Don Phillips' radio career reads like something out of an old broadcasting
drama.
In
1934 at the age of 14 his voice changed into a deep resonant
tone -- the sound radio managers love to hear -- and a Kilgore
station grabbed him a year later to announce the news on its
remote station in Henderson.
He was fresh out of Henderson High School and his only previous
job had been working in his uncle's store.
Henderson's
KOCA gave him the on-air name, Sonny Phillips, and when he was
assigned to broadcast the New
London school disaster to national audiences in 1936, his
career took off like a rocket.
Intrigued by
his deep voice, New York radio station WENR paid his air fare
to the Big Apple for an audition, but when it learned he was only
15, he was sent back home. The same happened with Chicago's WGN.
In 1939, when Lufkin's
first radio station went on the air, Phillips became the town's
first announcer. He stayed several years with KRBA and broadcaster
Darrell Yates, an East Texas radio pioneer, before moving on to
Huntsville
where Yates had purchased KSAM.
In the forties, Phillips joined KTRH, the Houston Chronicle's
radio station and a major CBS affiliate, and worked for the company
on two separate occasions, separated by stints with Elliott Roosevelt's
Texas Station Network, service with the U.S. Air Force, and a
job with WGST, Atlanta.
In Atlanta, Phillips was tapped to announce Franklin D. Roosevelt's
fireside chats at Warm Springs, Georgia Phillips' return to Houston
resulted in one of his biggest breaks. He began doing announcing
jobs for the personal appearances of celluloid cowboys Gene Autry,
Roy Rogers, and the Sons of the Pioneers.
He was present for many of the stars' appearances in the old Sam
Houston Coliseum in Houston. "On one occasion, Gene Autry wanted
me to ride a horse with him in the arena. I told him I didn't
know how, but Gene couldn't believe a Texas boy couldn't ride
horses. As we made our rounds in the arena, my horse spooked and
threw me. I wasn't hurt, but Gene had a good laugh," recalled
Phillips.
Phillips also worked with Gene on his long-time CBS show, Melody
Ranch, and once appeared on another radio show, the Western Barn
Dance, where he sang his own musical compositions.
During
his career, Phillips also became good friends with country and western
singers Billy Walker, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Eddie Arnold, Hank Williams,
Rex Allen, Jr., and yodeling champion Carolina Cotton. He also worked
as a radio announcer in Kilgore,
Abilene,
Wichita
Falls, San
Angelo, Ballinger,
Denver, and Nashville and did special news broadcasts for CBS, the
Western Radio Network, and Mutual Broadcasting System.
Phillips
retired from radio in 1967 while working at KTRH in Houston.
Today, at 81, he lives on a ranch near Bullard with his wife --
and his radio memories.
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