Researching Del Sharbutt

Sharbutt attended Texas Christian University, initially planning to study law. After he became involved in drama and music there, however, he changed his career plans. His first appearance on radio was in 1929 as a singer on WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas. He soon became an announcer, and from that point on, he made his career in broadcasting. Sharbutt's obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that he spent "four decades as an announcer, newscaster, and company spokesman."

A 1943 article in Radio Mirror magazine summarized Sharbutt's progress from local station WBAP to his then-current role at CBS:

[At WBAP] Del was a one-man radio station, singing, acting, and announcing at $25 per week. After several years of working stations all over the Southwest, he ended up at $19 a week. Not satisfied with this progress in reverse, he went to Chicago and, after starving for two weeks, took a job singing in a Presbyterian church. There, he met a man who steered him into his first break as an announcer on Chicago's station WJJD. Del stuck at that for a year and a half, then came to New York. He arrived without a single contact, and three days later, beat out 50 competitors for an important job at CBS.

Old-time radio shows for which Sharbutt was an announcer included, The Man I Married, Lavender and Old Lace, Guy Lombardo, Jack Pearl, Ray Noble, Bob Hope, The Song Shop, Hobby Lobby, Myrt and Marge, The Hour of Charm, Melody and Madness, Colgate Ask-It-Basket, Lanny Ross,Amos 'n' Andy, Club Fifteen, The Jack Carson Show, Lum and Abner, Your Hit Parade, The Campbell Playhouse, Request Performance, Meet Mr. McNutley, and Meet Corliss Archer.

In 1958, Sharbutt was involved in an effort to revive a semblance of old-time radio on ABC. The Jim Backus Show was described in the Milwaukee Sentinel as "what might be called an old-fashioned radio variety show." Sharbutt was the announcer for the program, which featured singers Betty Ann Grove and Jack Haskell and a quintet, The Honey Dreamers. Also in 1958, Sharbutt became a disc jockey on WABC in New York City. Another old-time radio announcer, Tony Marvin, and he began "hosting afternoon record shows in their distinctively deep voices." His other on-air activities in radio included being a newscaster for the Mutual Broadcasting System and a master of ceremonies for a Ringabuk, a local program in New York City.

Sharbutt was an announcer for television programs, including Who Do You Trust?, The Jerry Colonna Show, Your Hit Parade The Betty White Show (1954 version), All Star Revue, and Kukla, Fran and Ollie. He also appeared as himself on the TV shows Of All Things, The Jerry Fielding Show, and The Saturday Night Revue with Jack Carter. In something of a reprise of one of his regular jobs, Sharbutt played an announcer in the movie Hit Parade of 1947.

After doing commercials for Campbell's Soup on several shows that he announced, Sharbutt became more closely associated with Campbell's as a company spokesman. His obituary in the Los Angeles Times noted, "He voiced the commercials, touting the soups as 'Mmm-mm-good,'" a slogan that he created.