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Former radio
personality for Classic Country Radio, WBZI AM 1500 in Xenia, WKFI AM
1090 in Wilmington and WEDI AM 1130 in Eaton, Paul “Moon” Mullins,
received the 2007 Ohio Heritage Fellowship Award for
Performing Arts on Saturday, June 30, 2007during the
Cityfolk Festival at Riverscape MetroPark
in downtown Dayton.
The Ohio Arts
Council, in conjunction with the Cityfolk Festival and the Ohio Folk
Arts Network, created the Ohio Heritage Fellowships in 2003
awarding up to three
Ohio Heritage Fellowships annually to individuals whose work in the
folk arts has had a significant impact on the people and communities
of the state. The Ohio
Heritage Fellowship honors Ohio folk artists or groups who are the
finest and most influential masters of their particular art forms and
traditions; Ohio
master folk and traditional artists who carry forward the folk
traditions of their families and communities through practice,
teaching or advocacy. Ohio
Heritage Fellowships are awarded in any combination of these three
categories: performing arts
(folk dance and music),
community leadership, and
material culture
(folk art and crafts).
The 2007 Ohio Heritage
Fellowships are made possible in part by the support of the Ohio
Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
After nearly
45 years of broadcasting, the legendary Paul “Moon” Mullins
retired from his full-time position as the mid-day personality at
Classic Country Radio, March 4, 2005. His accomplishments in
broadcasting and the traditional country and bluegrass music industry
will remain for generations. The memories of his unique, ad-lib
advertising style for the thousands of sponsors he has been a
spokesperson for and his stories of real life experiences, many
relating to his Appalachian heritage, will never be forgotten by his
many loyal listeners.
Born in
Frenchburg, Kentucky in 1936, Paul Mullins was surrounded by the music
of Bluegrass pioneers such Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs,
and The Stanley Brothers, at an early age. His life was shaped
by the mountain people and experiences of rural life. During a tour
in the army from 1955 to 1958, Paul learned to play fiddle. After
this tour he landed his first professional job in the music business
with The Stanley Brothers as the fiddle player with their band,
The Clinch Mountain Boys. In 1960, Paul Mullins began his
broadcasting career as a full-time on-air personality, working at
stations in eastern Kentucky. His unique broadcasting style was
developed at WGOH in Grayson, KY, WMST in Mt. Sterling, KY and WTCR in
Ashland, KY before moving to Ohio in 1964 where he joined the staff of
WPFB in Middletown. The nickname “Moon” caught on quickly after a few
months on air in Ohio. From this point on, Moon Mullins was
instrumental in promoting the kind of music he loved to the people of
the Miami Valley.
As a native
Kentuckian, Moon’s style was an instant success with the thousands of
Appalachian transplants in southwestern Ohio. WPFB, reaching the
metropolitan areas of Dayton and Cincinnati, had a rich history among
performers and fans of traditional country and bluegrass music.
Mullins’ morning and afternoon programs from the Middletown station
were extremely influential in the preservation of this music and
served to introduce leagues of listeners to quality bluegrass from the
1960s through the 1980s, playing with and promoting the bluegrass
greats along the way. His broadcasts are valued greatly for his
knowledge about the industry, learned first-hand over the years
through personal relationships with artists like Bill Monroe,
Don Reno, Ralph Stanley, The Osborne Brothers and
Ricky Skaggs. But Mullins’ trademark was his down-home,
personal style of promoting his advertisers, bringing everyday
experiences into a meaningful perspective of their offering.
With the exception of management disputes, particularly in 1981 when
he relocated to Jellico, TN to manage a local radio station, Moon’s
association with the Middletown radio station lasted nearly 25 years,
until March of 1989.
In addition to
his broadcasting charisma, Moon has contributed many other experiences
to the music industry over the years. As a professional fiddle
player, Moon always kept a hand in performing and recording with
various bands. In 1962 he wrote and recorded one of his best
bluegrass contributions, the song, “Katy Daly”, which has been a
bluegrass standard for 40 years. For several years beginning in 1967,
he assisted the late Bill Monroe, serving as the Master of
Ceremonies for the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festivals in Brown County,
IN. For over 10 years, Bean Blossom was the biggest bluegrass event
of its kind in the country. In addition to his role as a Master of
Ceremonies at bluegrass events, he also personally promoted dozens of
other area festivals and concerts. Moon also helped establish The
Boys From Indiana in the 1970s, one of the premiere bluegrass
festival acts, who recorded and toured extensively for many years.
