Birmingham Broadcasting

By Tim Hollis

Birmingham, Alabama, has enjoyed a long and distinguished broadcasting history. The city s first radio station aired in 1922, and television arrived in 1949. Both media produced personalities who became household names in the city. Audiences came to know Joe Rumore, Tommy Charles, Country Boy Eddy, Cousin Cliff Holman, Rosemary, Pat Gray, Tom York, and many others as if they were members of their own families. Even the commercials became as memorable as the news, entertainment, talk, and children s shows they interrupted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jun 28, 2006
• ISBN: 9781439617335

Tim Hollis

Tim Hollis has published twenty-four books on pop culture history. For more than thirty years he has maintained a museum of cartoon-related merchandise in Dora, Alabama. He is the author of Dixie before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun; Florida's Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast; Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Programs; Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century; Toons in Toyland: The Story of Cartoon Character Merchandise; and, with Greg Ehrbar, Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, all published by University Press of Mississippi.

Book preview

FAMILY

INTRODUCTION

Why has there never been a book documenting the rich history of radio and television broadcasting in Birmingham? That is a very good question, and after you have sampled the multitude of different topics in this one, it may be a bit easier to understand the answer. A comprehensive history of Birmingham broadcasting would require several hundred pages, so for now, we will just hit the high spots and hope that someone is inspired to give the topic a more in-depth treatment at some point in the future.

In a few of my previous books, I briefly detailed my own interest in the subject of Birmingham television, but for those who came in late I will give a capsule version here. My television debut came about on the occasion of my fifth birthday in 1968, when my parents booked me for an appearance on WBRC’s Birthday Party show, hosted by news anchor Joe Langston. It’s too bad this occurred in March rather than during a sweeps period, because the television debut of a five-year-old author would certainly have helped WBRC make a big jump in the ratings for that particular program. As it turned out, Channel 6 was usually a ratings leader anyway because of its combination of formidable talent and powerful signal before cable television, so it obviously didn’t need my help. I was undaunted; it would not be my last appearance on that station over the ensuing decades.

Most of the Birmingham kids’ shows had a minimum age limit for their guests, and because I was still a tiny tot, I never got to appear on any of the others until the early 1970s. By that time, Neal Miller’s Sgt. Jack Show was the only one left on the air, and I made the steep trip up Golden Crest Drive to the WBMG studios at least a couple of times for that. I had a great desire to become a puppeteer, and the crazy characters created by Miller’s assistants, Howard Cruse and Ted Lowry, were a big influence.

While I was in college, I received a call from one of those television legends whom I had never met in person, Cousin Cliff Holman, who was looking for a puppeteer to make personal appearances with him, so I had at last come full circle to where I had been 10 years earlier. When Cliff’s television series was revived as Cousin Cliff’s Clubhouse on WBRC in 1990–1993, I was on hand as the puppeteer behind the desk. About the time that show debuted, I wrote my first book, which was a biography titled Cousin Cliff: 40 Magical Years in Television. That, I suppose, was the beginning of this book, although many other books of mine on varied topics have appeared between the two.

Many of you have probably seen my previous book for Arcadia, Birmingham’s Theater and Retail District. That one touched briefly on Birmingham’s radio and television history as it crossed over with the larger picture of the department stores and movie houses of downtown. Likewise, in this volume, you will find the veteran downtown businesses making a few guest appearances in the story of broadcasting in the city. There is one major difference between these two subjects, however. Because the coverage area of the Birmingham television stations (and especially the radio stations) was so large, many people who never even approached downtown Birmingham in person could still listen to or watch Joe Rumore, Pat Gray, Wendell Harris, Joe Langston, Rosemary Lucas, Cousin Cliff, and Benny Carle.

So just set your dial to this station and prepare for a trip back in time. We will begin by listening in on the radio, then we shall see how television came to town in 1949. We’ll check in on the news, sports, and weather and chuckle along with our favorite kids’ show hosts. After a word from some of the best-known sponsors in town, we will wrap up with the talk shows and variety shows that enlivened the Birmingham airwaves. Our program will begin in just a moment, but first we must acknowledge the real sponsors—those individuals who contributed their time, memories, photographs, and other artifacts to make this book so visually appealing. In alphabetical order, let’s give a big hand to these friends: Carol Aldy, Evelyn Allen, Rodney Barstein, Keith Barze, Greg Bass, Jim and Vicki Battan, Rice Baxter, Lisa

Reviews for Birmingham Broadcasting

[Linda Jones · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful trip down memory lane! I would love to read "part 2" in the future!