BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 22 AL-o2-ideas'-Stewart
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Shelley Stewart became the first
African American to be inducted into the Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall
of Fame, during the ABA's Summer Convention in Point Clear. Stewart, a
longtime Birmingham disc jockey, talk show host and radio station owner during
a 55-year broadcasting career, is also Chairman and CEO of o2 ideas, a
full-service advertising and public relations agency in Birmingham.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/CLTU135 )
Stewart overcame impoverished beginnings and family tragedies as a child
to eventually become one of Birmingham's best-known radio personalities and
one of America's most prominent African American businessmen. Born into the
deeply segregated city of Birmingham in the 1930s, he survived witnessing his
own mother's murder, suffering abandonment as an infant, and severe abuse as a
child. Out of this story of poverty and neglect emerged a man who taught
himself to read, later citing his voracious reading appetite for keying his
later success.
Beginning as a radio personality in 1949 and sometimes known by his on-air
moniker of "Shelley the Playboy," his broadcasts during Birmingham's human
rights struggles of the 1960s served as a critical communication path for
young African Americans involved in street protests there. His loyal
following also included a great many white listeners, which had the effect of
bringing the races together through music during that turbulent era.
Stewart's "parallel career" in advertising also began in the 1960s, and his
lifetime odyssey is chronicled in The Road South, a book by Time Warner.
ABA Executive Director Sharon Tinsley said "it is an honor, and highly
fitting, for the Alabama Broadcasters to have Shelley Stewart in our
first-ever Hall of Fame class. We developed the idea for the Hall of Fame to
honor those key personalities who have filled our lives with great
broadcasting content and programming over the decades. Shelley was a voice to
so many who never had a 'voice' of their own, and it's the right time to
celebrate his contribution to life in Alabama."
Besides Stewart and 34 past winners of the ABA Broadcaster of the Year
award, also inducted into the inaugural ABA Hall of Fame class were Bert Bank,
retired radio station owner and founder of the University of Alabama Football
Network; Voncile Pearce, retired CEO of Radio South, Inc.; and posthumously,
Keith Barze of WBRC TV and the University of Alabama, who set up the first
public television station in the state; and Dot Moore, a longtime TV
personality in Mobile.
About o2 ideas
o2 ideas is a leading marketing and retail communications company based in
Birmingham, AL. Clients include Verizon Wireless Midwest Area, Taylor
Morrison, The Home Depot, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Samford University,
Verizon Wireless GA/AL, and Alabama State University among many others.
Numerous other Birmingham-area clients include The Mattie C. Stewart
Foundation, The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 16th Street Baptist Church,
bewhoyouwannabe among others. For more information about o2 ideas, visit
http://www.o2ideas.com .
SOURCE o2 ideas
