John R. on 1510 WLAC Nashville | Early 70s
November 12, 2004 
96 Comments
Here’s one of the most unique shows ever aired on AM radio. John Richbourg’s Rhythm & Blues show on WLAC was something most fans of R&B remember, although outside of the south, I’m not sure what the ratings were… or even if ratings were available for ‘clear channel’ (frequency, not the company) stations with popular shows after dark.
At the time of this recording, WLAC was not your run-of-the-mill radio station. It ran lots of network programming and middle-of-the-road fare during the day and only at NIGHT did the station turn to a format which intentionally captured a predominantly minority audience. For the benefit of those not old enough to remember John R., or Hoss Allen, their programs on WLAC literally shaped an entire generation of black entertainers and listeners, and according to wikipedia, is partly responsible for the evolution of rock and roll’s emergence out of the blues from poverty stricken areas of the South. History does not adequately acknowledge the enormous contribution to modern R&B radio that this one nightly program lent to radio. One thing is certain: WLAC was to R&B what WSM was to Country Music.
Thanks to site friend Jack Parnell for this excellent recording. It’s a slice of history of great importance, and one you’ll find nowhere else. Thanks Jack!
As many of you know on the many stations I worked for almost 25 years JOHN R was one of my heroes. Many times I would include in one of my RAPS ( I was doing it before it had a name) little lines that the hip kittys in the audience would REALLY UNDERSTAND. Like “WAY DOWN SOUTH IN DIXIE” etc etc. By the way as far as I am concerned NIPSY RUSSELL was the very first rapper. I miss the REAL PERSONALITY PART of RockRadio. It’s just a machine now. STERILE,,BLAND,,ZERO
Mojo Man There is a complete set of John R airchecks on eBay.
Sid, I agree!!
John was “through” with it before alot of us knew what to “do” with it!!!
One of my heros next to The late jesse Coopwood and “Tghe barron of Bounce”, Lucky Cordell and the Wvon good guys!!
John R. and the Hossman were the greatest. I wish I had a C.D. with hours of their voices/radio shows instead of just hearing a few minutes of their programs that I have found on the internet. Hoss Allen’s voice is a haunting statement of our lives when he says ” well, it looks like time just caught up with us”. (I hope that I quoted him correctly). And another truth that he told-”don’t wait for the hurst, to take you to church.” Time is catching up with many of us and we’d better not “wait for the hurst, to take us to church”.
On the INTERNET you say! where/how can i find it? watching the movie “cadillac records” makes me think of John R/Hossman. a coworker and i had talked about this show some time ago. i’m anxious and excited for your reply. Many thanks.
When I was in Vietnam in 1970 my good buddy Larry Badon’s Sister would record WLAC and send him the tapes. We spent many a nite enjoying the sound of “the world”. Larry was an accomplished Base Guitarist, and he would play along with the music. This audio brings back a flood of memories.
John R was the “Greatest” DJ to ever live and was also a Great person, I know because I was under contract to John R for a number of years as a Producer for Charles Smith & Jeff Cooper (“Ashes To Ashes”), this was for his Seventy Seven Record Label. John was always positive about life, but was as nervous as a cat the last week he was at WLAC. All I can say is “John R The Greatest Of All Time”
Just seen your posting Dewey.
Please contact me by email at – garry@garryjcape.com
Thanks
I was in the air force in the early 60s,station at Albrook in Panama Canal Zone.On clear nights we could recevie John Rs broadcast . We sure looked forward to it.
I cherished the memories of listening to John R on 1510 AM radio out of Nashville in the late 50′s and early 60′s…A few of my close friends also listened to him, especially on the weekends…Late at night, I’d hook the TV antenna up to the back of the radio, and the station came in “clear as a bell!”..I can still hear John R’s voice saying, “want a good record, buy this one from Randy’s Record Market, 1707 Chruch St., Nashville, TN…or was it Galviston, TN..either way, we purchased a lot of music from the record market…some were on 78 RMP, other packages of 45′s….what a performer…he might be gone to that “DJ Place in the Sky”, but he’s still in my memory, ears and mind…God bless John R….
Television stations use to sign off around midnight and there were only three of them back then. Radio was the only other good entertainment we had. I grew up in Nashville and listened to John R at night. What a great radio voice he had. WLAC had a treasure but didn’t know it. I have one record on the Rich label which was one of John R’s record labels. It is by Franke Jolley and the songs are Joanna and Misery. Misery was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This came out on John’s label before The Beatles were famous. Thanks so much for the John R program sample. It is the best I’ve heard since he left radio. John R will live on in our hearts and memories for ever.
