The busy life of a US Radio Station DJ

[Roburt]

I guess most folk would have dropped their 9 to 5 'day job' to land a spot as a jock @ a radio station. In the US (before the early 70's), R&B radio DJ's had a lot of influence. They could pick some of the tracks they gave airplay to (hence the payola scandal early in the 60's). They would run sock-hops, club nights and give these events free publicity during their shows (an important extra stream of income for them). They would be hired to MC big shows that came into town, again earning extra cash. Lots of them also got involved directly in the recording biz -- many DJ's teaming up with a local guy (businessman) with money to start their own label. There was a strong DJ's grapevine back then & many were close friends, so they could 'pull in favours' when they had a 45 out on their label (usually their radio stn would discourage them from spinning their own label's product). The best of these DJ's were soon attracting attention from other record labels as they were local 'trend-setters' with regard to what were the 'in sounds'. If a radio jock picked a certain 45 as his PICK OF THE WEEK to play on his show, he'd almost certainly be spinning the 45 in question on his club dates. So he'd give lots of exposure to some cuts, a fact that wouldn't go un-noticed by the record label who had released the 45 / LP. If a DJ garnered favour with a record label he might get appointed as their local promotional rep  -- though he'd most likely have to quit his radio job to take up such a post. Being in the biz, the DJ would find he was a local personality; getting invites to events (music based & otherwise), parties, etc and he'd likely find himself being bought drinks when out on the town and attracting interest from females who liked to mix with the 'in crowd'.     

I'll focus on a handful of radio DJ's in one city to illustrate my point. As it was an influential market & I have studied it in the past, I've picked Baltimore. It had 3 main R&B radio stns; WWIN, WEBB and (for part of the day) WITH ... I've chosen the summer period of 1965 & 1966 as that's when these DJ's had peak power.

The following charts / ads / pics act as pointers to my post AND I'll add bits & pieces of info in some following posts  ...   

Edited yesterday at 06:56 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Of course, not everything about any job is great. DJ's attracted folk / women who wanted to be associated with a 'famous' person. Radio DJ's certainly fitted that bill. Fat Daddy wasn't the most handsome bloke in town; that's why he had the name FAT DADDY. A local model had latched onto him earlier in the 60's and they had married in 1963. She'd be on his arm at all the big events but wouldn't bother going along to the sock-hops, local club dates & similar bookings he had. 

She was always around when big guns from out of town were in his company though. At the end of May 67, the Contours were in town for a show -- the Contours were always a very popular live act in Baltimore. Fat Daddy & wife attended the club the group were performing at. A party was set up for after the show & Fat Daddy & wife attended this too. But his wife disappeared after midnight and wasn't seen again till 3am when Fat Daddy found her in a 13th floor hotel room with Dennis Edwards. She said she'd left the party to 'get a breath of fresh air' but it seems her husband didn't accept that explanation. He'd also suspected her of being overly friendly with one of his assistants, so the couple separated the next day and were divorced not long afterwards.   

The incident had repercussions in his day job. From that day he refused to spin any Contours records on his radio show & at his gigs. The rift between the DJ and the singer continued. Dennis hadn't been a member of the Contours for too long (joining in 1966). He soon quit the group & was picked out by HDH (1967) who wanted him to sign with Invictus as a solo act, so he was considering his future. Motown saw what was likely to happen & put him on a retainer with a view to also cutting him as a solo singer. But in June 68 he was asked to replace David Ruffin as the Temptation's lead singer. Fat Daddy then stopped playing Temptations records and it took a personal plea from Motown execs to finally settle the rift.  

Edited Saturday at 12:05 by Roburt

[Roburt]

In February 66, Hot Rod was hired to MC a big revue show @ the State Theatre. The Royal Theatre was gone as a live venue by then & many visiting soul shows would now play the Civic Centre in Baltimore. So instead of a 7 night engagement in the city to limited audiences each night, everyone got in for the one night presentation @ the Civic Centre. The State Theatre was more old school (less capacity), so the revue played the venue for 3 nights. Hot Rod was presenting & he must have watched Audrey Slo perform each night and been impressed. Roll on the summer & Hot Rod has done a deal with the owners of Forest Park in Hanover to put on a series of shows. For one of these, Hot Rod called in a few favours and had Audrey Slo, Benny Johnson, the Soul Serenaders & the Admirals on live. Audrey was promoting her Swan 45 and Benny his TARX single. The Admirals were a local R&B group (see card posted above) BUT maybe they were also the mystery outfit who cut for Volt in 65 ("Got You On My Mind"). A couple of weeks later Hot Rod was back @ Forest Park, this time with Frankie & the Spinners as the live attraction (the group became Frankie & the Spindles when they landed a record contract). I think that the Alford Girls Trio was led by Brenda Alford who would go on to be an acclaimed jazz singer. Hot Rod was also putting on shows @ the Crystal Ballroom in Baltimore to make even more money (though no live acts were advertised at this, perhaps he just got some to turn up for a PA. 

In his day job, he was holding down the afternoon show on WWIN. In this capacity he had been spinning (August 65) the likes of "First I Look At The Purse" by the Contours (a big hit in Balto), "Storm Warning" the Volcanoes,  "Soul at Last" Bobby Sax, "Come Back Baby" Nella Dodds, "Boss Love" Lee Rogers, "Soul Heaven" by  Dixie Drifter (who was a fellow DJ, but on New York's WWRL, so it was probably the old boys network tht helped this get radio plays). The WWIN DJ's power pick that week was  Eddie Billups "My Faith in You". So he was keeping busy at the time.

Edited Saturday at 14:06 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Forgot to mention another top Balto R&B radio stn in the 60's: WSID ... 

