Finebaum arrived in Birmingham in 1980 from the Shreveport Journal and became a columnist and investigative reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald. Finebaum's work has earned him over 250 national, regional and area sports writing awards, including his investigative stories on the recruitment of Alabama basketball player Buck Johnson. Finebaum joined the Mobile Press Register in 2001 and currently writes a twice a week column for the Mobile Press-Register. Finebaum's articles have appeared in a number of national publications, including the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News.

Finebaum started his radio appearances in the mid 1980's by giving morning commentary on the Mark and Brian Radio Show on WAPI-FM (I-95). After starting his own afternoon radio show a few years later on WAPI-AM, his program quickly became the highest rated sport-talk show in Birmingham. In October of 1993, Finebaum moved his sports-talk show to WERC-AM and quickly broke the story of Alabama football player Antonio Langham signing a contract with a sports agent. He also was the first to report the firing of Auburn University coach Terry Bowden in 1998. His show prospered immensely and in 2001 the show began syndication with affiliates across the southeast. Finebaum's been awarded five consecutive Associated Press Awards for "Best Sports Show" and four straight for the state's "Best Sports Anchor". In 2003, Finebaum was selected for the third consecutive year as the Alabama "Sportscaster of the Year" by the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. In 2008, he was awarded Alabama's Radio Personality of the Year.

His radio show has also garnered numerous accolades. In 2002, Paul was named by The Tennessean in Nashville as "One of the Southeastern Conference's Top Power Brokers." The New York Times in 2003 described Finebaum as ``the state's most influential sports columnist and talk show host." In 2004, Sports Illustrated named The Finebaum Network as "one of the nation's top 12 sports radio shows." In 2008, Columbia University named Finebaum's Show as one of the winners of it's annual "Let's Do it Better!" Workshop on Journalism, Race and Ethnicity. The award singles out newspaper, broadcast and web reporting that fosters coherent, authentic coverage of race reporting. "Finebaum was selected for providing a strong and sometimes controversial view on racial issues in sports through his multi-media contributions that include the 'Paul Finebaum Radio Network,' his Web site, Finebaum.com and a twice-weekly syndicated sports column."

In July of 2009, The Orlando Sentinel named Finebaum as one of the SEC's 10 most powerful people. "With a syndicated show heard in multiple SEC states that also commands a big audience on the Web, the Birmingham, Ala.-based Finebaum has proven in more than two decades of pot-stirring in print and on the air that his barbs can influence a coach's fate."

Finebaum's been seen nationally on television's Larry King Live, CBS' 60 Minutes, Headline News with Nancy Grace, MSNBC's Morning Joe, HBO, Court TV and ESPN's Outside the Lines. He was also showcased in 2001 on the CBS documentary on the late Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Finebaum's local television contributions have included sports director for CBS 42 (WIAT) from 1997-2002 and has co-hosted individual shows on NBC 13 (WVTM) and ABC 33/40.

Finebaum has also been a successful writer, writing over 50 joke books. His compilation of columns titled, "The Worst of Paul Finebaum" was released in 1994. His most recent book, "Finebaum Said", was published in November 2001. He's currently working on a sports novel, which will focus on college athletics in the South. He is also in much demand as an after-dinner speaker outside the Birmingham area and in the past few years has spoke in Memphis, Orlando, San Antonio and lectured at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He's also given keynote speeches at the University of Alabama, University of Alabama-Birmingham, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College and Auburn University-Montgomery.