Gene Champlin

Gene Champlin - The Early Mornin' Rain (No label #SPS-5018)

Gene Champlin was from the Fayetteville, Arkansas, area and a local singer active in the 1970s and 1980s. According to local Fayetteville DJ Bill Banner, who wrote the liner notes to Champlin's debut album, his first record was not a serious approach at the music business but, as Banner put it, more of a "joke". The single comprised "Early Morning Rain", the popular Gordon Lightfoot song, plus a version of "Amanda", which was a hit for Don Williams in 1973 and for Waylon Jennings in 1979. This sets the time frame of Champlin's records: these were probably recorded at some point between 1973 and 1979.

Both songs were put out by Champlin on his own private label and soon, "Amanda" became a favorite on local radio station KFAY (where Bill Banner was working). The record obviously caught people in other areas as well, as my copy comes from the estate of radio KLSZ in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The good reaction resulted in Champlin's first album, "Teardrops", which was released on the Lookout label, which was probably also his own venture. Another single was released off of that album featuring the Bill Banner compositions "Walls of Sorrow" and the album title track "Teardrops".

In the 1980s, Champlin performed under the name "Hambo Latham" and recorded several singles for the BOC and History labels in addition to an album on BOC entitled "Hambo in a Plain Brown Wrapper". Unfortunately, it escapes me what happens to Champlin after the 1980s.

Sources

• Discogs entries for Hambo Latham and Gene Champlin

• 45cat entry for Hambo Latham

Dale Wasson

Dale Wasson (center) with Johnny Horton (left) and Johnny Cash (right), late 1950s
Courtesy of Dale Wasson, Jr.

The Big Long Tall Drink of Water from Miami

The Story of Dale Wasson

In the mid 1950s, radio station WMIE was one of the driving forces for country music in Miami, Florida. Influential Miami country music personalities like Uncle Harve Spivey, Happy Harold Thaxton, and Cracker Jim Brooker were mainstays on the station. Another DJ on WMIE was Dale Wasson, musician, songwriter, and record shop owner in his own right.

Maurice Dale Wasson was born on November 21, 1931, in Peoria, Illinois, to Samuel Dale and Macie Evelyn Wasson. He had a younger brother, Floyd Duane, but his parents eventually divorced. His mother married again and gave birth to Wasson's half-sister Patricia. Wasson's family moved to Miami, where he grew up.

In the early 1950s, Wasson joined the US Marines and was sent overseas to fight in the Korean War. One of his comrades was a young man from Arkansas, Gerald D. Tomlinson. Like Wasson, he liked music and played guitar. He was soon nicknamed "Tommy" by Wasson and his comrades and became Johnny Horton's guitarist after his discharge. Tomlinson and Wasson remained good friends throughout the years.

After earning two Purple Hearts, Wasson was honorably discharged in 1953 and returned to Miami. Upon his return, he started his own record shop on the corner of NW 7th Avenue and 130th Street. At the same time, he became an announcer on WMIE and started his own DJ show in 1957, which would be hosted out of his record shop. He was also active as a musician and joined Happy Harold Thaxton's band, the Dixie Millers. This outfit performed regularly at different venues in the area. Like Wasson, Thaxton was a DJ at WMIE and also had an evening TV show in the 1950s that often featured Wasson. Thaxton would introduce him as "The Big Long Tall Drink of Water".

While working as a DJ with WMIE, Wasson got to know a lot of the big stars that stopped in Miami to promote their records or while being on tour. Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton paid a visit more than once. Wasson also became acquainted with such legends as Jimmy Dean and Grady Martin. In fact, he jammed with Martin while the latter was on tour with the Cash and Horton units. "After the show my mom, dad, a young Jimmy Dean, and band members were all up in Horton's hotel room. Playing music after the shows with each other was something they always looked forward to. One of them mentioned that Grady Martin was staying upstairs. Everyone at the time wanted to play music with Grady, who was starting to become famous as a musician" recalls Wasson's son Dale jr. Apparently, the jam session developed into an hours-long issue. "Mom was eight months pregnant with my brother and was very tired, so she told my dad to go on with them and fell asleep alone in Horton's room until they came back hours later."

