A Texas Radio Legend Has Passed On

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of a true Texas radio legend. Phil Parr died on Wednesday April 22nd in Lufkin. He was 74 years old, born October 12, 1940, in St. Louis Missouri, but grew up and lived most of his life in Texas.

Phil was the most incredibly talented and creative radio man I ever knew, despite being blind from birth. He was also a very talented singer and guitar player, and wrote a number of songs.

I got to know him while working at KSPL AM/FM in Diboll-Lufkin in the early 80s, and I can testify that there was nothing he couldn’t do. A master DJ and broadcast engineer, he could build you a radio station from the ground up, complete with all the electronics. It was amazing to watch him crawling around in a completely dark production room or getting inside the on-air console fixing a problem.

He turned his garage into a recording studio where he recorded himself and others singing and picking, and doing commercials and promos for radio stations up and down the road. He would have me or another of his many friends come to his house and record his scripts, so he could play them back in his headphones and repeat what his ears told him. He told me once that his blindness was just an inconvenience, not a disability.

I cannot do his story full justice in this space, so I will refer you to his website where he tells his life story in his own words. http://www.philparr.net/about_me

Please check it out. He was a most remarkable man.

As a teen in the late 1960s, I listened to Phil regularly. I arrived at KTLW in 1972 for my 1st radio job, when Joey Jay "JJ the DJ" was the PD. Phil came by for a visit and told a story of coming back from the Western Club on Telephone Rd one night, in which he told Joey he wanted to drive. Joey told him "I can't let you drive. Besides, it's dark." Phil told him, "It's always dark for me, so let me take the wheel." He did it and drove for several miles. Most of Phil's listeners knew he was blind. One morning, he did the 8AM news to everyone's surprise. Joey was in the newsroom and slowly read the stories to Phil, which he repeated and reported flawlessly on the air. That got the phones ringing. A lot folks actually believed he regained his sight. He was a gentleman and it was certainly a pleasure to meet Phil.