{"id":21597,"date":"2019-08-02T14:27:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T20:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=21597"},"modified":"2019-08-06T07:24:54","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T13:24:54","slug":"dollar-bill-lawson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/dollar-bill-lawson\/","title":{"rendered":"Dollar Bill Lawson"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cDollar\u201d Bill Lawson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill Lawson was destined to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps and become a dentist \u2026 until his senior year in college. That\u2019s about the time he had a heart-to-heart and told his father he had decided to become a radio announcer instead. The stunned Dr. Lawson took two slow blinks and asked, \u201cFor how long?\u201d Well, sir, long enough and successfully enough for the Alabama Broadcaster\u2019s Association to induct your son, \u201cDollar\u201d Bill Lawson, into the 2019 ABA Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, my dad was a dentist, and I was his only son and I thought I could be a dentist, too,\u201d explains Bill. \u201cI pretty much went all the way through college planning to go into dental school, but that little voice inside of me just screamed that I would be the worst dentist on earth! My patients would love me, but they’d have to go to another dentist to fix what I screwed up. I get impatient and I’m not good with my hands like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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WXOR-WQLT Florence 1968, working for Sam Phillips<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI understand why my dad thought I was an idiot,\u201d smiles Bill. \u201cIt’s hard work. And you struggle and you go from town to town and work up from weekends and nights, and you had terrible pay and all this sort of stuff. I mean it’s an awful business for the first couple of years or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I started doing pretty good and became well-known in Birmingham,\u201d he continues. \u201cSome of dad\u2019s dental friends would tell him they heard me, and he told me, \u2018You know, growing up you were known as Dr. Lawson\u2019s boy, but now I\u2019m known as \u201cDollar\u201d Bill\u2019s daddy.\u2019 That was nice because I think I was going to feel guilty about not becoming a dentist until he went to his grave had he not told me that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where did the nickname \u201cDollar Bill\u201d come from? Bill says he picked it up when he was promoting a grocery store giveaway. His boss insisted all his DJs have nicknames, \u201cHe pointed at me and said, \u2018You are Grocery Bag Bill,\u2019 and I knew I had to come up with something fast, so I said, \u2018No, I\u2019m Dollar Bill.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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“Dollar” Bill & Patti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill has worked in both radio and television doing a little of everything including production and voice work, but radio has always his \u201cmain thing.\u201d During Patti and Doc\u2019s morning show on Birmingham\u2019s WZZK, Bill would provide zany remote pieces, which added to the show\u2019s appeal. When Doc became ill in the early 80\u2019s, Bill filled in, which eventually led him to become the official morning show cohost with Patti, moving with her to WDXB in 2002. At the time, Bill says he was terrified of working with Patti full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually got along much better than she and Doc did,\u201d laughs Bill. \u201cWe worked together almost twenty years and had the highest rated morning show in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill hasn\u2019t slowed down yet. He hosts a morning show, Dollar Bill and Madison, with Madison Reeves, and is so grateful to get to work in the state he loves.<\/p>\n

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Going bald for St. Jude<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Country Radio Broadcasters named Bill the recipient of the CRS 2019 Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award, which recognizes an individual in the Country Radio industry who has displayed a magnanimous spirit of caring and generosity in service to their community. For many years, Bill has graciously donated his time to work with children\u2019s charities, including Children\u2019s Miracle Network, Easter Seals, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and St. Jude, hosting annual radio telethons. Since being introduced to the St. Jude mission in 2002, Bill has been the driver behind every radiothon, event, and walk that\u2019s been done for the cause locally and, as of 2019, his support has helped raise over three million dollars for St. Jude in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

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WERC 1986<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBirmingham is where I always wanted to be, because my family’s here,\u201d explains Bill. \u201cI never really wanted to go anywhere else. And so, you know, I turn around and realize I\u2019ve worked in Alabama my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what makes his induction into the ABA\u2019s hall of fame so special. \u201cGoing into the Hall of Fame for Alabama, I just don’t know. It just means more. It’s just amazing to me. I’m just thrilled and humbled buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Bill Lawson was destined to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps and become a dentist \u2026 until his senior year in college. That\u2019s about the time he had a heart-to-heart and told his father he had decided to become a radio announcer instead. The stunned Dr. Lawson took two slow blinks and asked, \u201cFor how … Continue reading Dollar Bill Lawson<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21597","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21597"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21630,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21597\/revisions\/21630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}