Symphony Sid - Early Life

Early Life

Sidney Tarnopol was born in New York City. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, his parents were Isidore (a printer) and Caroline, both Yiddish-speaking immigrants; his father was from Russia and his mother from Romania. Sidney was the oldest of three siblings—he had a brother Martin and a sister Mildred. Born on New York's Lower East Side, Sid grew up in Brooklyn, in a poor neighborhood. Not much is known about his youth, although he seems to have become a jazz fan as a teenager, and at one point tried to become a trumpet player. (Passman, 67) One source says he started college and then dropped out as a result of the Depression. By 1930, the census showed him working at a record store. He first got into radio in 1937, at a radio station in the Bronx, WBNX, where he began as an afternoon disc jockey, doing a show called the "Afternoon Swing Session". His show featured the biggest hits by black performers such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. He became extremely popular with young people, many of whom would come to the station hoping to meet him or make a request. In an era when black music was still not frequently heard on the air, Symphony Sid was among the few white announcers who played what was then called "race" or "sepia" recordings on a regular basis. In addition to being an announcer—in 1937, the word "disc jockey" was not yet in common use—Sid sold airtime for his own program and produced the commercials for his sponsors.