Paul White: Difference between revisions
(New page: Tall Paul was the on-air name for a popular African American disc jockey of the 1960's on WENN, Paul Dudley White. (He got his nickname from a song of the same name recorded by Annette Fu...) |
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Tall Paul was | '''Paul Dudley "Tall Paul" White''' was a popular African American disc jockey of the 1960's on [[WENN-AM]]. His nickname came from a song recorded by Annette Funicello). He and his broadcast colleague [[Shelley Stewart|Shelly the Playboy Stewart]] were known to broadcast coded messages to civil rights demonstrators during the [[Birmingham campaign]] of the early 1960s. | ||
Tall Paul had a significant audience among white teenagers, demonstrated on one of the favorite feature of his shows -- "Roll Call." For Roll Call he would play an uptempo instrumental and then in his inimitable style announce the names of area high schools when students from those schools called in. In those still-segregated days it was not unusual to have Ramsay High School announced along with the "Parker High Thundering Herd" or the "Rosedale Sons of Kong." | Tall Paul had a significant audience among white teenagers, demonstrated on one of the favorite feature of his shows -- "Roll Call." For Roll Call he would play an uptempo instrumental and then in his inimitable style announce the names of area high schools when students from those schools called in. In those still-segregated days it was not unusual to have [[Ramsay High School]] announced along with the "[[Parker High School|Parker High]] Thundering Herd" or the "[[Rosedale High School|Rosedale]] Sons of Kong." | ||
Tall Paul participated in the famous | Tall Paul participated in the famous DJ walk-out in the mid-1970's at WENN when new ownership fired [[Joe Dentici]], the station's white manager. The all-black announcing staff quit, a story which made national headlines at the time. | ||
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==References== | |||
* [http://www.birminghamrewound.com/wenn_dentici.htm. WENN & Joe Dentici] at [[Birmingham Rewound]] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Paul}} | |||
[[Category:Living people]] | |||
[[Category:DJs]] | |||
Revision as of 01:38, 13 September 2009
Paul Dudley "Tall Paul" White was a popular African American disc jockey of the 1960's on WENN-AM. His nickname came from a song recorded by Annette Funicello). He and his broadcast colleague Shelly the Playboy Stewart were known to broadcast coded messages to civil rights demonstrators during the Birmingham campaign of the early 1960s.
Tall Paul had a significant audience among white teenagers, demonstrated on one of the favorite feature of his shows -- "Roll Call." For Roll Call he would play an uptempo instrumental and then in his inimitable style announce the names of area high schools when students from those schools called in. In those still-segregated days it was not unusual to have Ramsay High School announced along with the "Parker High Thundering Herd" or the "Rosedale Sons of Kong."
Tall Paul participated in the famous DJ walk-out in the mid-1970's at WENN when new ownership fired Joe Dentici, the station's white manager. The all-black announcing staff quit, a story which made national headlines at the time.