Wasson was also active as an emcee at drive-in movie theaters. Back then, bands would perform before and after the actual movie. Sometimes, there were extra added attractions as well. These shows were hosted by Wasson. One time, South Florida resident Grandma Ella Carver, "The World's Oldest Flame Diver", appeared on such an event. While Wasson was said to have been an accomplished songwriter, no recordings by him are known to exist.

By the early 1960s, WMIE had been sold and changed programming, aimed at the Latin-American audiences that were coming into Miami from Cuba by then. Wasson's show ended in 1961 and he sold his record shop around the same time and decided it was time to quit the music business. He moved his family to North Carolina, where he served the city of Asheville as a police officer. He eventually returned to Florida, living in Winter Park, where he continued to work in law enforcement.

Dale Wasson passed away on April 2, 2009, at the age of 77 years. He is buried at All Faiths Memorial Park in Casselberry, Florida.

See also
• Remembering Happy Harold - A Miami Country Music Pioneer
• WMIE- Florida's Favorite for Sports (...and Country & Western)

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• I would like to thank Dale Wasson's wife Elizabeth and his son Dale jr. for contributing so much information and photo material about Dale Wasson.

KTHS & KAAY - Hot Springs and Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950s. The KTHS building on the far right

Kome to Hot Springs / The Mighty KAAY

The Split History of KTHS / KAAY in Hot Springs and Little Rock

One of the most powerful radio stations in Arkansas was KAAY. The story of this station began in 1924, when the station signed on the air as KTHS ("Kome to Hot Springs") in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In the early 1930s, the it became a 10,000 watt station, sending its signal clear to the state capital Little Rock as well. KTHS was the founding station of the "Lum & Abner" show, which started in 1932.

KTHS was a NBC Blue network affiliate and continued to be part of the network even after 1945, when it was renamed ABC. The station was operated by the local Chamber of Commerce until 1942, when it was sold to Radio Broadcast, Inc. from Shreveport, Louisiana, making it a sister station to KWKH. Shortly after it changed owners, KTHS became a 50,000 watt station and was moved to Little Rock in 1943, though it stuck with its call letters.

The station featured a lot of country music programming, featuring such artists as Leo Castleberry, Tommy Trent, the Shelby Cooper and the Dixie Mountaineers, the Haley Family, Jack Hunt, or the Melody Boys. In the 1930s, the station had its Country Store stage show and in the early 1950s, the station carried KWKH's Louisiana Hayride.

Cast of the KTHS Country Store, presumably the station's 1930s live stage country show.
If anyone has more information on this program, feel free to leave a comment!

The station introduced KTHV as its televison station in 1955 but in 1962, both stations were sold to different new owners. Call letters of KTHS were changed to KAAY and was turned into a top 40 station, abandoning the country music and its local programming. After 11 pm, the station featured programs that played progressive pop and rock music, making it an underground favorite among young listeners. It was especially "Beaker Street" hosted by Clyde Clifford that became extremely popular not only in Arkansas but in different states of the Mid-West, Mississippi Valley, and as far as Cuba. Other DJs at that time included Rock Robbins, Charlie "King" Scarbrough, A.J. "Doc Holiday" Lindsey, and others.

The station was sold once more in 1975 to Multimedia Radio and in the 1980s, changed to religious programming, which it continues to this day. Citadel Broadcasting announced the purchase of the station in 1997 with the official purchase taking place in November 1998. Citadel became Cumulus Media in 2011.

See also

• Tommy Trent - Little Rock's Forgotten Star

Sources

• Thomas Harold Riggs Find a Grave entry (Rock Robbins)

• Doc Holiday obituary

• KAAY 1090 blog and The Mighty KAAY blog

• Wikipedia entry

WOWO Hoosier Hop

1946 souvenir album/song folio cover from the Hoosier Hop

WOWO's Famous Hoosier Hop

Indiana's Most Popular Barn Dance Show

Country music was a popular music style in the state of Indiana, which was boosted by the fact that the state was widely populated by people coming from the South. As radio grew, barn dance live shows popped up all over Indiana, which housed quite a few of those. Among the most popular shows was WOWO's Hoosier Hop from Fort Wayne.

The roots of the Hoosier Hop show date back to 1932. That year, WOWO introduced a show of that name to its listeners and it proved to be popular enough to be carried through the CBS network for several months. It is not clear whether this show was a studio production or a live venue broadcast. However, the show soon came to an end - initially.

