Small Collection: Bernard Zuccaro "B.Z." Collection

Collection

Identifier: sc_010

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Small collection consisting of letters to the WIBR Radio Station including “Meet Your Neighbor” submissions, ephemera from WIBR. There are three folders and tapes of the show, family events, and local advertisements.

Dates

1953-1955

Creator

Zuccaro, Bernard (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

No access restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

WIBR Radio Station began broadcasting in April of 1948 as “The Voice of Community Service” with an early effort to raise $65,000 for a new Baton Rouge General Hospital. WIBR was the first radio station to bring Major League Baseball to Baton Rouge in 1948. The station played a wide variety of music and had numerous disc jockeys who had a variety of shows through the years.

Bernard “B.Z.” Zuccaro was born in Natchez, Ms. in 1924 and died in Baton Rouge, La. in 1990. He worked at WIBR for 38 years and retired from WYNK. He was a U.S. Army veteran of WWII. He attended LSU.

Bob Earle was born in St. Louis, Mo. in 1917 and died in Baton Rouge, La. in 1993. Earle pursued a career in acting and worked at the Mercury Theater in New York, N.Y. making an appearance in Orson Welles’ 1939 “War of the Worlds”. Earle moved to Hollywood and appeared in supporting roles in small movies before moving to Baton Rouge, La. in 1948 to take a position as a disc jockey at the new WIBR Radio Station. Earle became one of the most popular disc jockeys in Baton Rouge and was known for shows like “Mother Earle’s Household Hints” and “Meet Your Neighbor”. Earle later owned and managed the station and sold it in 1989. He was a long time member of The Baton Rouge Little Theater (now Theater Baton Rouge) receiving numerous awards.