Perhaps no person is associated with television in Roanoke, Virginia more than Irving Sharp.
Irv Sharp first started with WDBJ radio in 1936 playing music on the piano and organ. He eventually became an announcer with the station.
WDBJ radio became WFIR and according to its website, Sharp’s association with Dr Pepper earned him national attention. He hosted a country music show sponsored by the soft drink that was so popular, it was carried across the country.
The show aired on 120 stations and earned Irv the name “Mr. Dr Pepper.” He was also known as “The Silver Dollar Man.” Dr Pepper had a promotion where it would send employees to people’s homes. The representatives would give the people a silver dollar for every cold bottle of Dr Pepper they had in their refrigerators.
Dr Pepper reportedly thought so much of Sharp’s skills as a pitchman, it offered him a job as its national spokesman. According to his friends, he turned it down because he didn’t want to leave Roanoke.
The world changed for “Cousin Irv” in 1955 when WDBJ TV signed on the air.
He hosted shows like the”Town Crier” and “Popeye’s Cartoon Theatre,” but it was “Top O’ The Mornin'” that Irv was best known for.
Irv hosted the show that featured the bluegrass/traditional music of Don Reno & Red Smiley, and the Tennessee Cutups. They began playing for the show on December 31, 1956. Reno and Smiley parted ways in 1964. Smiley stayed with WDBJ and played most every morning until 1968 when Top O’ The Morning was canceled. Sadly, Smiley died at the young age of 47 due to the complications of diabetes.
The band and Irv held a reunion of “Top O’ The Mornin'” in October of 1990 as WDBJ7 celebrated its 35th anniversary.
With the end of Top O’ The Mornin,’ Irv shifted into hosting the retitled “Mornin'” where he did the weather and community announcements.
He also played the organ for Artie Levin’s daily fitness program. For many years up until around 1983, the two partnered for the show that featured Levin encouraging people to exercise daily.
For decades, the people of Roanoke woke up to the comforting sound of Cousin Irv’s voice and good humor.
I had the pleasure of working with him during his later years.
We worked on different shifts and our paths didn’t cross every day, but when they did, I was always a little starstruck. The great thing was, the Irv Sharp you saw on television was the same fun and good-natured man off the air. He always had a pleasant demeanor and encouraging words for someone early in their careers like me or the numerous young journalists he worked with.
I felt like I “made it” when Irv used a joke I sent him on the air.
Did you hear what happened to the cannibal who came home late for dinner? His wife gave him the cold shoulder.
Irv Sharp on Mornin’
“I’ve seen coffee cups drop when he walks into a room. White-haired ladies are just in awe when they see him,” he told the Roanoke Times & World-News in 1989.
Even though he worked in broadcasting for 60 years, the people never got tired of Irv Sharp. He was a welcome and warm presence to the television viewers of the Roanoke Valley.
He worked at WDBJ until May of 1993 when poor health forced him from the air. He died on November 25, 1993, at the age of 78. It was a sad day for the Valley as it lost a star that was as much of a warm glow as the Star that sits on top of the hill.
I grew up to Top O’the Morning. Irving Sharp was a delight, on air and in person. He truly represents the best of WDBJ and the Roanoke Valley. Thank you for highlighting a real star of Roanoke.
Even as a youngster in the late 1960s into the 1970s and beyond watching Irv Sharp in the mornings was a pretty regular occurrence, even living 100 miles away in Marion (and luckily in winter they would let us know if Smyth County schools would be open on snowy weekdays). Irv was an all-around entertainer and worked especially well with Artie Levin. Even all those decades later and almost 3000 miles away in Oregon, those are nice memories.