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6 chapter Riding the Nashville Airwaves Cast of Characters Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records Bill “Hoss” Allen, disc jockey, Radio WLAC, Nashville Shannon Williams, Ernie’s Record Mart and ExcelloNashboro Records Fred Foster, Monument–Sound Stage 7 Records also featuring Gene Nobles and John Richbourg, disc jockeys, WLAC; Randy Wood, Randy’s Record Shop and Dot Records; and Ernie Young, Ernie’s Record Mart and Excello-Nashboro Records Radio was a key element in the growth of independent labels from regional to national entities and was eagerly targeted by the more enterprising record men and their distributors. Without radio spins, a record had little chance; it was as simple as that. This led seamlessly to the rise of the personality disc jockey and to payola—the “pay for play” scam. Enter Alan Freed: After arriving from Cleveland, Ohio, as the Moondog in 1954, he felt at home in the New York music community (especially with his fellow Russian-Jewish descendants). Having popularized the term “rock ’n’ roll,” he conspired to develop profitable business enterprises for himself and other cronies. As his Radio WINS show implied, he was unleashing a wild “rock ’n’ roll party.” Freed was part of a breed of disc jockeys that was as colorful and influential as the records that were spun in regional pockets throughout the nation. For a mad spell, these men and other jive talkers were the self-anointed kings of radio.1 “A dee-jay, back then, became a personality,” remembered soul singer Maxine Brown, “and he helped to make the artist by breaking i-xvi_1-592_Brov.indd 93 11/19/09 10:44:11 AM 94 regional sounds the record. Like Jocko [Henderson] who can say, ‘Ooh-poo-pah-doo, how do you do? I’m on the scene with the record machine saying ooh-poo-pah-doo, how do you do!’ They had this rap that they would do, ‘Oh it sounds so nice, I think I’m gonna play it twice!’ And they’d drop the needle again; a dee-jay could do that. Now you have to have computer skills, you have to have a college education, and they are b-o-r-i-n-g [laughs].” Back in the 1940s, the mighty but staid NBC and CBS radio networks still controlled the home entertainment market, just as their major label offshoots, RCA Victor and Columbia, dominated the popular record business (with Decca). Television, with NBC and CBS leading the charge, was looming large as a potent force to ensnare the mass national audience and with it the heavy-duty advertising money.2 Meanwhile, with the encouragement of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), tiny small-town radio stations independent of network affiliation were providing alternative news, weather forecasts, and other local programming backed by sponsorship and advertising. Often there was live music by neighborhood acts. In time, however, record shows would prove to be practical, cheap, and popular ways of filling the schedules of these minnow stations. A similar programming strategy was employed by the emerging small chains and network affiliates. This reliance on gramophone records, at the expense of live productions, was to change the radio and music landscapes forever. CBS-affiliate WLAC of Nashville, Tennessee, was one of the most influential regional radio stations of the era, along with neighboring WSM, host of the Grand Ole Opry. Thanks to a gargantuan 50,000–watt signal, Radio WLAC became a magnet for radio play for the thrusting indie record men. With its radio waves bouncing readily over the Jim Crow barriers of segregation, the station became a major factor in exposing R&B and gospel records to new audiences in the South and beyond. It was this listener crossover movement, from the southern black communities to (mainly) white teenagers over a large swathe of the country, that would help to stoke the rock ’n’ roll revolution. At Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler were ahead of the curve in spotting this trend after an early tip from music publisher friend Howie Richmond. “Then we got our first feedback from the distributors in the South,” said Wexler. They began to tell us, much to our amazement, that rhythm and blues records were being sold in white locations. We ran down this trail, and what we found out . . . essentially it was that powerful radio station in Nashville, WLAC. So it was just an amazing confluence of happenings. First of all, the spots were ridiculously cheap, so the people that realized this were the...

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