I was thinking about John R. with fond memories and decided to see if there was any mention of him on the internet. And Wow! what a get surprise. I remember listening to him on my 9 transistor radio at night under the covers. I actually fell in love with him through his voice. I, too, bought many records from Randy’s. He was the best. We had such limited choice in the 50′s and 60′s and he filled a very special need during that time. God bless him and may his memory last forever.
Thanks for the great John R memories. I used to listen to him regularly. Randy’s Record Shop has been mentioned in some previous posts, but Randy Wood parlayed that little appliance/record shop in Gallatin into a world wide entertainment behemoth, Dot Records.
Living in the South where we did not have a R&B station, it was a pleasure to grab whatever soul music we could from listening to John R. It depended on which way the wind was blowing, sometimes it would come in good and then it would fade out, but we hung in there and grabbed what we could each and every night. We would go to sleep listening to John R. on our transistor radio. The one thing I had in my favor was that my uncle owned a little country junk joint which we called the Shop and he would get all the records on this thing that you put 5cents in it to hear your favorite record. This was during the early 1960′s. It wans’t until about 10 years ago that I found out that this was a white man. All along I thought he was black. Enjoyed his show!!!!!!!!!!
Above David Baugh makes mention of the record I made for John R’s record label. John was a dear friend of mine and we spent many hours talking about r&b music. What is little known is that John R was actually offered the job at WINS 1010 before they offered it to Alan Freed. John said he couldn’t accept a 13 week contract and the deal was off. WLAC in Nashville was just around the corner from WMAK where I worked. I got off the air at 1 A.M and just in time to take coffee to John R who’d just started Program Ten at 1 o’clock in the morning. By the way folks John R didn’t host Randys Record Mart Show Gen Nobles did. John R hosted Ernies record Parade 179 3rd avenue Galatin Ten. There’s a cd on the market titled “John R hand-notes and Program Ten”. Look for it on eBay.
Hey Frank!
Thanks for the tip on “John R hand-notes and Program Ten!” I’m going to search for it now!
Back in the day, I listened to WLAC every night….all through college and then in my Navy days as I traveled up and down the East Coast.
What a treasure! How sad the WLAC is a News station now….but John R will live in my memory forever!
Thanks again.
John R and Hoss Allen, 15 LAC clear channel AM, as a youngster in KKK country 45 mins from Nashville, we relied on them to deliver pride and performance that was our Black POWER, later to find they a couple of white guys, help temper racial tolerance for me, never ever judge a book by it’s cover…In the 80′s I worked Nasville radio including bringing on the air the first afternoon urban show on Fm, guess who was my original inspiration…long live the memory of these radio pioneers, my childhood Soul connection!!
Do you rember the name of the hair products that were advertised on John R’s program during the early 60s?
Royal Crown hair tonic with oil of bergamont.
John R and WLAC are honored in the introduction to my soon to be released novel entitled “The Poetry Company: Memoirs of A Chicken Catcher”. Check it out in a couple of weeks at http://www.thepoetrycompany.com. Here’s the Intro.
John Arrah
As a kid traveling at night in a smoke filled panel truck I recall listening to John R. In the early morning hours his gravelly, thick voice ruled the radio airways in north Georgia, Tennessee, western North Carolina and northern Alabama. The wolf-man (Wolf-man Jack) or The Grande Ole Opry would also sometimes sneak in. Our AM radio, usually tuned to John R. and a perpetual poker game kept us all entertained. Before midnight we listened to Tommy Jet’s “Jet Fly” program out of Chattanooga. But it seemed that John R. was with us most of the time in that old panel truck. Somehow radio waves from his station, WLAC in Nashville, reached every twisted country road no matter how buried we were in the folds of those quiet majestic mountains. We were all chicken catchers and I was the youngest and John R. was our listening pleasure of choice.
John R. pronounced his name as “John Arrah”. We assumed he was a black DJ. The lead-in jingle to songs he played went…
“Hey John Arrah,
What’s you gonna do?
Come on John Arrah,
Play us some… rhythm and blues”.
Lyrics heard in the songs played by John R. were slow and clear and usually repetitious but they spoke to the hearts of my chicken catcher buddies, a rough crowd of ex-cons, drunks, troubled youths, and other misfits. I was too young to understand fully the meaning of the lyrics but I sure dug the beat. Later in the sixties I learned the genre was called soul music. The ones who preferred country music despised it and called it N***** Music. I was also shocked later to learn that John R. was actually a white man. Back then, like most white southerners from “whites only” towns we were willfully ignorant of black people. We listened to John R’s songs in the early morning hours of the late 50′s and forgot about our destiny. We were made to feel better about our dirty, smelly job of loading a chicken truck with squawking chickens before sun-up. Thank you John Arrah, WLAC and Randy’s Record Shop of Gallatin, Tennessee for telling us with your music what our closed culture and words failed to!
