Biography
Billy Parker's prominence in country broadcasting arose chiefly from his decades behind the microphone as a disc jockey instead of from any performances of his own, a situation made all the more striking by the fact that none of the countless Top 40 records he aired across those years belonged to him. He entered the world on July 19, 1939, in Okemah, Oklahoma, began studying guitar in childhood, and reached his first professional engagement at age fourteen on Tulsa's Big Red Jamboree broadcast. Club work followed a few years later, and in 1959 he obtained his initial disc-jockey assignment.
By 1963 he occupied the regular daytime slot at KFDI in Wichita, Kansas, while also hosting a television program in Tulsa; that same year he issued his debut single, "The Line Between Love and Hate," and won a national poll that crowned him "Mr. DJ U.S.A.," an accolade that opened the door to Nashville's WSM. After another release, "I'm Drinking All the Time," appeared in 1966, he toured with Ernest Tubb's Troubadors beginning in 1968 and remained with the ensemble for three years before taking a position at Tulsa's KVOO.
The Academy of Country & Western Music named him Disc Jockey of the Year in 1975 and again in 1977, 1978, and 1984. His first chart entry arrived in 1976 with "It's Bad When You're Caught (With the Goods)," drawn from the album Average Man. Subsequent singles appeared, among them the Ernest Tubb tribute "Thanks E.T. Thanks a Lot," yet none climbed higher than number fifty. His strongest showing came in 1982 with the title track of the LP (Who's Gonna Sing) The Last Country Song, an album that featured collaborations with Darrell McCall and Vassar Clements.
Following the 1983 duet collection Something Old, Something New, he withdrew from recording to concentrate on his duties as KVOO's program director, returning to the studio in 1988 with Always Country. A gospel album, I'll Speak Out for You, Jesus, surfaced in 1990; two years afterward he received induction into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and, around the same time, was appointed KVOO's executive director.
By 1963 he occupied the regular daytime slot at KFDI in Wichita, Kansas, while also hosting a television program in Tulsa; that same year he issued his debut single, "The Line Between Love and Hate," and won a national poll that crowned him "Mr. DJ U.S.A.," an accolade that opened the door to Nashville's WSM. After another release, "I'm Drinking All the Time," appeared in 1966, he toured with Ernest Tubb's Troubadors beginning in 1968 and remained with the ensemble for three years before taking a position at Tulsa's KVOO.
The Academy of Country & Western Music named him Disc Jockey of the Year in 1975 and again in 1977, 1978, and 1984. His first chart entry arrived in 1976 with "It's Bad When You're Caught (With the Goods)," drawn from the album Average Man. Subsequent singles appeared, among them the Ernest Tubb tribute "Thanks E.T. Thanks a Lot," yet none climbed higher than number fifty. His strongest showing came in 1982 with the title track of the LP (Who's Gonna Sing) The Last Country Song, an album that featured collaborations with Darrell McCall and Vassar Clements.
Following the 1983 duet collection Something Old, Something New, he withdrew from recording to concentrate on his duties as KVOO's program director, returning to the studio in 1988 with Always Country. A gospel album, I'll Speak Out for You, Jesus, surfaced in 1990; two years afterward he received induction into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and, around the same time, was appointed KVOO's executive director.
Albums
Singles
