John R. on 1510 WLAC Nashville | Early 70s
Nov 12, 2004 
61 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!
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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
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”.
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”
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!!!!!!!!!!