David Ford at KLTI Longview TX 1957

Here's another shot passed along from David Ford, who was featured in an earlier post. 1957 is the year and we're at the board at KLTI, Longview, Texas. Click to enlarge.

Swingin Soul Medallion Commercial from John R WLAC

John Richbourg was one of the legendary AM jocks that brought black music to every part of the eastern U.S. over the mighty 1510 WLAC. Along with Gene Nobles, Herman Grizzard, and Hoss Allen, they broke black artists onto the sales charts. Here's a live commercial done by John R himself. Listen to it here.

John left WLAC in 1973, about four years before I worked there. He battled cancer, and in 1985 a benefit was held for him at the Grand Ole Opry house.

There were over 30 acts, and each gave John credit for their careers. I had a program, but it's gone now. The acts I remember appearing were the Isley Brothers, James Brown, the Neville Brothers, Rufus and Carla Thomas, B.B. King, the Coasters, and Charlie Daniels. There were so many acts they had an intermission at 9pm, and the music continued til 1:30am, ending with a giant jam session that featured B.B. King and Charlie Daniels dueling guitars.

John was on the left of the stage from the audience view in a wheelchair. He was too weak to talk, but waved to everyone. He died the next year.

You can get more of the feel of those WLAC days by reading the story here.

Aircheck David Ford on KWTK Waco Texas 1959

Our first aircheck, this is directly from David Ford himself. You can hear it here.

It's KWTX in Waco, Texas, from December 1959. Here's a picture of David as the Sports Director of KWTX TV in 1963.

 More on David's radio career to come.