Tommy Charles

Tommy Charles (died August 8, 1996) was a popular singer, disc jockey, sports anchor and talk radio host.

Charles joined Birmingham's first rock and roll station, WSGN in the late 1950s, where he first worked with Doug Layton. He was a minor singing star, with a few hits on Decca Records that he recorded in Nashville. He left WSGN for WYDE in 1957.

WYDE dismissed Charles and Layton for their antics in 1964. Charles helped start up the new WAQY AM 1220, a daytime-only station that played more sedate top-40 hits than WSGN and WVOK. He recruited Layton, and theirs was the first two-man morning show in the Birmingham market.

After John Lennon claimed in 1966 that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus", WAQY led a group of grandstanding stations that refused to play Beatles songs over the air in Birmingham. Charles urged listeners to bring their records and paraphernalia to the studio to be destroyed in a tree shredder. WAQY's "Ban the Beatles" crusade was the first to gain nationwide attention and is referenced in numerous Beatles documentaries.

Charles opened Tommy Charles Imported Cars, specializing in Triumphs in 1967.

By 1968 WAQY was playing less and less music and featuring talk shows, mainly aimed toward female listeners. The next year they went back to Top-40, but without success. Charles sold the station in 1969.

In 1974 Charles joined the low-rated WBMG-TV news team as sports anchor.

In 1975, Charles was back at WSGN, co-hosting a morning show with newcomer John Ed Willoughby. As half of the radio team T. C. and John Ed. They moved to WQUS-FM in 1984 and then to WERC-AM the following year, where they flourished for another decade before Charles' death.

Charles also teamed with muscle-car mechanic Lee Hurley on a call-in auto repair show. Hurley customized Charles' BMW 2002 with a V6 from a 1987 Regal Grand National.

Discography

• Tommy Charles. (1956) "Our Love Affair"/"If You Were Me" Decca 9-29717
• Tommy Charles (1957) "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade is Over"/"Love, You're a Stranger" Decca 9-30354

Books

• Charles, Tommy (1996) I Hate Paul Finebaum: 303 Reasons Why You Should, Too. Birmingham: Crane Hill. ISBN 157587041X

References

• "According to John" (August 12, 1966) Time Magazine.
• Inglis, Ian. (2000) The Beatles, Popular Music and Society. New York: St. Martin's Press
• "The Beatles: From Liverpool to San Francisco". Eagle Rock Entertainment
• "BRC Hall Of Fame Members Tommy Charles Bio" Birmingham Record Collectors - accessed May 29, 2015