2013-05-14

Center for Public History, University of Houston; University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston

This is an oral history interview with Paul Berlin conducted as part of the Houston History Project. Radio personality Paul Berlin discusses his broadcasting career from his high school days in Memphis to his sixty-three-year (and counting) career in Houston. He discusses the changes in musical trends from the big bands and vocalists of the 1940s through rap and popular music today. The particularly emphasizes the 1950s and early 1960s as an era that produced the best popular music of all time with the greatest diversity until the drug culture of the mid- to late-1960s ushered in a change. Berlin talks about the openness of the radio studio at KNUZ, which invited high school students to come in and watch the show, make requests, and contribute the occasional school cheer. He mentions the many artists that he brought to Houston's music venues such as the Plantation Ballroom, the City Auditorium, Music Hall, and Coliseum. He explains how he selected records to play and how his choices impacted the careers of people like Mickey Gilley and the Big Bopper, J P. Richardson. Additionally he explains how the independent record shops were hurt by the larger department stores selling records as lost-leaders to get people in their stores. Lastly, the conversation takes up the absence of oldies stations on the radio, even in diverse, big-market cities like Houston and Los Angeles. Berlin explains that this was a product of advertisers targeting young, impressionable consumers.

interviews

Arts; Radio broadcasting; Music; Radio broadcasting; Berlin, Paul

Houston, Texas

Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections

English

Collection
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
Houston History Archives
Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

Preservation Location: ark:/84475/pm3617qp92r