WOWO revived the Hoosier Hop in 1943, when they started the program anew on July 17 with a cast of about 15 folk and country music singers and musicians. At that early stage of the show's run, it was live broadcast from the studio. Again, the show became a favorite among the listeners and the cast grew to 30 performers. At that point, it moved from the WOWO studio to the Shrine Auditorium in Fort Wayne, which had a capacity of 4,000 seats. The first show at the new venue was staged on October 8 that year. The show was supervised by Harry K. Smythe of WOWO and his wife Eleanor.

The Shrine Temple (also known as Shrine Theatre or Shrine Auditorium) in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Beginning in 1944, the Hoosier Hop was carried nationally through the Blue network. Summer seasons brought the show to places outside of Fort Wayne, including Smythe's newly opened Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana, with a capacity of 5,000 seats. The Hoosier Hop was on the air throughout the 1940s and by 1946, was part of the ABC network programming, which lasted until around 1948 (formerly Blue network). It remained popular throughout the decade and attracted a lot of different performers, both locally and nationally known.

Happy Herb Hayworth was the announcer of the show. Cast members included the Blackhawk Valley Boys, the Hoosier Cornhuskers, Billy Starr (alias Bill Stallard), Nancy Lee and the Hilltoppers, Judy & Jen, Dean Maxedon, Penny West, Kenny Roberts, and many others. By 1944, a group entitled the "Down Homers" had come to the Hoosier Hop. The group's bassist and yodeler was Kenny Roberts, who temporarily left in late 1944 for the US Navy. He was replaced by Bill Haley, who was still at an early stage of his career (though some sources claim Haley did not join the group until a year later). Haley remained with the Down Homers and the Hoosier Hop for about two years. In early 1946, several Hoosier Hop cast members made recordings for the Detroit based Vogue label, including Nancy Lee and the Oregon Rangers, Judy & Jen, and the Down Homers (probably without Haley). These recordings were released throughout 1946 and 1947 on Vogue Picture Discs.

The Hoosier Hop cast around 1946 as pictured in one of the show's souvenir albums

I found mentions of the Hoosier Hop as late as July 1947 but public mentions in Billboard end by that time. By then, some of the mainstay performers like Kenny Roberts and Fred Oliver had left WOWO and the cast. If anyone has additional information on the show or its ending, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email through the formula at the top right of this site.

Sources

• World Radio History: Hoosier Hop Souvenir Albums [1] and [2] 

• Vogue Records 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Otto Fuchs: "Bill Haley" (Wagner Verlag GmbH), 2011, page 62

• Bart Plantenga: "Yodel-AY-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World" (Routledge), 2004, page 198

James Fred Williams

James Fred Williams

The Spiritual Ambassador of Southwest Arkansas

James Fred Williams is an Arkansas based gospel singer and minister that has been around on the music scene for more than six decades. He has recorded at least four different discs, including a gospel EP for United Southern Artists in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1963, and two more platters for Curtis Kirk on his Tyler, Texas, based Custom label, in the 1970s. Recently, my southwest Arkansas correspondent Mark Keith interviewed Williams via telephone so European roots music fans now can learn of this artist.

James Fred Williams was born in 1940 in Magnolia, Arkansas. He remembers that radio played a major role in shaping his music taste. He would place his ear near the radio to listen closely to gospel music. It was of course gospel music and nothing else but gospel that became Williams' sole influence. Naturally, his first public appearance was in a little country Baptist church south of Magnolia and later on, he would sing in a choir as well.

Williams could be also heard on local radio throughout the years, including on KMSL (which later evolved into KZHE), where he had a Sunday evening show. Mark Keith worked at that station, too, and recalls: "He'd come on playing "Standing by the Bedside of a Neighbor" and when the instrumental break came on, he'd come in and talk over it and welcome people. He has a beautiful speaking voice and sounded so warm and friendly."

The Hope Star, January 19, 1963

Williams' first record came in 1963 for the Hot Springs based United Southern Artists label. He remembers that it was Carl Friend, the label's A&R manager, who organized the deal. Williams recorded four songs during a session in Hot Springs that were released on an EP record by the label. Two more records came into existence when Williams came in touch with Curtis Kirk, who had a studio and record label in Tyler, Texas. Four songs were recorded in Tyler and on that particular session, he was accompanied by the Ambassadors of Sweetwater, Louisiana. Kirk released them on his Custom label and Williams distributed those two releases to radio stations in Magnolia, Sweetwater, Shreveport, and Houston, among others.

