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. 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-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 - ? / Hound Dog (ca. 1973)

Sources

• 45cat entries: [1], [2], [3]