His only son,
Joe Mullins, began a broadcasting and musical career in the early 80’s
as well. Musically, The Traditional Grass, a band formed in
1983, including Moon, Joe and Mark Rader, worked extensively
throughout the region due to the popularity of Moon and Joe’s radio
programs. After they both resigned from the Middletown station in
1989, the band began performing, recording and touring full-time on a
nationwide basis. The Traditional Grass produced and recorded
many independent recordings and eventually four CD projects for Rebel
Records. Joe formed Town and Country Broadcasting in 1995 for the
purpose of purchasing WBZI AM 1500 in Xenia, OH. With such a
demanding business opportunity, The Traditional Grass
disbanded.
Moon was right at
home again behind the mic at WBZI and once again thousands of
listeners endeared to his style each weekday. No other broadcast
personality in the world could speak daily to listeners about planting
potatoes, churning butter, grinding corn meal or curing country hams.
Moon did not merely speak of these events from memory. He continued
to carry on these rural traditions himself.
In October of
2000, Moon was named Broadcaster of the Year and also received
a Distinguished Achievement Award, both from the International
Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the worldwide trade
organization for the bluegrass industry. Up until 2004, Moon still
played fiddle occasionally when the WBZI Bluegrass Band would
be called upon for special promotions. In March 2004, Moon’s workload
was reduced to a 2-hour air shift each weekday from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00
p.m. By July 2004, Moon could be heard on three stations with the
acquisition of WKFI AM 1090 in Wilmington in June 2003 and WEDI AM
1130 in Eaton in July 2004. This network of stations simulcasts a
unique mix of entertainment and information. The combined signals
reach all of southwestern Ohio as well as parts of northern Kentucky
and eastern Indiana. Programming is also broadcast via the Internet at
www.myclassiccountry.com.
Paul “Moon”
Mullins Timeline
·
1936 – Born in
Frenchburg, Menifee County, Kentucky
·
1955 – Served in the
U.S. Army, where he learned to play the fiddle
·
1958 - Joined The
Stanley Brothers band. One of the early groups to appear on
television
·
1960 - Began
broadcasting in Kentucky: WTCR, WGOH, WMST
·
1962 - Married Prudence
Williams
·
1962 - Joined The
Bluegrass Playboys, composing the tune “Katy Daly”, which
has became a well-known bluegrass standard.
·
1964 - Moved to Ohio –
broadcasted for WPFB in Middletown, morning and afternoon, the
Moon Mullins Show, where he promoted his style of music to
fans throughout the Miami Valley
·
1964 – 1978 Played
fiddle on recording sessions with Charlie Moore and Bill
Napier, Larry Sparks, the Goins Brothers, Charlie
Monroe, Earl Taylor and Jim McCall, Jimmy Martin,
and The Boys From Indiana
·
1965 - Son, Joe, was
born
·
1967 – Began working
for Bill Monroe as M.C. for the Bean Blossom festival for
several years.
1968-1988- promoted such popular acts
as The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Don Reno,
The Country Gentlemen, Jim & Jesse, J.D. Crowe
and many others at venues and festivals throughout Ohio
·
1973 – Daughter,
Christy, was born
·
1974 - Played fiddle
and helped organize the group, The Boys from Indiana
·
1983 - Began the
group, The Traditional Grass with son, Joe, and Mark Rader
·
1995 – Joined son, Joe,
at WBZI AM 1500, Classic Country Radio, in Xenia, OH where he
continued to be known for his knowledge of the classic country and
bluegrass music industry, as well as his down-home personal style of
advertising
Recent successes:
● 2000 - Began
broadcasting worldwide at www.wbzi.com
● 2000 -
IBMA –Distinguished Achievement Award
● 2000 - IBMA
– Broadcaster of the Year Award
● Year 2000
Census – Award of Recognition for his help
The
previous census had limited response from the Appalachian population
who migrated to the Ohio region. Due to his influence and commitment
to this segment of the Ohio population, he was asked to advertise the
2000 Census, urging listeners to complete and return their census
forms.
● May 2000 -
Featured in The Columbus Dispatch
● June 2000 -
Featured in Ohio Magazine
● August 2000
- Featured nationally on NPR’s All Things Considered
program
● March 2005
– Featured in Ohio Magazine with son, Joe, for
their Bluegrass radio programming
● March 4,
2005 – Retired from Classic Country Radio after nearly 45 years of
broadcasting
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