A special record came along in 1979, when Williams cut his own "Stay with Me Jesus" backed by Brother Eli Taylor on organ. It was re-released the next year on the Love label. Original copies are nowadays quite worthy and sought after.

Williams still works as a minister in the Magnolia, Arkansas, area and does church programs. Mark Keith conducted an telephone interview with him in January 2025 which was the main source for this text.

Discography

United Southern GLP 101: James Fred Williams - Hold On to God's Unchanging Hand / Stay with Me Jesus / I Need the Lord / Every Child of God (1963)
Custom 185: James Fred Williams - If You've Got Jesus / I Feel the Spirit
Custom 191: James Fred Williams - He Will Take Care of His Own / Thank You Lord
No label No.#: Dea James Fred Williams - Stay with Me Jesus / God Is Taking Care (1979)
Love 3607: Dea. James Williams - Stay with Me Jesus / God Is Taking Care (1980) 

Sources

• 45cat
• Discogs [1] and [2]

• Thanks to Mark Keith for sharing his memories and providing information on James Fred Williams and interviewing him at my urging.

Bud Standridge on SOH (Select-O-Hits)

Bud Standridge and the Mesilla Valley Boys - What Have You Got (SOH 016), 1972

Here we have another enjoyable Memphis country record from the 1970s. It's Bud Standridge and his Mesilla Valley Boys with "What Have You Go" backed by "Morning" on SOH 016 from 1972. I looked it up, the Mesilla Valley is located in South New Mexico and West Texas along the Rio Grande from Radium Springs, New Mexico, to El Paso, Texas.

The singer's full name was probably Lloyd Victor Standridge, judging from the composer credits, and I found several Lloyd Standridges living in Arkansas but only one Lloyd Victor Standridge from Del Rio, Texas, which is more than 400 miles away from El Paso, though. He was born in Del Rio on July 25, 1935, and died there on December 26, 1992, at the age of 57. He was buried in San Miguel, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, which is indeed located in Mesilla Valley so I guess, we have the right Lloyd Victor Standridge here.

"Organ Mountains resemble a giant organ extending into the sky. These are the stately guardians
of the Mesilla Valley, through which runs the Rio Grande River" (from the back of this post card)

I don't have an answer to the question how he got to Memphis but obviously he did. Standridge had two records out on SOH, a shortcut for Select-O-Hits, which was a record store and retail shop operated by Tom Phillips, Sam Phillips' brother, on Chelsea Avenue. The company had several record labels throughout the years, including SOH, which was active from 1970 to 1974. Select-O-Hits is still in existence, though rather in the distribution field.

Back to Standridge. He returned to the Mesilla Valley region, where he and his band continued to perform. They had another release on the Goldust label, which was based in Mesilla Park, New Mexico.

Discography

SOH 014: Webb of Love / It's a Lie (ca. 1972)

SOH 016: What Have You Got / Morning (1972)
Goldust 45-5045: Party Lights / The Hands You're Holding Now

Sources

• Find a Grave entry
• Family Search entry
• Discogs
• 45cat entry for Select-O-Hits

RFM

Image courtesy of Marshal Martin

While researching a certain record for a Bear Family project, I stumbled across something very interesting. Jesse Parker's record "Hound Dog" on Gilda Records bears the number RFM-412 on the record label. Since I found no other releases on the Gilda label, I researched the RFM prefix and discovered that there were a few more records that shared this very same prefix and the same numerical system (see discography below). While the label names are different, all records seem to have been from the same time period (early 1970s) and most of them from the same region (three from the Natchitoches region and one from Daingerfield, East Texas).

However, I was not able to find out what RFM stands for. I suspect it's a numerical system assigned by a recording studio, which custom-produced those releases. Sidney J. Wakefield's pressing plant from Arizona was often used for pressing the records. Producers were such names as Roy Hines, Vernon Pleasant, and Ernest Self. But what was RFM? And where was it located? 

If anyone knows more about RFM, the labels or the artists, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me via the contact form. Thank you!

