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Read more about the D.J.s at WLAC

In the decades before the 1940s, teenagers listened to the same music that their parents did. In the 1940s, teenager girls fainted and “swooned” at the music of Frank Sinatra, but he moved on to more adult songs. Both male and female teenagers wanted something different.

In Nashville, on WLAC AM, disc jockeys (DJs) “Daddy” Gene Nobles, “John R.” Richbourg, and Bill “Hoss” Allen began playing black music at night as early as 1946. People looking for music on their radio dial, stopped when they heard the different style of music.

WLAC was one of only 64 radio stations in the country licensed to operate as a clear channel with 50,000 watts of power. This meant at night, when other stations powered down, WLAC could reach 28 states and even into Canada and Mexico. Thousands of people listened to the station.

Nobles had been at WLAC since 1943, and was probably the first disc jockey to consistently play rhythm and blues (R&B) for a racially mixed listening audience. Both John R. and Hoss Allen also played R&B.

Although all three men were white, they talked “jive”, a mixture of black and jazz dialect. Most of their listeners thought they were black.   Allen said he grew up with black playmates in Gallatin and picked up their style of talking. In his neighborhood, if something was good, it was “tight like that.” Allen often used that phrase to describe what he thought was a good record.

The DJs at WLAC were responsible for introducing dozens of R&B performers to the public, including Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, and Bo Diddley. 

One of the most famous, James Brown, credited John R. with helping him get his career started. Brown’s record company sent a demo record of him singing “Please, Please, Please” to WLAC.  John R. really liked it, and started playing it regularly. By this time other disc jockeys were listening to John R.’s show from 1 to 3 a.m. Whatever John R. played, they played too. Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” became a hit.

Another popular WLAC deejay during this time was Hugh “Baby” Jarrett. A native of Gallatin, Jarrett was younger than the other disc jockeys, and played more rock and roll. He held “Hugh Baby Hops” at local high schools and colleges. One high school girl later wrote:

“Anyone who loved dancing or to watch others dance showed up [at the hop] and people came in droves. Hugh Baby played the BEST dance tunes.” 

The DJs at WLAC also pushed sales of products on the air—everything from Bibles to razor blades. The most infamous were the baby chickens. 

“Get 100 baby chickens for just $1.98. Friends, raise your own fryers and broilers. Cut down on the grocery bill. Have chickens and eggs to sell to friends and neighbors…If any of these baby chicks die within the first 30 days…they will be replaced at one-half price.”

The problem was that the chickens were roosters that would never lay eggs. Nobles joked that out of 100,000 orders, they probably had 99,999 complaints. The chickens seem to live only a few days past the 30 days. 

The ones who lived longer caused even more problems. One buyer complained to the radio station that the roosters would “swoop out of trees to attack dogs, cats, and unwary human beings.’ Another said, “I was afraid to go outdoors unarmed.”

The WLAC R&B fame came to an end in the 1970s when the station switched to a top 40 format.