They had a Shrine 45 on their charts in early 65 AND they had Darrell Banks, Donald Height & Lee Rogers on their chart in July 66 with Don Gardner, Jack Montgomery (Dearly Beloved), Ruben Wright & Gene Toone 45's as climbers.

[Jimmy Mack]

thanks for sharing 

[Reedy]

What a great read, thanks 

[Roburt]

Jumping forward to summer 66. There were two big revue shows playing the Civic Centre, with WEBB's Rockin Robin acting as MC. The 1st of these (mid May) brought the Contours back into the city -- along with a few other Motown acts & the likes of Maxine Brown (surprisingly way down the order on the ad - guess she hadn't had a hit 45 in Balto for a while). Just a couple of weeks later, the Contours would be back in town for the club date that would turn Fat Daddy's life upside down. ANYWAY, over at the Civic Centre in June, the Four Tops, Aretha, Stairsteps, Linda Jones & Freddie Scott were starring. On both these shows, local band THE ADMIRALS were supporting the main stars -- I'd think they were acting as the backing band / singers for some / most of the acts on the bill (so they must have been a tight outfit to get to play behind Motown acts, Reffa, etc.)

On the local airwaves in early to mid August, in his day job, Rockin Robin (WEBB) was spinning Darrell Banks "Door To Your Heart", the Mad Lads "I Want A Girl" (probably as a result of their local high profile following their show @ the Civic), + Dee Dee Warwick, Howard Tate & the Miracles tracks. Also on the stn's Top 20 was a Temptations LP track "Say You".  Lower down their chart were 45's from Eddie Holman, 5 Stairsteps (again after their local show), Roscoe Robinson ("That's Enough"), Lester Young "Barefootin In Chinatown" + Don Gardner & Carla Thomas tracks. Rockin Robin had picked the Enchanters "We Got Love" as his PIK OF THE WEEK. 

Lester Young's "Barefootin In Chinatown" was also on WWIN's chart which was topped by the Manhattans "That New Girl". Also on the stn's chart were Howard Tate's "Ain't Nobody Home" + Dee Dee Warwick, Darrell Banks, the Stairsteps & Roscoe Robinson (all on WEBB's chart too). Mable John's deepie "Your Good Thing" was on there, as was Sharon Soul's "Let Me Get to Know You", Les Cooper's "Wahoo" & Roger Washington's "I Won't Never Make You Cry".  The WIN PIK HIT was Judy Clay's "You Busted My Mind" ... 

 

Edited yesterday at 07:30 by Roburt

[Roburt]

A quick message of thanks ...

 

[Roburt]

Baltimore wasn't an isolated city, it was very close to Washington & not too far from the likes of Philly, Pittsburgh, Wilmington & Atlantic City. So each place had an influence on the others. Also close to DC & Baltimore was the black summer resorts of Sparrow's Beach & Carr's Beach (both in the ownership of the same family in the 50's / 60's).

Back in the 50's / 60's, blacks were still restricted in what they could do & where they were made welcome even in this area, which was just north of the Mason - Dixon Line (south of that, segregation was still very strictly enforced). So blacks had to find there own summer break locations & Carr's Beach was the main one of these. It was just outside Annapolis -- less than 25 miles south-east of Baltimore.

See here for more info on the venue ...    https://www.carrsbeach.com

ANYWAY, with it being so close to Baltimore, it used Balto radio DJ's to host some of it's shows. Baltimore radio DJ's such as Hot Rod also ran their own shows @ the venue on less busy days (obviously with folk having to drive down from the city & stay most of the day & evening, Saturday & SUNDAY were the main really busy days). Also, the family who owned the venue(s) knew how to provide most of the facilities & keep them current (changing rooms for swimmers, food trucks for the hungry, beer tent for the thirsty, fairground rides for the kids, parking facilities, etc.) BUT they weren't up to date on which black acts the crowd would travel to see (& what their fees would be). So they hired in a music related guy as their booker / general manager   -- for much of the early to mid 60's this was Ru-Jac Record's maestro Rufus Mitchell ...

For more on Ru-Jac see here >> https://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2018/08/06/the-ru-jac-records-story-part-one/#:~:text=Beginning operations in 1963%2C Baltimore-based Ru-Jac Records was,45 rpm discs%2C primarily between 1963 and 1974.

All the top black acts would play Carr's Beach (& to a lesser extent Sparrow's Beach) and all the shows would be heavily advertised on Balto & DC radio stns. Some of the Baltimore stns would even send down outside broadcast units to record & broadcast some of the shows. Some weekends, Rufus M couldn't get enough top acts at the right money (or an act would accept a booking & then have to pull out), so he'd fill out the live act roster with his own Ru-Jac acts -- many times this would be a last minute affair or the act in question wouldn't have a big enough profile, so their names wouldn't be in the ads published to draw folk to the venue. Other times, their names would appear if they had a new 45 out or if they were acting as the backing band for the named acts (as the Shyndels Band and DC's El-Corols Band did many times). A big marquee was erected on the beach & this would be used to house the stage & audience. A 2nd tent would house a smaller jazz area, many times Balto's Garry Bartz's group being the live attraction in here.

A radio ad for the beach ... 

 

[Roburt]

The poster / ads that were published to advertise the shows mentioned in the above radio ad (YouTube vid) ... the difference between the info on the poster & on the newspaper ad are marked. From the newspaper, you'd be unaware that you'd also get to see Garnett Mimms, James Carr, Percy Sledge, Sam & Dave, Patti LaBelle & BB's, Mitty Collier, the Ovations & more perform.

Edited 3 hours ago by Roburt

[Roburt]

More on Carr's Beach & the DJ's that were involved there (including Hoppy Adams of WANN) ... BTW WANN wasn't a R&B stn and it also wasn't based in Baltimore (but in Annapolis itself) ... 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Roburt