Discography

Graham Cracker RFM-406: C.L. and the Playmates - All These Moments / Lonely Street
Graham Cracker RFM-407: Roy Cagle with the Playmates - Somehow, I Still Love You / You'll Never Change
Kana RFM-408: Kanaan - Leave It / Something Inside (1971)
Soul Train RFM-411: Roy Cagle and the Peoples Choice - Just One Kiss / I Can't Find It (ca. 1973)
Gilda RFM-412: Jesse Parker and the Peoples Choice - Congratulations / Hound Dog (ca. 1973)

Sources

• 45cat entries: [1], [2], [3]
• C.L. & the Playmates on Rockin' Hood

Jimmy Stayton on Chattahoochee

Jimmy Stayton - Your Heart Is My Prison (Chattahoochee CH 661), 1964
About 15 years ago, when I first heard Jimmy Stayton's "Hot Hot Mama", there was virtually no information available on him. This has changed in the last years as Steve Kelemen tracked Stayton down and interviewed him for the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2013. Since then, he has been recognized as Delaware's first rockabilly musician.

James H. Stayton was born August 4, 1939, in Milford, Delaware, near the US Atlantic coast. Milford was a small town with a population around 4,000 at that time and, as Stayton put in, "most of the music in those days was either country, swing, big band or maybe some jazz. I didn't think there was much of a choice." Country music became his first love and Hank Williams his first hero. He was presented with a guitar from his grandfather and Stayton practiced until his finger bled.

In the summer of 1954, Elvis Presley started the rockabilly craze from his Memphis base and it set out all across the southern states. In Delaware, this new brand of music was still unheard, however. In late 1954, Stayton visited his sister in Virginia, where rockabilly was already starting to get popular among young music fans. On a ferry trip there, Stayton heard Presley's version "Blue Moon of Kentucky" in a jukebox and was instantly converted to rockabilly. "I went into a record shop in Norfolk , Virginia, and asked if they had 'Blue Moon of Kentucky'. The owner said that they didn't have it so I told him 'to get on it' because Elvis was going be the biggest thing ever! After that they started to carry his Sun singles," Stayton told Steve Kelemen.

In 1955, Stayton met guitarist Morton Marker at a talent contest in Dover, Delaware. Marker and his sister were contestants there, too, and apart from that, Walker backed up Stayton on the show. Both had the same taste in music and decided to start as a band with Stayton on vocals and rhythm guitar, Marker on lead guitar and with the addition of drummer Honey Voshell, the group was complete, taking the name "Rocka-Bye Band" (suggested by their manager Reece Harrington). They had no bass player but sometimes used guest musicians on their shows.

Jimmy Stayton and the Rocka-Bye Band, 1956 (from left to right):
Morton Marker (lead guitar), Jimmy Stayton (vocals/rhythm guitar), Honey Voshell (drums)

They started playing shows in places all over Delaware and soon became popular with their brand of music. Rockabilly was still unheard till then and Stayton and his band were probably the first musicians to perform this music style publicly in Delaware. One of the first venues they played was the Milford Canteen, where they used to play in front of a packed house. From there, they went on to perform shows in Frederica, Smyrna, Camden, and Dover. They also started playing shows in other east coast states such as Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia.

In late 1955 or early 1956, Stayton became acquainted with Sam Short, who ran a grocery store in Harrington, Delaware. Out of this store, he also operated the Blue Hen label that had released mostly country music since 1954. Rockabilly became the hottest thing in the country and Short decided to give it a try and recorded Stayton's band. A session was set up at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Maryland, which produced "Hot Hot Mama" paired with a country flip side, "Why Do You Treat Me This Way". Released in the spring of 1956 on Blue Hen #220, the record was credited to "Jimmy Stayton with Morton & Honey" rather than the "Rocka-Bye Band" but it proved to be a good seller in their three state radius. Moreover, it was the first rockabilly record ever released in the state of Delaware - a pioneering disc in that area.

The success led to another recording session a few months later. On this occasion, Stayton had organized a recording studio in Baltimore, Maryland, and this session produced "You're Gonna Treat Me Right" and "Midnight Blues". By then, the group included Patsy Saunders on drums as Voshell had left following the release of "Hot Hot Mama", and the group became the "Country Cats". However, Saunders was not present at the second session and the line-up instead included a bassist. Stories differ how they picked them up - Morton Marker recalled they met him while playing the Sunset Park in Westgrove, Pennsylvania, and used him on several shows, while Stayton later remembered him as a studio musician.

