The Papers of Charles H. Crutchfield

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 of that station. 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 businessman 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 appointee 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 and his wife, Jacquelin, have two children, a son, Richard, and a daughter, Leslie.

Back to Top

Mr. Crutchfield was interviewed by Doug Mayes for an oral history on December 21, 1977. This oral history (au 968 reel orig) is stored with other audio holdings of the Library of American Broadcasting.

The Papers of Charles H. Crutchfield have been divided into three series. They include:

Series I: Jefferson Pilot/Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Co.
Series II: International Broadcasting
Series III: Miscellaneous

Back to Top

This series contains a variety of materials documenting Mr. Crutchfield's career in the field of broadcasting but is woefully incomplete. The researcher will find correspondence congratulating Mr. Crutchfield on his promotion to Manager of WBT and as President of Jefferson Pilot Broadcasting Company 18 years later, but there is very little material on Mr. Crutchfield's day to day management of the company. Included in this series are speeches and articles Mr. Crutchfield wrote, an accounting report from 1972, staff memos, requisition forms, and other company documents.

Series II: International Broadcasting, 1951-1962, (1.0 lin. ft)

This series contains correspondence, annotated photographs, negatives, postcards, periodicals, and reports from Mr. Crutchfield's numerous activities in world wide broadcasting. Correspondence dates from Mr. Crutchfield's assignment to Greece for the U. S. State Department, his correspondence and reports from his trip to Moscow in 1956, and his trip to Munich, Germany for the Radio Free Europe Inspection Tour in 1962. The photographs (71) are also from trip to Munich in 1962.

Series III: Miscellaneous, 1972, (0.5 lin. ft)

Mr. Crutchfield was involved in many organizations not specific to broadcasting. This series contains materials, dated 1972, from these organizations and includes newsletters, correspondence, memos and reports. Organizations Mr. Crutchfield was involved with include: The Heineman Foundation, The Newcomen Society, The Billy Graham Crusade and the North Carolina Council on Crime and Delinquency.

For further information, contact the Library of American Broadcasting.