Joe Cobb Crawford
Chicken Catcher Name: “Little Joe”
Memory EXPLOSION! In the late 50s I listened to John R on my little Motorola transistor under the covers in the middle of the night right outside of Gary, IN. Thanx for a real thrilling memory during a time when there isn’t a lot of thrills left.
Chuck White
Hello memories,through tears of joy I am writing to state that as a young southern boy out of Arkansas (Hot Springs) i enjoyed the night for many years with the transistor radio,9-volt battery, and single-ear ear bud; how magical the nights were, I felt I was whisked away from the craziness I couldn’t understand to a place I liked by a man who understood what I was going thru. Thank you John R for helping to shape me to be the man I have become.
In the 50′s and 60′s, when I came home from a date, around 12 midnight, I could pick up the Big John R Show on WLAC on the AM radio in my bedroom and would listen to it for three or four hours. I love blues and John R knew how to play it. I can remember songs like “Raining in my heart” by Bobby Blue Bland. I’m a white boy, but I was hung up on blues, even to this day at 67 yrs. old. Thanks for those days….
I just forgot to mention that I’m from Hartsville,South Carolina. I now live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We have a dance here called the Shag. We dance to blues. Thank You WLAC for all the wonderful years…
“Dancin’, Shaggin on the Boulevard” – Alabama wrote that song, and it always made me think of Myrtle Beach. I lived down in the Charleston area for a while from 1990-93 and yes, Shagging is a huge dance there. But, I digress…
WLAC WAS A PART OF MY LIFE IN THE EARLY 60′S..I WAS A MUSICIAN AND WAS ON THE ROAD MOST WEEK ENDS..ONE EARLY MORNING I GOT IN AND BEFORE I WENT TO BED I TUNED IN WLAC..THAT NIGHT THEY PLAYED A TUNE CALLED “THAT LOW DOWN MOVE” IT HIT ME AND THE FOLLOWING MONDAY I CALLED ERNIES RECORD MART AND HAD THAT RECORD IN MY HANDS IN A FEW DAYS. LOST THE RECORD AMID MY COMINGS AND GOINGS AND MARRIAGES.. WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A COPY OR A DOWNLOAD OF THAT TUNE.. DOES ANYONE HAVE IT OR REMEMBER IT. I THINK HANK BALLARD DID IT BUT I AM NOT SURE..THANKS GRIFF
in the early fifties wlac was my favorite radio station.i loved john r and big hue baby and all the others gene nobles hoss man and even good ole wayne raney.when i was 18 i got my first job on the air in tyler texas and called myself the big r aka randy robins.that was my tribute to john r and big hue baby.i have an autographed picture of john r and its to the big r from john r.my old buddy bob a lou got than handled for me.rest his soul.
Thank you for making this available. I heard about John R but never heard a show until now. Great show, and the music is still good. Many of the songs and artists were not familiar to me, so I thought I would list them below (sorry for any mistakes):
Little Eddie, “There’ll Come a Day You’ll Be Glad To Have Me Around”
Valentines, “If You Love Me”
Geater Davis, “Sweet Woman’s Love”
Little Charles & The Sidewinders, “You Are a Blessing”
Matt & Robert (?), “Pride & Joy”
Margie Joseph, “Punish Me”
Jackie Jason, “World’s Coming to a Start”
Little Sonny (?), “Wade In The Water”
Eddie Floyd, “The Best Years of My Life”
Lavinia Lewis, “Your Love Is All Over Me”
Dan Penn, “Prayer for Peace”
Jackie Lee, “Your Sweetness Is My Weakness”
Pick & Bill (?), “Over the Mountain”
Otis Clay, “Hard Working Woman”
Satisfactions, “One Light, Two Lights”
Oh my god!! I love it, this site just took me back about 50 years, WOW! those were the good days as I lived in rural South East Alabama, every night we listened to this station. These guys were black guys in white bodies. I remember one night, this totally is no lie. I was in Pnoenix Arizona after I joined the USAF, it was early one morning, we were out in the desert in our lovers lane LOL, I guess the wind and the atmosphere were all at thier peak and I recieved WLAC, I though I had died and gone to heaven. If you have experienced it you have missed soooooo much.
