores left and the center dribbled down to nothing. Weathers Music Corp. was one of the last to go.

Keith looked a whole year for a new location. He ended up finding a building the school district had been leasing for offices. It had originally been Erickson’s Supermarket with an added bakery on the back.

Weathers took over this building in 1983, remodeled it, moved in, and it has been a good fit for them. Up until this time they had had two locations, with the Lancaster Mall store specializing in keyboard sales, and with a studio there for the Yamaha keyboard classes and, by this time, instruction in many other instruments.

In 1985 the Lancaster Mall store was closed, and relocated to the main store.

The large South Commercial Street location allowed Weathers Music to combine all operations under one roof, and it became a complete music “superstore.”

They now have 22,000 square feet, and have departments for band and orchestra, music accessories, percussion, keyboards (acoustic and electronic), guitars, sound equipment, printed music, music lessons, repairs, and more, including a large room for concerts and recitals.

Many features of the facility lend themselves perfectly to the needs of a full service music store: including sound insulated rooms, the large recital room, teaching studios, storage, acoustics, etc.

Weathers presently (February, 2005) has hired 136 full and part-time employees in the 21 years they’ve been in the South Commercial location. The only original employees are Keith, and Dave Louthan – who came before Keith in 1967, and is assistant general manager.

Founders Walt Weathers and Bernice started to pull back from the business after Walt developed some health concerns in 1988. They phased out gradually, which allowed Keith and Dave to assume the operational responsibilities step by step.

Eras of change in the retail music industry

The business has seen a tremendous amount of change since its beginning, and even just during Keith’s tenure as general manager. In the ’50s and ’60s there was great growth in music education in the schools, and in the number of instruments being produced and sold. In the 70s, the number of students performing began to decline. Schools started having budget battles. In the later 70s and 80s, they had to work hard to preserve the number of students starting each year and renting instruments. This has continued for music education everywhere. Another change was that the instrument industry became impacted by mail-order catalogs (and now by the Internet). Competition for a full service music store became intense. The selling of artist-quality instruments became unprofitable. Some manufacturers wend out of business or merged with others. Famous brand names, such as Conn, Selmer, and Olds, were bought up by conglomerates. Well-known stores in Salem, such as Tallman’s Pianos, and Wills Music store were sold or closed.

Then came the advent of off-shore manufacturing. At first the Japanese (especially Yamaha) manufacturers began out-sourcing to Korea and the Taiwanese, who then started making their own instruments. Now, the Chinese are producing instruments also.

Ever since the 80s, it has been a roller coaster ride for school-related dealers to shift with the tides, support the educational process, and stay in business.

In Keith’s opinion, the “Chinese Challenge” will thoroughly change the band instrument industry, which is currently in transition, with giants buying up other giants monthly. He thinks that in five to ten years there will probably be NO student band instruments made in the U.S. They will all come out of Asia – or maybe even Europe and India.

Outlook for the Future

Keith Weathers has a lot of optimism about the future in Salem. He says a lot of effort has been expended by local leaders and businesses to keep Salem vital. He feels we will continue to see good music programs in our schools (Not without fighting for them again-but parents and teachers and a few concerned people like Keith have combined year after year to preserve the music programs.)

As far as the business goes, Weathers’ is healthy, and has survived the worst recession of his time. But it is now profitable again, and he feels his business has survived without drastic staff or benefit reductions.

So when Walt and Bernice retired in the mid-1980’s, and Keith became the primary owner and general manager, he became “Son of the Music Man.” and he has proven to be very good at it. He has gained a fine reputation as a fair, honest, very competent, and personable businessman, with an attractive business which is fun to visit, a pleasure to do business with, and a source of support and benefit to the community.

Compiled and written by Grant Hagestedt, 2005

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Bibliography:

From 5 interviews with Walt and Bernice Weathers July 10 to August 24, 2004, and with Keith Weathers Oct 20, 2004, plus many short consultations and conversations with Keith during the preparation and writing through March 2005

Other sources for ideas and facts were conversations and E mail correspondence with Dave Louthan, and with veteran Salem musicians and repairmen Fran Allen and Roy Shelton in 2004 and 2005.

Photos are from the personal collections of Walt and Keith Weathers, Dave Louthan, Curt Wiltsey, John Skelton, and the Salem Concert Band.

This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.