Andrew Dawkins, 2012 Oral History
Title
Andrew Dawkins, 2012 Oral History
Description
Rev. Andrew Dawkins (b. Feb 24, 1930, d. Dec 9, 2014), RnB announcer beginning his career early in 1950 at WBCO 1450 AM in Bessemer. BCO stood for Bessemer Cut-off. The station went all black staff in late 1951 and it was remarked locally that BCO actually meant “became colored overnight.” Andrew speaks about his early history, including moving to Huntsville in 1958 to help Leroy Garrett start WEUP AM. Leroy Garrett was the first African American to own a radio station in Alabama. Andrew left radio in 1970 and started a newspaper, “The Huntsvillian,” and later became a minister in Montgomery.
Creator
Andrew Dawkins
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
October 10, 2012
Contributor
Joe Wright
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Andrew "Sugar Daddy" Dawkins
Transcription
Transcript of audio snippet:
How long did it take him to actually go on the air?
AD: He had everything set up in a trailer before we went to Huntsville and we worked maybe six weeks in Huntsville putting that trailer up, digging it in and putting up net wiring and all that, one of Mr. Ben’s nephews or somebody, Cyril Brenner, was good in engineering. Cyril came down and helped Leroy do the final work on the transmitter…most of it Leroy did himself.
BF: Wow. And that engineer’s name was Cyril Brenner?
AD: Brennen, Brennen, Cyril Brennen.
BF: Cyril Brennen, and he was related to the owner of VOK or what was his connection?
AD: He was related to the owner of VOK, WV…WVOK and also the guy who owned a country and western (could be Country Wrestling also) in Montgomery, Alabama.
BF: Ok.
AD: Very good engineer.
BF: Yeah.
AD: And Cyril got word that he was supposed to go on the air… and they had to do a test run so one night in the early… in late February we got the order we could run test run until 12 midnight. And we did that and we heard as far as Chicago, Illinois. Shelley and I were the only two on the air. That’s where we got our, people first started listening to us.
BF: What were you playing?
AD: Playing rhythm blues playing gospel just whatever we wanted to play at the time and… no commercials at all.
BF: Wow.
AD: Test just a test running.
BF: What frequency was it?
AD: 1600
How long did it take him to actually go on the air?
AD: He had everything set up in a trailer before we went to Huntsville and we worked maybe six weeks in Huntsville putting that trailer up, digging it in and putting up net wiring and all that, one of Mr. Ben’s nephews or somebody, Cyril Brenner, was good in engineering. Cyril came down and helped Leroy do the final work on the transmitter…most of it Leroy did himself.
BF: Wow. And that engineer’s name was Cyril Brenner?
AD: Brennen, Brennen, Cyril Brennen.
BF: Cyril Brennen, and he was related to the owner of VOK or what was his connection?
AD: He was related to the owner of VOK, WV…WVOK and also the guy who owned a country and western (could be Country Wrestling also) in Montgomery, Alabama.
BF: Ok.
AD: Very good engineer.
BF: Yeah.
AD: And Cyril got word that he was supposed to go on the air… and they had to do a test run so one night in the early… in late February we got the order we could run test run until 12 midnight. And we did that and we heard as far as Chicago, Illinois. Shelley and I were the only two on the air. That’s where we got our, people first started listening to us.
BF: What were you playing?
AD: Playing rhythm blues playing gospel just whatever we wanted to play at the time and… no commercials at all.
BF: Wow.
AD: Test just a test running.
BF: What frequency was it?
AD: 1600
Duration
Full interview: 54 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
Andrew Dawkins and Bob Friedman, “Andrew Dawkins, 2012 Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed October 22, 2024, https://thebbrm.org/item/100.
Item Relations
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Don Solomon, Oral History |
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Andrew Dawkins, 1994 Oral History |
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