We're BACK! Soul on the Air #22 - Buddy Lowe, 1965

I am so glad to announce that all of the "Soul on the Air" posts on this blog are now back in working order! The player from Yourlisten works very well, and I look forward to picking up the slack and getting lots more good airchecks on here! With that in mind, here's the new entry...

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This installment of "Soul on the Air" come>s from Boston's WILD, which operated as a brokered-time station with multi-ethnic programming until 1967, when the station (owned by the same company as sister station WAMO in Pittsburgh and WUFO in Buffalo) went R&B full time under the programming guidance of WAMO's Hal Brown, who was the subject of the last "Soul on the Air" feature. I don't know anything about Buddy Lowe, but what I do know is that over the course of twenty minutes, he lays down serious soul, ranging from the throwback "Finger Poppin' Time" by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, to "The Real Thing" by Tina Britt and "Stop and Get a Hold of Myself" by Gladys Knight & The Pips, interspersed with great commercials, including one for the legendary Skippy White's record store. Great music, great commercials, and great fidelity reign here! Enjoy!

Thanks to a fan for correcting the DJ's name here - it's Walter "Buddy" Lowe you hear here!

"Soul on the Air" #21 - Hal Brown, 1969

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Today's short feature is of disc jockey and radio program director Hal Brown from Pittsburgh's legendary R&B station WAMO. During Brown's tenure at WAMO, he also acted as program director for sister stations WILD in Boston (an aircheck from that station will follow later in this series) and Buffalo's WUFO. After Brown retired from radio, he moved to Florida, where he lived until his death in 2011.

Now on to the aircheck. As "Not on the Outside" by The Moments fades out, Brown wastes no time setting up Gloria Walker's "Talking About My Baby," a reworking of "I'd Rather Go Blind" that hit for the Georgia singer on the Flaming Arrow label in 1969 (the 45 is a must-have for soul and funk fans, because the flip side is the funky instrumental "The Gallop" by The Chevelles), followed by the funky and funny "Don't Pat Me on the Back and Call Me Brother" by John KaSandra. It's short and sweet, but a nice little "stocking stuffer" for you, my patient and awesome fans, this Christmas.

Technical Difficulties ...

This post formerly explained why none of the "Soul on the Air" features were working. But now they are, so disregard everything about this post except the fun video below!

As some of you know, I occasionally get the chance to DJ among rare soul fans and friends, and recently my friend and brother from another mother, Brian Philips, were invited to do a 30-minute set at Hip Drop, the annual Ponderosa Stomp pre-party in New Orleans. Here are excerpt from our set, in which the two of us got our groove on while slinging those soul and funk platters! Enjoy!

Soul on the Air #20 - Rudy Runnels, 1966

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As promised, here's a second installment of "Soul on the Air" for the month of January 2015. After a trio of Chicago airchecks, I'll move on to Washington, D.C. and the "Tall Tan Texan," Rudy Runnels, doing his thing on WOL in August 1966.

WOL, along with WOOK and WUST, was part of D.C.'s soul radio scene. Runnels - who was also the music director of the station - had been on KKSN in Dallas before moving to D.C., where he shared the WOL frequency with Bob "Nighthawk" Terry and black talk radio legend Petey Greene. He eventually moved on to WOOK and then became general manager of WHIH in Norfolk. I'm not sure what followed, though some research suggests that he was involved in Atlanta radio at some point (on WAOK; information is welcomed).

On this 23-minute aircheck, Runnels throws down some serious soul music from artists including Little Milton, Alvin Cash and even the Righteous Brothers, replete with great patter (dig the setup for Little Milton's "Man Loves Two" and Alvin Cash's "Philly Freeze"). Of course, there's the usual fun commercials and jingles as well. The fidelity of this aircheck is stunning, which adds to the greatness of the aircheck, and I hope you enjoy it!

Soul on the Air #19 - Bill "Butterball" Crane, 1968

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As promised in December, "Soul on the Air" is back on "Get on Down"!

WVON's Bill "Butterball" Crane has been featured on this blog before, and I will refer you to that post about information about Mr. Crane. As the comments to that post attest, the Butterball aircheck was one of the most popular ones posted here, and I'm glad to bring you more of Crane on WVON, this time from December 15, 1968. In addition to Crane's great patter, there's lots of good stuff here, including records by Jerry Butler, Ike & Tina Turner (who open the aircheck), Otis Redding, Clarence Carter and the Dells, along with a news break announced by WVON newscaster Clair Nelson.

Keep an eye on this page, because another aircheck will be featured this month. Here's a hint: it's from Washington, D.C.!