University of Virginia Library

WUVA Bans 'Mr.B.P.'

Citing the disc as
"unmusical" and "one in a
series of embarrassments Berry
Parkhill has suffered", WUVA
announced yesterday that it
has banned the record "Mr.
BP" from its schedule of
regular programming.

Composed by Robb
Hilliard, a second year student
at the University, the record
"Mr. BP" hails the exploits of
Parkhill, an obvious All-ACC
and All-American candidate
who leads the conference in
scoring. Recorded by The
Occasion, a high school rock
outfit from Waynesboro, "Mr.
BP" was distributed within the
state at the end of last week
and came to WUVA's studios,
Saturday.

Although the decision by
WUVA concerning the ban was
made Saturday, no official
notice was posted until Sunday
and conceivably the record
may have been played by
mistake Saturday.
Nevertheless, it is doubtful that
the ban will be lifted and in
editorial comment, this week,
station president Bob Hagan
has suggested that all the
publicity campaigns pushing
Parkhill for All American tend
to "ignore the contributions of
the other Virginia players".

The history of the whole
incident unwinds from late
January when Hilliard wrote
the song, showed it to Sports
Information Director Barney
Cooke and told Mr. Cooke that
he was a great fan of the
Wahoos and Parkhill. Hilliard
told Mr. Cooke that he would
like to record the tune and
donate all profits to the
Student Aid Foundation, the
chief benefactor of the
University scholarship
program.

Just one of several
advertising efforts hoping to
bolster Parkhill's chances for
All American, the record joins
numerous poster, post cards
and "Parkhill For President"
bumper stickers distributed in
his behalf. Labeling these as
"cheap gimmicks", WUVA's
Hagan described publicity of
this nature as "an insult to
Barry, the team, and the school
itself".