generation of young fans to take US music to its heart. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced the new format of a 45rpm vinyl record and to compliment this new invention, offered a cheap, well built record player to play the new format on. This new, cheaper 45rpm format replaced the larger, more delicate 78rpm, was manufactured from a much more robust material: vinyl, and allowed a generation of teenagers to not only harness its mass of buying power but also enabled them to take music with them to each others homes, parties and eventually record hops etc. The first 45rpm single ever released was RCA Victor’s new ‘vinylite’ record Eddy Arnold – “Texarkarna Baby b/w Bouquet Of Roses” – RCA 45-0001 which was also issued as a 78rpm. RCA opted to categorize its 45 releases with colored vinyl. These colored vinyl 45s denoted Country and Western – Green, Classical – Red, Popular – Black, Rhythm and Blues – Cerise, Popular classic – Midnight Blue and Children’s Records – Yellow. During the early 1950s the sound of black RnB could be heard echo-ing from the black areas of towns all over the country. The first radio station to play music specifically aimed at a black audience was WDIA in Memphis in 1948. Most of the presenters on the station were black but the station was owned and managed by a white company. In 1949, the first black owned radio station hit the airwaves of Atlanta when Jesse Blayton, a successful black businessman, bought a failing white owned station (WERD) and installed his son Jesse Jr as manager. The venture was a huge success although only pumping out 1000 watts over only 14 counties the WERD station turned an $18,000 yearly loss into a profit in its first 6 months.[2] Radio stations were now looking to employ black DJs in order to exploit this emerging market and famous innovators like Jack “The Rapper” Gibson (WERD, Atlanta), Douglas Wendell-Henderson Jr (WBAL, Baltimore), Herb Kent (WGRY, Gary, Indiana), Georgie Woods (WDAS, Philadelphia) to name just a few, started to become influential as Rhythm and Blues music became more popular. The airwaves in the early 50s would be filled with exciting new music from street quarter quartets reminiscent of the barber shop style to the newer rough edged dance style and everything in between. But it was the uptempo, black dance orientated songs that captured America’s ear. Music from originators like Clyde MacPhatter, Big Joe Turner, The 5 Royales, The Orioles, Ruth Brown, Johnny Ace, Fats Domino, Five Keys and The Clovers start to hit the newly formed Billboard RnB charts and although only accounting for 5% of all records sold in 1953, record companies identify that RnB is here to stay and that it’s also being appreciated by white audiences.
Chapter Three
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