A Voice of His Time: A Biography of Charles Harvey Crutchfield - Hardcover

Shinn, Jerry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0996188428 ISBN 13: 9780996188425

Publisher: Lorimer Press, 2017

Synopsis

A Voice of His Time is the long past due biography of Charles H. Crutchfield, a man hailed as “the pioneer of commercial broadcasting.” Son of a cotton broker, born in Hope, Arkansas and educated in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Crutchfield quickly rose to prominence in the rapidly growing industry of radio and television. His story is told by former reporter Jerry Shinn, no stranger to the important figures who shaped Charlotte, North Carolina, city of the New South.

About this title

From the Author

Jerry Shinn grew up in South Carolina, graduated with Honors in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is a former associate editor, editorial page editor and award-winning columnist for The Charlotte Observer. He now lives in the North Carolina mountains and writes fiction, poetry, history, biography, commentary and music.

From the Inside Flap

A Voice of His Time is the long past due biography of Charles H. Crutchfield, a man hailed as “the pioneer of commercial broadcasting.” Son of a cotton broker, born in Hope, Arkansas and educated in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Crutchfield quickly rose to prominence in the rapidly growing industry of radio and television. His story is told by former reporter Jerry Shinn, no stranger to the important figures who shaped Charlotte, North Carolina, city of the New South.

Blessed with a melodius voice and a daring demeanor, Crutchfield came of age right as radio filtered into homes across America. After a short-lived tenure at Wofford College, he bounced around fledgling radio stations across the South ― from Columbia, Charleston, and  Greenville, South Carolina to Augusta, Georgia ― finally landing at Charlotte’s WBT in 1933. Crutchfield and his alter ego, Charlie Briarhopper, soon became fixtures on the airwaves. Even better, he was poised to jump into the next big thing, television, just as it leapt onto the forefront. In 1945, at only age 33, Crutchfield was named general manager of WBT, the youngest man to hold such a post in the nation at that time.

The love of his life, high school sweetheart Jacquelin Williams, aka Pee Wee, at his side, Crutchfield was more than just a voice; his wide ranging talents took him far, from covering FDR on the campaign trail to announcing college football on the field, from the boardroom to the Berlin Wall, from the Kremlin to the Nixon White House. 

It is a book about being born at the right time and with a zest for the new and unknown, about a “voice” that had the uncanny knack of engaging one on one with a vast audience from behind the microphone, laying the groundwork for the power of the medium. 

Edition details

• Publisher: Lorimer Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0996188428
• ISBN 13: 9780996188425
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336