Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
New Detroit R&B Soul Station PD Will Launch “Young Sound” and Apply Consistency To Programming
DETROIT — WJLB, Booth Broadcasting’s 1,000-watt R&B operation here, has just launched a new programming policy centering around tighter production, faster pacing, and a new set of custom jingles created and packaged by Quincy Jones.
Wash Allen, who just recently took over WJLB program director duties after being transferred from Booth’s WABQ in Cleveland, said the Detroit station would be “running with a full-blast, exciting young sound.” Playlist will be 40 records, to which he will add as necessity demands. “You can never tell how many good tunes will come out in a good week, but I think the average will be about five new records a week,” he said.
The aim will be to establish consistency in programming, Allen said. He felt his philosophy in programming was the same as Bill Drake, consultant to RKO General stations, and Paul Drew, program director of CKLW in Detroit. “Certain top tunes must be played consistently and deejays must be consistent in their shows. One dee-jay can’t make a station; it has to be a total operation and this is a new concept in R&B radio. In the old days, one guy could make a station; he could make a record. It can’t be like that today.”
Things are changing so fast in radio, especially in R&B radio, that Allen felt many older dee-jays were finding it difficult to grasp what was happening. “To some extent,” Allen said, “it was necessary to teach radio to these people. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that this situation developed. It’s just that times are changing and a radio station has to move with the times.”
Allen began his radio career with WVOL in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University. He had been with WABQ about two and a half years before moving to WJLB. He considers himself a “derivative of Ed Wright,” who’d been program director of WABQ prior to joining Liberty Records as head of its Minit label.
Allen wrote lyrics and produced the Jones jingles. Future plans call for psychedelic jingles. Station has brought in new equipment and is building up its news department. In Martha Jean Steinberg and Ernie Durham, Allen felt he had two of the top air personalities of any station in the nation. “Now, with the new equipment, we find we have everything to work with. END
_______________
Information, credit, and news source (as was published): Billboard; September 23, 1967
Above article courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2022. Newspapers.com
The above featured Detroit Free Press article was digitally re-imaged in its entirety by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
A special thank you to senior MCRFB consultant Greg Innis, of Livonia, MI., for contributing the Newspapers.com archives (Detroit radio related) articles, ads, and images we have featured on this site, since 2016.
Thank you, Greg Innis, for making these historic Detroit radio features possible. 🙂
_______________
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE
ON YOUR PC? You can read this entire newsprint article — the fine print — ENLARGED. For a larger detailed view click above image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap on newsprint image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
___
DETROIT FREE PRESS: JACK SURRELL
Above article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2020. Newspapers.com.
____________
This featured JACK SURRELL article was ‘clipped,’ saved, and was digitally imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
* A MCRFB VIEWING TIP *
ON YOUR PC? You can read this entire article — the fine print — ENLARGED. For a larger detailed view click above image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap on newsprint image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE.
— Sunday, September 12, 1965 —
____________
A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE AD
Above ad is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2020. Newspapers.com
The above WJLB newspaper ad feature was ‘clipped,’ saved, and was digitally imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
* A MCRFB VIEWING TIP *
ON YOUR PC? You can read this entire WJLB ad — the fine print — ENLARGED. For a larger detailed view click above image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap on newsprint image. Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
Missed any of our previous ‘Detroit Radio Back-Pages‘ features? GO HERE.
— Monday, August 30, 1965 —
___
A DETROIT RADIO BACK-PAGE AD
Above ad is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2020. Newspapers.com
The above WJLB newspaper ad feature was ‘clipped,’ saved, and was digitally imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
___
BILLBOARD WEEK OF 02/26/66 – 03/05/1966
Many of the above titled Billboard ‘Top 40’ R&B singles were also the most popular radio plays heard on Detroit’s soul stations 1400 WJLB and 1440 WCHB on the AM dial, February-March, 1966. The featured R&B Top 40 hits list was the nation’s most popular R&B singles, as charted by Billboard, 54 years ago.
** A MCRFB VIEWING TIP **
On YOUR PC? For a larger detailed view click above chart image 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB.COM home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over chart image(s). Open to second window. “Stretch” image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.
— February 24, 1969 —
*****
WJLB 51 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
The above WJLB chart was digitally restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks
** A MCRFB VIEWING TIP **
ON YOUR PC? To fully appreciate this WJLB February 24, 1969 chart feature click on images 2x and open to second window. Click image anytime to return to NORMAL image size.
Click your server’s back button to return to MCRFB home page.
ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap on chart image(s). Open to second window. “Stretch” across the featured image to magnify largest print view.
— SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT —
The above WJLB 2-24-69 music chart survey is courtesy of Greg Innis. Greg Innis is our Motor City Radio Flashbacks senior contributor.
FROM THE GREG INNIS COLLECTION
— A TRIBUTE TO THE QUEEN —
— January 29, 2000 —
Twenty Years Ago A Voice Was Stilled
Martha Jean. Beloved in memory by many. Simply remembered as,“The Queen“.
She is remembered having been the voice of the city she truly loved. Whose daily broadcasts inspired “generations of radio listeners” in Detroit for over four decades.
The Queen Remembered