Crutchfield, Charles Harvey, 1912-1998

Charles Harvey Crutchfield was born in Hope, Ark., on 27 July 1912, grew up in Spartanburg, S.C., and matriculated at Wofford College for one year, 1929-1930. He began his career in broadcasting in 1929 as a radio announcer and worked at a number of radio stations before joining the staff of WBT in Charlotte, N.C., in 1933. Crutchfield held several positions at the station and at its parent company, retiring as president of the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Company in 1977. Crutchfield had a decades-long friendship with the Reverend Billy Graham and was chiefly responsible for launching Graham's television presence. Following his retirement, Crutchfield founded his own consulting company, Media Communications, Inc., which was devoted to broadcasting issues, and was active with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the North Carolina Agency for Public Telecommunications, as well as in the larger broadcasting community and in professional and civic organizations.

Radio announcer and executive. Born July 27, 1912. Died August 19, 1998. Career active 1930s-1970s. His career at WBT Charlotte spanned over forty years. Retired in 1977 as president of the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Company, owner of WBT.

Broadcasting Executive, Jefferson Pilot/Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company 1945-1972. Acting General Manager, WBT 1945-1965.

Charles Harvey Crutchfield (1912-1998) had a long career at WBT (Chapel Hill, NC) including serving as announcer with the WBT Briarhoppers; program director, WBT (1935-1945); Acting General Manager (1945-1963); President (1963-1977).

Charles Harvey Crutchfield (1912-1998) was born in Hope, Arkansas, on July 27, 1912. After attending public schools in Spartanburg, South Carolina, he matriculated at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina for one year, 1929-1930. His first job in radio was at WSPA in Spartanburg, South Carolina. From 1929 to 1933 he was an announcer and program director for various North and South Carolina radio stations, ending up at Radio WBT in North Carolina from 1933-1935. For ten years, 1935-1945, he was Program Director. In the early years he was an announcer with the legendary WBT Briarhoppers, a group of country musicians who broadcast a live program daily on WBT. He was appointed Acting General Manager at WBT in 1945 and subsequently stayed on and became President in 1963. Mr. Crutchfield retired in 1977 after 44 years with the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Company.

Mr. Crutchfield was involved in many other professional activities including a U. S. State Department appointment for a Special Mission to Greece in 1951. In 1956 he was one of forty-eight businessmen representing the broadcast industry touring the former Soviet Union. In 1962 he visited Radio Free Europe operations in Munich, Germany as part of the Radio Free Europe 1963 Fund Drive, of which he was North Carolina Vice Chairman. He was a presidential appointed member of the National Commission on World Population from 1974 to 1975 and served as chairman of the communications Committee for that organization. He also served as secretary-treasurer for the CBS-TV Network Affiliates Advisory Board in 1973.

Mr. Crutchfield was married to wife Jacquelin for 66 years, and had two children, a son, Richard, and a daughter, Leslie.

Charles Harvey Crutchfield was born in Hope, Ark., on 27 July 1912, grew up in Spartanburg, S.C., and matriculated at Wofford College for one year, 1929-1930. He began his career in broadcasting in 1929 as an announcer with Spartanburg's first radio station and worked at a number of radio stations before joining the staff of WBT in Charlotte, N.C., in 1933. When Crutchfield joined the staff of WBT, it was owned by the Columbia Broadcasting System; this station was sold to Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, which expanded its interests in the broadcasting field, purchasing radio station WBTW of Florence, S.C., and television station WBTV, the first such station in the Carolinas, and creating a subsidiary company, Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company. This company is now known as Jefferson-Pilot Communications Company, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. Crutchfield became program director of the station in 1935 and in 1945, following the sale of WBT to Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, became general manager of the station. Crutchfield had a decades-long friendship with the Reverend Billy Graham and was chiefly responsible for launching Graham's television presence. In 1965, Crutchfield became president of Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company and remained in this position until his retirement in 1977. Following his retirement from the Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting Company, Crutchfield founded his own consulting company, Media Communications, Inc., which was devoted to broadcasting issues. Crutchfield was nominated to the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1976 by President Gerald Ford, and remained active with the CPB for several years. He also served as the chair of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Agency for Public Telecommunications (APT), which was started by Governor James B. Hunt Jr. in 1980.

Crutchfield was active in numerous professional and civic organizations, including a United States State Department appointment to assist in setting up the Greek radio network in 1951, serving as a representative of the United States broadcasting industry in a special mission to Russia in 1956, and visiting Radio Free Europe operations in Munich, Germany, in 1962. He was elected president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in 1971, received an honorary doctorate from Appalachian State University in 1973, and received the North Carolina Distinguished Citizen Award in 1977. Throughout his life, Crutchfield was an adamant anti-communist.

In 1931, Crutchfield married Jacqueline Williams of Miami, Fla., and they had two children, Richard and Leslie. He died in 1998.