Thank you John R for opening eyes with your magnificent voice for people like the chickencatcher…I applaud you ‘Little Joe”. This is dedicated to the fab 50′s and 60′s generation.I’m sure all from the Southeast U.S can relate. What a wonderful site. RIP John R
I’m working on a memoir about this music that was “as constant as the north star”…and I would like to be part of this conversation. What a wonderful discovery! Thank you…I have found both Jack McDuff and Cab Calloway versions of “The Honeydripper” that was the theme song for one of the time slots. Neither rendition seems to be “right”…Any suggestions?
I found John R. on clear channel from Iowa when I went out there in 1963 to go to the Iowa Writers Workshop. He was the greatest of all time. If anyone has any John R or HossMan airchecks to share, I’d be most grateful.
The classic version of Honeydripper was by Joe Liggins.
From a friend
A few years ago my girl friend was interviewing our friend Po Henry Dorsey, a black delta blues singer now in his 80s, who plays in a duo with Tookie, a white harmonica player. Henry has a great voice and does a lot of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Lightnin Hopkins material, among others.
His father was a sharecropper who played and sang. Asked about his early musical exposure, he replied, “John R.”
John R introducd me to some of my favorite singers whom I didnt hear on Top 40 radio-Ella Washington, Rozetta Johnson, Ann Sexton, Alder Ray Black to name a few. Before Joe Simon and The Manhattans made it to big time, they were new to my Friends but not to me because I heard them first from John R.
Thank you John R
I’m white, born and raised in Nashville, and as a teenager in In the mid 50s I went to sleep every night listening to WLAC and loved it. Randy’s Record Shop, Jimmy Reed, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin Slim, Royal Crown Hair Conditioner, The White Rose Petroleum Jelly Hour . . .
It was like old times listening to Big John R. again. Thanks!!
As a child growing up in the south in the 50s black people did not a station,only station we had was WLAC John R,i lived in a small town in Georgia near Athen,Ga because of the music John R would play i became an entertainer iam in my 43 year still going strong thanks to the good Lord.and WLAC John R & Randy’s Record Shop.
Can we buy any cd of John R .any were?
I remember listening to John R and the Hoss Man growing up in South Carolina. Our family had a Channel Master radio and I never missed their shows. Wish I could get a CD of their shows.
Oh how I remember John R and each late night, the soulful sound of this white man ,that said to me all people is the same and the way the white folk treated blacks were because they couldn’t hear the sound that sprung from deep within us all , but J R sound would change the south with his six pack 45 sets,He play songs of joy and love, peace and hope, He always kept the night cawler connected to the church and God,now am older and been all over the world, fought in three wars and killed all kinda people,left by seed in Germany and Korea with women I promised I would always remember have an LP collection that tell the whole story many brought from Randy Record Market, Nashville Tn.My player won’t play them as the older play do but am thankful the Internet and my momeries bless you all for we came a long ways from a time we miss so
I also remember John R and the Hoss Man growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Brings back good memories. Thank you.
Transistor Radio 9-volt battery was my best friend in Jr.High and High School class of 69″ (South Bend Indiana) and all my friends too that had Transistors and we all listen to WLAC at night couldn’t wait for late night to come so we could listen and then at school we would talk about the music we heard on WLAC “Randy” that Name was talked about a lot! I remember when i found out he was White WOW!
What a romp down memory lane. John R, Big Hugh Baby, the Randy Record Shop– defining moments of my teenage years in Mississippi circa 1962, 63 and 64. My radio melted in bed under the covers listening to that husky voice and loving the sounds of Bobby Bland and others. I never got into Rock but have always loved R&B thanks to the early imprinting from John R and the guys at WLAC. Wish we could still tune in and hear those voices pushing Royal Crown and White Rose. Thanks for the link to some happy memories.
My gosh what memories. I grew up in Marianna, Arkansas, 50 miles down river from Memphis, during the late ’50′s and early ’60s. I’m white, but I grew up in a mostly black neighberhood and was exposed to blues at an early age. Because of family problems, I spent much of my early teens on the street. Lord, what would I have done without my Channel Master radio and the company of those jocks on WLAC?
Wow! Love it. What was the country song.something about John R & The Wolfman, Primo
I fell asleep many a nights listening to WLAC in the fifties. Granny didn’t want my
sister and I to listen, but we sneaked the radio in bed with the volumn down low and
really appreciated those great sounds that
would sometimes fade in and out. Love it all.
I read all the comments and I certainly can identify with a lot of them. I too would put my transistor radio in bed and listen to WLAC. I turned 15 in the mid sixties and those love songs, played by all those great DJs, Hoss Allen, Gene Nobles and John R had special meanings. My parents would listen and order those gospel specials. Thanks so very much gentlmen you made WLAC a household tradition.You are missed, after all these years, YOU ARE MISSED.