However, both songs were prime examples of rockabilly with its sparse line-up and appeared in late 1956 in Blue Hen #224. Though they continued to perform successfully until 1958, no more recordings were made. That year, Stayton joined the US Army and was sent overseas to Germany. It meant the end of the Country Cats. Stayton got to know his future wife in Germany and upon his return, moved to California, where he attended college.

Music was still on his mind. While in California, he signed a recording contract with 20th Century Fox (Stayton later claimed that Robert Mitchum had a hand in it) and his debut on the label, "More Than You'll Ever Know" b/w "Losers Can't Win", was released in 1962. It was the first nationally distributed record for Staytion as Blue Hen had no proper distribution network (records were sold from the counter of Short's grocery store for example). However, the record did not reach the charts and shortly afterwards, Stayton returned to Delaware.

He was soon back at recording, again with Sam Short, and recorded for Short's and "Bailin' Wire" Bob Strack's Del-Ray label, which Stayton later co-owned, too. The A side was "The Hep Old Frog", a novelty comedy number that he had written back in California for a Hollywood-produced Hanna Barbera TV cartoon that never came into existence. It was paired with a Don Gibson-styled, very commercial country number, "The Only One (for Me)", on Del-Ray #212 in 1963. Another single followed on Del-Ray under the pseudonym of "Leappo the Frog" with more frog-themed novelty content.

Probably his last record came in 1964 for Ruth Conte's Chattahoochee label from Los Angeles. "Politickin's Here" was a humorous comment on politics and election campaigns, while "Your Heart Is My Prison" is another enjoyable country performance. My copy of the record has "Area Test Record" on its label written, whatever that means.

Stayton told Kelemen that he had enough of music at one point in his life and became a salesman at WKEN in Dover, an occupation he held for 15 years. He also was a DJ on that station for some time. Eventually, he formed a new band, the Country Sounds and returned to performing. He also wrote a new song, "The Ballad of Herman Brown" for Republican Herman Brown's 1968 election campaign.

In the 1990s, European rockabilly CD compilation started featuring Stayton's songs "Hot Hot Mama" and "You're Gonna Treat Me This Way". They had been forgotten for years and so had been Stayton. Collectors and researchers failed to track him down until 2013, when Steve Kelemen succeeded and conducted an interview with both Stayton and Morton Walker for the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In the wake of his rediscovery, Knock Out Records released a CD of Stayton's recordings that also includes a lot of originally unissued material. Since then, Stayton and his band have been acknowledged several times as Delaware's first rock'n'roll recording artists.

Stayton nowadays resides in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, while Morton Marker lives in Glendora, California. Honey Voshell remained active as a musician in Delaware and opened a music shop in Felton, "The Drum Pad".

Discography

Blue Hen 220: Jimmy Stayton with Morton & Honey - Hot Hot Mama / Why Do You Treat Me This Way (1956)
Blue Hen 224: Jimmy Stayton and the Country Cats - You're Gonna Treat Me Right / Midnight Blues (1956)
20th Fox 310: James H. Stayton - More Than You'll Ever Know / Losers Can't Win (1962)
Del-Ray 212: Jimmy Stayton - The Hep Old Frog / The Only One (for Me) (1963)
Del-Ray 213: Leappo (The Frog) - Christmas in Frogville / Look Before You Leap (1963)
Chattahoochee 45-6x: Politickin's Here (Nobody Needs Automation) / Your Heart Is My Prison (1964)

Recommended reading

• Dead Wax: Christmas in Frogville

• Bear Family Records (Knock Out CD)

Sources

• Blue Hen Records (Greater Harrington Historical Society)

• Rockabilly Hall of Fame interviews (Wayback Machine)

• Jimmy Stayton on the Delaware Rock and Roll Society website

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat entry

Radio WMIE of Miami, Florida

WMIE (Miami, Florida)

Florida's Favorite for Sports (...and Country & Western)

WMIE radio went on air in 1948 in Miami. One of the station's earliest on-air personalities was Barry Gray, who came from New York City to Miami that year and became known as the inventor of talk radio. He broadcast three different shows from Miami night clubs. Other DJs and announcers included Art Green and James Olmes. It was in late 1953 when the station added a television outlet to its roster. It was managed by Kurt A. Meer at that time and WMIE-TV was granted a licence in November or December that year but the station broadcast only for a few months. In late 1954, the TV station was purchased by George B. Storer and re-emerged as WGBS-TV in early 1955. 

