1975 Pat Mullins Country Bluegrass Musician Disc Jockey - 6-Page Vintage Article

Description

1975 Pat Mullins Country Bluegrass Musician Disc Jockey - 6-Page Vintage Article
Original, Vintage Magazine Article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
PAUL
MULLINS:
MUSICIAN,
DISC JOCKEY
AND
BLUEGRASS
INFLUENCE
M iddleton, Ohio, an industrial town on
the Greater Miami River between Dayton
and Cincinnati, might seem at first glance
to be an unlikely center for bluegrass
music. However, there is an unusually
large number of bluegrass musicians in
Southwest Ohio, festivals abound in the
area, and bluegrass performers from all
over the country have found it an
enthusiastic and profitable audience.
While there are several factors that
contribute to this, two are outstanding:
recent estimates of the population mix in
the Miami River Valley show about 55%
are either from or have family ties in
Kentucky: and for the last eleven years,
the region has been under the influence of
an extraordinary man, Paul “Moon”
Mullins, who communicates with the local
populace twice daily over radio station
WPFB, and has sold them on bluegrass
music right along with selling the cars and
furniture of his sponsors.
“I don’t know whether they first heard
bluegrass through me or grew up with it,
but there’s people that didn’t like it when I
first came here and then they said it kind
of grows on you. I know I’ve make
believers out a whole bunch of them, or at
least got them to where they can tolerate
it. They listen for some reason!
“This is an exceptional market right
here, because of the ‘Briarhoppers,’ the
people from Kentucky, Tennessee, and
West Virginia, if we all left Ohio and went
home there wouldn’t be enough here to
turn off the gas and electricity!
“I like country people, you know, who
are countrified and don’t give a damn who
knows it. Being country is like being
pregnant - you either are or you ain’t. You
can’t be about half. Pretty soon it’s going
to show on you. I preach this on the radio
as my philosophy. I also know that I’m
country, see. A fellow that don’t know
what he is don’t know very damn much.
“I don’t know why people have the
impression that there’s no dignity in being
a ‘Briar’ or being from the country. I have
as much dignity as any man that ever
walked the earth, I think, and I’m from
Eastern Kentucky, from right down the
head of the holler down there.”
This same dignity and pride and
obvious sincerity have won loyalty from
listeners and sponsors alike.
“In order to be successful, I find, you
have got to have more than just a record
to play. You got to make folks want to
listen at you. That’s the reason I try to
keep humor in my radio program - keep it
in my commercials, to where it don’t get
boring. I’ve been here ten years and I still
have some of the first sponsors with me.
There ain’t very many radio programs
that can keep five new-car dealers on the
air in an hour and a half and keep them
over the years like I have. I know these
people personally; I’ve made friends with
them and know their dog’s name and how
many children they’ve got. On the radio,
there are so many ways you can work a
fellow and keep him satisfied and on the
air. Like talking to him personally from
the air. There’s ham in everybody and you
have to find out what makes their foot pat,
what turns them on.”
What makes a lot of feet pat in Paul’s
listening area is his choice of music.
“It was wide open when I came here,
but I’ve proved that if you give bluegrass
a chance folks will listen to it. To make
them listen to the radio you’ve got to have
more than the Stanley Brothers and the
Country Gentlemen. You can’t play all
bluegrass. I tried that when I first came
here, but there ain’t enough good
bluegrass to go every day and program
four hours of it. And you cannot play bad
bluegrass! I play, according to how long
the records are, about two country songs
then I’ll play three, but I never have it
planned. What I try to do is play the good
country.
“Country music is basically simple and
honest and easy. To me you ought to be
able to sit and whistle it. Some of that
stuff that’s supposed to be country music,
you can’t sit and whistle, and that’s the
stuff I won’t play.
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