Herman Grizzard

Last updated
Herman Grizzard
Born14 Jul 1900
Nashville, Tennessee, United Stares
Died25 Apr 1971
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Occupation(s)radio Disc Jockey

Herman Grizzard (1900-1971) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame from the 1940s through the 1970s for playing rhythm and blues and other music on Nashville radio station WLAC. Grizzard was one host of a nightly series of four programs on the station. He shared the block of programs with "John R." Richbourg, Bill "Hoss" Allen, and Gene Nobles. Together they were known as the "50,000 Watt Quartet".

Contents

Grizzard began his affiliation with the historic clear-channel AM station during its early years in the 1930s. Up to the mid-1940s, he hosted a variety of different programs. By 1950, Grizzard joined the station's move to a nighttime format of R&B, soul music, and gospel music. The station developed the programming to sell advertising to African-American-oriented products and businesses. [1]

For many years, Grizzard's program was sponsored by Buckley's, a local Nashville record store. It was located on Church Street near downtown and the Vanderbilt University campus. Most of Grizzard's program was devoted to promoting the store's stock, often sold in packages of three to six 78 or 45 RPM discs. Buckley's, along with Randy's Record Shop in nearby Gallatin (sponsor of Nobles' program), and Ernie's Record Mart (sponsor of Richbourg's show), conducted large mail-order businesses. They provided many customers the chance to buy music that, prior to the late 1950s, was not readily available to many Euro-Americans, at least not from "respectable" outlets. Buckley's inventory consisted chiefly of recordings by local artists on Nashville-based labels. Grizzard featured these songs liberally on his program. After Grizzard's death, Buckley's sponsored Bill "Hoss" Allen's program for several years. The store closed in the early 1970s.

Grizzard was also an early baseball broadcaster: He announced play-by-play action of minor-league teams in Nashville. [2]

For most of his show's run, Grizzard used the Avery Parrish tune "After Hours" — performed by Parrish with the accompaniment of the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra — as an opening theme.

Related Research Articles

Golden Age of Radio Era of popular entertainment in the US centered on radio shows

The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early 1920s and lasted through the 1950s, when television gradually superseded radio as the medium of choice for scripted programming, variety and dramatic shows.

Dot Records American record label

Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved to Hollywood, California. In its early years, Dot specialized in artists from Tennessee. Then it branched out to include musicians from across the U.S. It recorded country music, rhythm and blues, polkas, waltzes, gospel, rockabilly, pop, and early rock and roll. After moving to Hollywood, Dot Records bought many recordings by small local independent labels and issued them nationally. In 1957, Wood sold the label to Paramount Pictures, but remained in charge until 1967, when he departed to join Lawrence Welk in the formation of Ranwood Records. In 1968, the label was acquired as part of the acquisition of Paramount by Gulf+Western, which transitioned it to exclusively recording country music and eventually placed it under the management of Famous Music in 1971. Gulf+Western sold its labels to ABC in 1974, after which Dot was renamed to ABC-Dot Records before closing in 1978.

Dinah Shore American singer and actress (1916–1994)

Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. She achieved even greater success a decade later, in television, mainly as the host of a series of variety programs for the Chevrolet automobile company.

WSM (AM) Country music radio station in Nashville, Tennessee

WSM is a 50,000-watt clear channel station located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a full-time country music format at 650 kHz and is known primarily as the home of the Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running radio program. The station's clear channel signal can reach much of North America and nearby countries, especially late at night. It is one of two clear-channel stations in North America, along with CFZM in Toronto, that still primarily broadcast music; as recently as 2020, the station was live and locally originated during the overnight hours, but the overnight host position was eliminated in February 2020. Nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South," it spawned two sister stations on newer mediums: WSM-FM, and television Channel 4, both of which were later sold separately. WSM-FM is no longer affiliated with WSM, while the owners of WSMV and WSM jointly operate the television network Circle, which airs on a subchannel of WSMV and simulcasts portions of the Opry with WSM. WSM is owned by Opry Entertainment Group, a joint venture of Ryman Hospitality Properties, NBCUniversal and Atairos.