WMIE became part of Sun Coast Broadcasting in 1951, which in turn was headed by former Georgia Governor E.D. Rivers, Sr., who owned the station for more than a decade. It was the city's premier country & western station during the late 1940s and 1950s, although other station were airing country music programs as well. On air personalities in the C&W field included Cracker Jim Brooker, probably the station's most popular and longest running C&W DJ, Happy Harold Thaxton, Dale Wasson, and Buddy Starcher, among others. In the 1950s, WMIE produced and broadcast several big country programs in the Miami area. From 1956 until 1957, the station had its Gold Coast Jamboree live stage show.

1950s WMIE match box cover

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and Fidel Castro's rise to power, many Cubans sought refuge in Miami, which led to the development of a big Cuban/Latin American community in the Miami-Dade metropolitan area. Radio was affected by this development, too, and stations began including Spanish-language programming. By 1960, WMIE had introduced two daily programs aimed at a Cuban audience, including Martha Flores' half-hour talk show. Flores had immigrated from Cuba the previous year and was not only the first Cuban to host a radio show in Miami but also the first female host on WMIE. The station was mentioned in several secret governmental reports, which evaluated the possibility of broadcasting propaganda programs to Cuba in order to harm the Castro regime.

WMIE began a full time Latin-aimed programming around 1964. Mainstays like Happy Harold and Cracker Jim switched to other stations in the area and in 1968, WMIE evolved into WQBA, which features a Latin talk/sports programming nowadays. The call letters WMIE went to a Christian talk/music station in Cocoa, Florida, which began broadcasting in 1984.

If someone has memories or information on WMIE, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me via email trough the formula at top right.

See also

• Remembering Happy Harold - A Miami Country Music Pioneer

• Cracker Jim Brooker - A Miami Country Music Veteran

• Dale Wasson

• Gold Coast Jamboree

Recommended reading

• Photo of WMIE personality Art Green

• Cracker Jim C&W WMIE Charts of April 11, 1953

• Miami area TV and Radio Memories (incl. WMIE)

Sources

• James Olmes Rogers obituary

• Barry Gray at the Radio Hall of Fame

• History of UHF Television

• WQBA Wikipedia entry

• Miami Herald: Martha Flores obituary

• Historical Documents - office of the historian ("Briefing-papers used to brief President-elect Kennedy")

• United States Information Agency papers (Radio Propaganda Plan)

Leon Fulgham & the Dealers on Bejay

Leon Fulgham & the Dealers - Poor Boy (Bejay 82479), 1979

Leon Fulgham's band, the Dealers, was founded in the late 1970s. Fulgham was a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and came from a large family. He worked as a used car dealer and operated Fulgham Used Car Center in Fort Smith. He played music with friends for years until he put together his own band, the Dealers. He was also known as the "Singing Car Dealer".

The band consisted of Fulgham on rhythm guitar, bass, and lead vocals, Harold Van on steel guitar, Louis Lyles on vocals, lead guitar and fiddle, Ramona Lyles on bass, piano, and vocals, and Billy Wise on drums. Occasionally, Fulgham's wife Maxine appeared with the band on vocals. All of the members were said to hail from the Fort Smith area.

Leon Fulgham and the Dealers, 1979
(taken from the band's LP "First Time Around")

In 1979, Fulgham and the Dealers went into Ben Jack's recording studio in Fort Smith to cut eleven songs. They probably performed those songs frequently at their shows and included a good cover of Jimmie Martin's bluegrass tune "Free Born Man", the bluesy "Poor Boy", or "The Devil and the Cowboy". All eleven songs were issued on the Bejay LP "First Time Around" and those last two songs, which were Fulgham's own compositions, were also released on a 45rpm disc by Bejay the same year.

Although many of his siblings already passed away, it seems that Leon Fulgham is still alive. His used car dealership has been closed down, as far as I can tell.

If somebody has more information on Leon Fulgham, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail through the formula at the top right of this website.

See also
• Ben Jack on Bejay
• Bobby Whittaker on Bejay
• Red Yeager on Bejay
• David & Darlene Robinson on Bejay

Sources
• Discogs
• 45cat entry
• Jimmy Fulgham Find a Grave entry