Andrew Fields, Oral History
Files
Title
Andrew Fields, Oral History
Subject
Birmingham Radio
Description
Andrew Fields (b.Jan 2, 1936, d. Nov 10, 2004), overnight broadcaster and part timer at WJLD and WBUL, discusses his career spanning 1969-1982; reflecting on his development and experience in Birmingham radio and his contemporaries.
Creator
Bob Friedman
Andrew Fields
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
August 28, 2001
Contributor
Kimberly McDade
Emily Bibb
Format
MP3
JPG
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
FieldsOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Andrew Fields
Transcription
Transcript of audio snippet:
Bob Friedman- Did you have a…um…a special name on the air?
Andrew Fields- Well, at first, I just told them I want to be known as Andrew Fields, cuz I was Andrew Fields the third, but I didn’t use the third. And so, later on, Jimmy made my name be as a thang that we had to do for…he had me out there…called the Money Man
BF- The Money Man?
AF- Money Man. We had to go all over town, every day, five days a week from 6 o’clock til 9 o’clock.
BF- In the evening?
AF- Morning.
BF- In the morning?
AF- Morning. Yeah. Jimmy was on the Drive Show.
BF- Okay.
AF- And. Uh. He started out at 5. But I didn’t start til 6.
BF- Um hum.
AF- And we’d go from town part…from neighborhood to neighborhood, and we didn’t have the freeway at that time.
BF- Didn’t have what?
AF- The freeway.
BF- Okay.
AF- We had to go the old way. And man, I was…fifteen minutes, I was in one part of town; ten minutes, I was somewhere else. I was right there…
BF- What were you doing?
AF- We was giving out money. Five dollars a whop, as they called it. If I was sitting in front of your house, and tell Jimmy where I am, and call your address, you came out, I would give you a certificate for five dollars.
BF- A certificate for five dollars.
AF- Um hum.
BF- Now how old were you when you started working for WJLD?
AF- Forty, I mean twenty-one… thirty-one years old.
BF- Thirty-one years old?
AF- Um hum.
BF- And. Um. What do you remember about Jimmy?
AF- Jimmy was a hard-hitting man, when it come to radio.
BF- Um hum.
AF- He… Uh… knew his radio.
Bob Friedman- Did you have a…um…a special name on the air?
Andrew Fields- Well, at first, I just told them I want to be known as Andrew Fields, cuz I was Andrew Fields the third, but I didn’t use the third. And so, later on, Jimmy made my name be as a thang that we had to do for…he had me out there…called the Money Man
BF- The Money Man?
AF- Money Man. We had to go all over town, every day, five days a week from 6 o’clock til 9 o’clock.
BF- In the evening?
AF- Morning.
BF- In the morning?
AF- Morning. Yeah. Jimmy was on the Drive Show.
BF- Okay.
AF- And. Uh. He started out at 5. But I didn’t start til 6.
BF- Um hum.
AF- And we’d go from town part…from neighborhood to neighborhood, and we didn’t have the freeway at that time.
BF- Didn’t have what?
AF- The freeway.
BF- Okay.
AF- We had to go the old way. And man, I was…fifteen minutes, I was in one part of town; ten minutes, I was somewhere else. I was right there…
BF- What were you doing?
AF- We was giving out money. Five dollars a whop, as they called it. If I was sitting in front of your house, and tell Jimmy where I am, and call your address, you came out, I would give you a certificate for five dollars.
BF- A certificate for five dollars.
AF- Um hum.
BF- Now how old were you when you started working for WJLD?
AF- Forty, I mean twenty-one… thirty-one years old.
BF- Thirty-one years old?
AF- Um hum.
BF- And. Um. What do you remember about Jimmy?
AF- Jimmy was a hard-hitting man, when it come to radio.
BF- Um hum.
AF- He… Uh… knew his radio.
Duration
Full Interview: 29 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Collection
Citation
Bob Friedman and Andrew Fields, “Andrew Fields, Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed March 24, 2023, https://thebbrm.org/item/59.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.
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