Curtis Bell, Oral History

Curtis Bell, Oral History

Curtis Bell (b. Jun 1, 1962; d. Aug 25, 2020), speaks about getting his start in broadcasting in Birmingham.

Curtis Bell

Bob Friedman

Birmingham Black Radio Museum

September 18, 2018

Anna Wallace

Emily Bibb

JPG

MP3

PDF

English

Bob Friedman

Curtis Bell

Birmingham Five Points West Library

Transcript from audio snippet:

Curtis Bell: I was actually ten, when I, you know, cause I used to go home, practice and I was everybody. I was Tall Paul, I was everybody. Anybody that was on the radio, I said, “I could do it.” So I would change my name to their name and try to work on skills and practice intro-ing records and ah, radio was very important when it comes to timing, and it’s like you have to be, you know, very, ah, precise with your timing and so I was just really fascinated with that. And I-

Bob Friedman: Is that, now when, when you’re ten years old in 1972, uh, twelve or whatever-

CB: 1972, yeah

BF: Um, you’re in school, yes?

CB: I’m in school.

BF: Where are you going to school?

CB: I went to school at Lewis Elementary at that time and they had a program, ah, that was designed for people with disability like myself. And ah, my teachers and-

BF: Can you describe your disability?

CB: I’ll elaborate on my disability, which I have cerebral palsy. And ah-

BF: Were you born with cerebral palsy?

CB: I was born with cerebral palsy, yes. I came in fighting…I was fighting for my life, so, and still fighting [laughs] and still today, so, I- and it’s very, you know it’s very interesting to me to-to want to do radio and- and after I started getting around, and hanging around different people, ah, it just really just blew my mind, and said “I want to do this.” And someone ah, by the name of Eddie Young, he was uh one of those fly-by-night jocks that came in at BUL radio. And they would actually- he did it, and John Ray did it, and when I mean that, they would actually pick me up in their arms.

Full interview: 51 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes