WTOL Toledo, Ohio: 1958 Radio Interview with Ronnie Self ("Mr. Frantic")
NORTON EP-024: WTOL Toledo, Ohio 1958 radio interview with Columbia recording artist Ronnie Self, transcribed for the first time!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eighteen-year-old Ronnie Self is one of the youngest stars to share the spotlight on the popular touring "Philip Morris Country Music Show," which also includes such country music veterans as Carl Smith, Red Sovine, Goldie Hill, and Gordon Terry. As one of the newest candidates for stardom, Ronnie has already established a solid foothold towards a successful career with his fast-moving Columbia record of "Ain't I'm A Dog." It wasn't always thus. At the age of 7, Ronnie made an attempt at songwriting. It didn't come off. Eight years later, he auditioned for radio. The comment: "too weird." Ronnie kept plugging and now, hundreds more rock n' roll fans every day are glad he did.
WTOL: Ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon we’re very fortunate in being able to talk with Ronnie Self, an up-and-coming young star on Columbia. Ronnie, I understand you’re calling me from - uh - Cincinnati today?
RONNIE: Right, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it over to Toledo, but, y’know, promotion tours and running around; they’re—they get you kinda jumpin’, y’know?
WTOL: Really keep you on the hop, huh?
RONNIE: Oh, right, you know it!
WTOL: Well, say, Ronnie, how long ago did you record ‘Bop-A-Lena’?
RONNIE: Uh, I recorded this thing about uh, hm… I guess it’s been about two months ago, or something like it—it’s been out about three, four weeks now, I guess, right now, uh-huh.
WTOL: I was going to say that, uh, your style resembles that of another artist in the field at the present time, but we won’t mention his name…
RONNIE: Little Richard, oh Little Richard, come on… [laughs]
WTOL: [Laughs] ah, have you done any ballad work?
RONNIE: Yes, on the flip-side of ‘Bop-A-Lena’ I have, uh, a ballad I wrote—it’s called, uh, ‘I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’—which is, uh, real slow and, y’know, sort of a ballad-type thing, I guess.
WTOL: Ronnie, uh, this is kind of a personal question—but how old are you?
RONNIE: I’m nineteen-years-old.
WTOL: And how long have you been in the recording field?
RONNIE: Uh, recording… I’ve been, uh, recording for about three years now; going on four. I started out recording for ABC-Paramount—back, uh, when they first started the company, y’know—and, um… I didn’t do anything there… and then I got over on Columbia, the first of the year—1957, I guess… and since then I’ve been, um, moving up a little; not much, y’know, but y’know, I’ve been making some headway.
WTOL: Well that’s kind of a break, isn’t it? For a young fella to get on Columbia?
RONNIE: Oh, right, you know it! I just… [laughs] I don’t know what happened, y’know!
WTOL: How’d you happen to latch onto this tune, ‘Bop-A-Lena’?
RONNIE: Uh, this, uh… oh, jeez—oh!—Mel Tillis guy. He’s, um, I don’t know, you’ve probably heard of him… in Nashville, he’s a pretty big songwriter—he wrote ‘Honky-Tonk Song’ and, uh, quite a few of the country hits of Webb Pierce—and, um, I was up at Cedarwood one day and he comes in with this song, he says… man, he said “it’s good,” and so I listened to it, and I really liked it, so… that’s the way it goes, y’know?
WTOL: Well I’ll say, you really put your heart in it!
RONNIE: Heart!? [Laughs] I put my THROAT into it, when you put it that way!
WTOL: Ronnie, where’s your hometown?
RONNIE: My hometown? Let’s see… Springfield, Missouri. [Laughs] I’ve traveled so much, I forget where I’m at! Or where I’m goin’!
WTOL: You’re actually from Springfield, though, huh?
RONNIE: Right, well, not exactly Springfield; Tin Town, Missouri—it’s about 20 miles outside of Springfield.
WTOL: Now we’re getting down to the banks! [Laughs] Always pick the bigger city!
RONNIE: Yeah, well y’know… it’s uh, pretty close to Springfield, so I call Springfield my home.
WTOL: Well, Ronnie, we certainly hope that you can get into Toledo and, uh, pay us a visit here at WTOL, and it’s been real pleasant talking with you and, uh, we want to wish you a lot of success with ‘Bop-A-Lena’
WTOL: Well, thank you very much, Larry! And, uh, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it in there this time, but I imagine that I will be coming in there in the near future because, um, part of me is saying, is we have a Philip Morris Country Music Show that I travel with, y’know—uh, Carl Smith—and we’re playing all over the country and I think that we’re coming up this way; but we’ll be in there I think within the next, uh, couple of days, or something like that.
WTOL: Oh, wonderful! Well, stop up and see us, will you?
RONNIE: Alright! Thank you very much, sir.
WTOL: Okay, and now let’s listen to this new record of yours… ‘Bop-A-Lena’!