Starday Records was an American record label producing traditional country music during the 1950s and 1960s.

WLAC Radio station in Nashville, Tennessee

WLAC – branded Talkradio 98.3 & 1510 – is a commercial talk radio radio station licensed to serve Nashville, Tennessee. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station covers the Nashville metropolitan area. The WLAC studios are located in Nashville's Music Row district, while it transmits from a three-tower facility in the city's Northside neighborhood. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WLAC broadcasts an HD Radio signal utilizing the in-band on-channel standard, is simulcast over a digital subchannel of WSIX-FM, WRVW, and on FM translator W252CM, and is available online via iHeartRadio.

WTVF is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television owned-and-operated station WNPX-TV. WTVF's studios are located on James Robertson Parkway in downtown Nashville, and its transmitter is located north of downtown along I-24 near Whites Creek.

Walter Ralph Emery was an American country music disc jockey, radio and television host from Nashville, Tennessee.

WMDB Radio station in Nashville, Tennessee

WMDB is a Regional Mexican-format AM radio station broadcasting on a frequency of 880 kHz in Nashville, Tennessee. The station formerly broadcast at 1240 kHz as WSNG; current power is 2,500 watts. The station is currently owned by Mahan Janbakhsh, through licensee TBLC Media #2, LLC. Nighttime power is reduced to 2 watts to protect the signal of WCBS in New York, New York. WCBS is the dominant Class A signal on 880 AM.

WENO is an AM radio station operating in the Nashville, Tennessee market on the frequency of 760 kHz. It is currently programmed with a Gospel music and Ministry format and has a power of 1,000 watts; operation is limited to daytime hours to prevent interference to WJR, Detroit, Michigan.

John R. was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame in the 1950s and 1960s for playing rhythm and blues music on Nashville radio station WLAC. He was also a notable record producer and artist manager.

Bill "Hoss" Allen American radio DJ

Bill Allen was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame from the 1950s through the 1990s for playing rhythm and blues and black gospel music on Nashville radio station WLAC.

Gene Nobles was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame on Nashville radio station WLAC from the 1940s through the 1970s by playing rhythm and blues music.

Get down

Get down is a stance, posture or movement in many traditional African cultures and throughout the African diaspora. It involves bending at the waist and knees, bringing the body low to the ground in moments of ecstasy or intensity. Bending at the knees and waist indicates suppleness and conveys qualities and values of vitality, youthfulness and energy.

Before the development of the radio format called "Top 40" was born, "Black Appeal Stations" reinvigorated radio. By playing a specific group of songs aimed specifically at the young African American demographic, "Black Appeal Stations" helped keep radio alive. Many other radio stations soon began to employ the "Top 40" radio format, in which the vast majority found their stations to rise from the bottom to top of ratings in their markets.

Randy Wood (record producer) Musical artist

Randolph Clay Wood was an American record producer and the founder of Nashville-based Dot Records, one of the most successful independent record labels of the 1950s and 1960s.

Nashboro Records was an American gospel label principally active in the 1950s and 1960s.

Electrical transcription Phonograph recordings made for radio broadcasting

Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting, which were widely used during the "Golden Age of Radio". They provided material—from station-identification jingles and commercials to full-length programs—for use by local stations, which were affiliates of one of the radio networks.

History of radio disc jockeys

The history of radio disc jockeys covers the time when gramophone records were first transmitted by experimental radio broadcasters to present day radio personalities who host shows featuring a variety of recorded music.

Jimmy Sweeney American singer-songwriter

Jimmy Sweeney a WW2 veteran, and a member of the Nashville African-American music scene. He was a singer, songwriter, and self-taught guitarist.

References

  1. Smith (1989 :82, 95, 96)
  2. Smith (1989 :92)

Bibliography