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Associated With

  • WBAI Radio, New York, NY, 1964 – 1972
  • WDHA Radio, Dover, NJ, 1969 – 1972
  • Muleskinner News magazine, 1970 – 1977
  • Rebel Records, 1972 – 1973
  • WYTI Radio, Rocky Mount, VA, 1973 – 1976, 1977 – 1996
  • WVWR/WVTF Radio, Roanoke, VA, 1975 – 1990
  • WNLB Radio, Rocky Mount, VA, 1976 – 1977
  • WTJU Radio, Charlottesville, VA, 1992 – 1996

Mentors

  • Ray Davis
  • Fred Bartenstein
  • Carlton Haney
  • Jim Eanes

Led the Way

  • Wrote liner notes for approximately 100 bluegrass and old-time music albums and CDs.
  • Set high standards of professionalism for broadcasting, writing, and emceeing within the bluegrass community.
  • Served as a mentor to other broadcasters and presenters.
  • Documented the careers of early bluegrass pioneers with informative and insightful articles for Muleskinner News.
  • IBMA Award of Merit (Distinguished Achievement Award), 1988.
  • Two-time recipient of IBMA award for Best Liner Notes, 1994 and 1998.
  • Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2004.

By the Way

  • Worked as a margin clerk on Wall Street and compiler of country music charts for Billboard magazine before becoming a full-time radio personality. Both of these occupations required a quick mind and the capacity to manage massive amounts of detail.
  • Loved the Dobro (especially Josh Graves) and played a little.
  • Interviewed numerous artists on his “Bluegrass with Bill Vernon” program including Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks, the Country Gentlemen, Charlie Moore, Mike Auldridge, John Starling, J. D. Crowe, Curley Lambert, and Wilma Lee Cooper.
  • Amassed a collection of 70,000 recordings, including 78s, 45s, LPs, and CDs. As a natural offshoot of his collecting, Vernon also sold bluegrass, country, and jazz recordings by auction, set sale, and at flea markets and record shows. With an almost photographic memory, Vernon could quote not only the artist, title, and release number of a record, but usually its master number.
  • Was a pall bearer at the funeral of Charlie Monroe and an honorary pall bearer for Lester Flatt.

Associated With

  • WBAI Radio, New York, NY, 1964 – 1972
  • WDHA Radio, Dover, NJ, 1969 – 1972
  • Muleskinner News magazine, 1970 – 1977
  • Rebel Records, 1972 – 1973
  • WYTI Radio, Rocky Mount, VA, 1973 – 1976, 1977 – 1996
  • WVWR/WVTF Radio, Roanoke, VA, 1975 – 1990
  • WNLB Radio, Rocky Mount, VA, 1976 – 1977
  • WTJU Radio, Charlottesville, VA, 1992 – 1996

Mentors

  • Ray Davis
  • Fred Bartenstein
  • Carlton Haney
  • Jim Eanes

Led the Way

  • Wrote liner notes for approximately 100 bluegrass and old-time music albums and CDs.
  • Set high standards of professionalism for broadcasting, writing, and emceeing within the bluegrass community.
  • Served as a mentor to other broadcasters and presenters.
  • Documented the careers of early bluegrass pioneers with informative and insightful articles for Muleskinner News.
  • IBMA Award of Merit (Distinguished Achievement Award), 1988.
  • Two-time recipient of IBMA award for Best Liner Notes, 1994 and 1998.
  • Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2004.

By the Way

  • Worked as a margin clerk on Wall Street and compiler of country music charts for Billboard magazine before becoming a full-time radio personality. Both of these occupations required a quick mind and the capacity to manage massive amounts of detail.
  • Loved the Dobro (especially Josh Graves) and played a little.
  • Interviewed numerous artists on his “Bluegrass with Bill Vernon” program including Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks, the Country Gentlemen, Charlie Moore, Mike Auldridge, John Starling, J. D. Crowe, Curley Lambert, and Wilma Lee Cooper.
  • Amassed a collection of 70,000 recordings, including 78s, 45s, LPs, and CDs. As a natural offshoot of his collecting, Vernon also sold bluegrass, country, and jazz recordings by auction, set sale, and at flea markets and record shows. With an almost photographic memory, Vernon could quote not only the artist, title, and release number of a record, but usually its master number.
  • Was a pall bearer at the funeral of Charlie Monroe and an honorary pall bearer for Lester Flatt.

From the Archives

From the Archives: Bill Monroe and Bill Vernon talking before a show. Circa 1975. From the Bill Vernon Collection.

“With all the Ivy League education to which I’ve been exposed, the wisest, sagest people that I’ve run across have been people like Charlie Monroe, Lester Flatt and some of the old people.”
Brenda McDaniel in “Profiles – High on Bluegrass,” The Roanoker, December 1981.
“That’s part of why I flunked out of college: I was always working on radio!”
Penny Parsons in “Bluegrass with Bill Vernon,” Bluegrass Unlimited, August, 1983.
“I knew Bill from the many festivals, the late nights talking in the funniest ways possible about things I never heard anyone else in bluegrass mention, let alone know so eloquently. He was a first-rate intellect who always had great jokes to tell. I admired his mind… always coming away from a conversation with an acute sense of cortex envy.”
Tim Stafford, post to bgrass-l, November 20, 1996.
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