In 1964 Billboard magazine stopped publishing an R&B chart. That year, how you assess a soul 45's commercial success is much harder to determine. Placings on Billboard's Hot 100 not reflecting which singles were the top selling soul releases at the time.

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A few singles that get a mention in the article ... 

It was a taken that record company promotion men would try to influence what radio DJ's would play on their shows back at this time. So much so, that the music mags used to announce where these DJ's could be tracked down and impacted ...

In Chicago, where the top local R&B radio jocks were hosting dances, was one linked piece of information published ... ... as Tom & Jerrio had gotten the idea for their big hit from attending such an event, Jerrio would be at one of those venues alongside one of the top DJ's ....  

When Billboard reintroduced it's R&B chart, there were even more ways to check out the inconsistencies in what soul 45's were doing well on a certain week ... to illustrate this fact I've picked the week commencing 13th February 1965 ...

A few 45's on the music mag & radio charts that week ...

THE LARKS -- The Jerk ... ... not on the WWIN or KGFJ radio charts BUT #14 Billboard, #13 Cashbox & #29 Record World

FONTELLA BASS & B McCLURE -- Good Thing  ... ... #13 on the WWIN & KGFJ radio charts ALSO #17 Billboard, #19 Cashbox & #28 Record World

LITTLE ANTHONY & I's -- Hurt So Bad ... ...  ... ...  #36 on WWIN,  #6 KGFJ radio charts AND #15 Billboard, #29 Cashbox & #25 Record World

DOBIE GRAY -- In Crowd ... ...  ... ... #24 on WWIN, #3 KGFJ radio charts ALSO #11 Billboard, #30 Cashbox & #15 Record World

BILLY STEWART -- I Do Love You  ... ...  #3 on WWIN's chart & #36 on Billboard (2nd week on their chart), not showing elsewhere

LASTLY ... Carolyn Crawford's "Smile" was #39 on Billboard's chart but not showing elsewhere PLUS Willie Tee's "Teasin You" was #42 on Cash Box but nowhere else that week.

NOLAN CHANCE ... his 45 before "JUST LIKE THE WEATHER" aka "SHE'S GONE" was being tipped by a Philly DJ and was also an ACTION R&B 45 for BILLBOARD ...   

Edited May 1May 1 by Roburt

A selection of R&B radio jocks 45 picks at the end of January 1965 ... (+ a DJ SPOTLIGHT on WSID's Fat Daddy) ...

you can easily see how diverse their selections were this week ... THOUGH why an Oakland, Calif DJ would be picking a 45 from a 'unknown' Philly based group on an indie label without a history of hits  . . .AND .... a Miami DJ would be picking an obscure funky 45 on a small Chicago label is any body's guess 

 

Nice work Roburt.  Very well researched and documented.  Thank you sharing your insights.

I believe this extract from a 1964 Hot 100 chart sums that year up perfectly ...

there are 4 'British Invasion' singles showing (including one from the instigators -- the Beatles -- & a soul cover from the Stones). There's a 45 from the biggest US white group of those times (the Beach Boys), also 3 Motown cuts rapidly climbing the chart & 3 'star climber' soul sides & lastly 2 other soul singles.

Martha & the Vandellas "Dancing In .." is a perfect example to show how well Motown 45's were selling to pop / white audiences. That week it had reached the #25 place on the Hot 100 -- so it was already enjoying major pop chart success (quite soon after getting released).  On black radio, it was also charting; WDAS had it entering their top 15, as did WSID. On the national R&B charts, Cash Box had it @ #14 R&B (#22 on their pop chart) -- I don't have the Record World mag data for that week. So this single was climbing the pop charts almost as quickly as it was climbing in R&B circles ... NOT SOMETHING most soul 45's did on a regular basis. FOR INSTANCE ... Willie Mitchell's "20 - 75" had just crossed over to the pop charts but was catching on at a fast rate. So Hi Records had quickly placed ads for the 45 in the national music press to help it along.

An example of a new R&B label that would have struggled to get it's new 45's played on US pop radio stations ... 

GOLDEN WORLD's RIC - TIC label ...  a false start was made in 1962 but the label was reactivated at the start of 1964. It's 1st release (Jan 64) was Gino Washington's "Gino Is A Coward". That made a little impact and made a few radio charts (both R&B + pop in April/May/June/July). The 45 didn't actually sell that many copies, especially to pop fans. A few weeks later (September 64) the labels next release was put out; Freddie Gorman's "In A Bad Way". This struggled to make much impact at all but it gained radio airplay in St Louis. It caught on with the listeners to KATZ and actually made their chart (late October 64). 

AT ALMOST THE SAME TIME, Golden World 45's were themselves were doing well via the likes of the Reflections "Romeo & Juliet" which was a massive R&B + pop radio hit. From their it sold well to both black & white US record collectors and gained a relatively high placing on the Hot 100 and on Cash Box's Top 100 (#9 @ end of May 64).

The Ric -Tic label stuck to the task though. Freddie Gorman's next single ("Take Me Back" -- Jan 65) made a bit of noise -- getting onto WCHB's chart low down (#25). J J Barnes was high on the same chart but he wasn't on Ric - Tic yet). It would be Edwin's "Agent OO Soul" with it's James Bond inspired topicality that would break through in a big way for the label (R&B + pop) that summer.

Edited Sunday at 14:402 days by Roburt