Once upon a time, it was a 'thing' for radio DJs to go into a recording studio and cut records, just like any musical artist.

It's a new day, so this rarely happens now. To acknowledge National Radio Day 2025 (August 20), I dug deep into the Powerhouse Radio vault to pull out 10 single tracks voiced by 'jocks' who explore love, comedy, entertainment, and message music in their records.

Radio is still here, albeit trying to maintain listener numbers, while competing with digital, social media, the internet, television, and podcasting.

The Guys Behind the Mic

 You'll hear:

1. 'Jocko' Douglas Henderson Sr.
2. Bill 'Rosko' Mercer
3. Joey Reynolds
4. Bob Lewis
5. Al Grannum
6. Gary Byrd
7. E. Rodney Jones
8. Les Crane
9. Don Imus
10. Frankie 'Love Man' Crocker

All of these gentlemen's creative tracks are from my personal record collection. I've selected short "fair use" segments for each song. You'll see each record label.

A few of the labels had my initials written on them, a practice I started after having quite a few of my records stolen at a student center while I was in school (NYU).

Most of the initials on a few labels have been covered over while preparing this project for you to hear.

For timing length, I had to make a few digital audio edits in some of the clips.

In days of old, very big hit records were informally called 'hot wax,' thanks to the plastic vinyl they were pressed on.

Jocko

According to Arnold Passman, in his book The Deejays, Philadelphia's Douglas 'Jocko' Henderson, early in his career, commanded his "rocket ship" show in New York City for two hours a night at the Palm Cafe in Harlem on WOV.

This was after a two hour nightly commute from Philly.

Henderson started in the City of Brotherly Love at WHAT, then moved over to WDAS. 'Jocko' had multiple record releases during his rise to fame, including "A Little Bit of Everything / Blast Off To Love" on New York City's Wand label.

Here's Jocko with "Rhythm Talk," the McFadden and Whitehead hit. His version, like McFadden and Whitehead's, is on Philadelphia International Records. Henderson was active in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. 

Listen to 30 seconds of Jocko's "Rhythm Talk. 

Rosko

Rosko was a giant in New York City FM radio at WNEW-FM during the 1970s. The station's rock music format was called 'underground' or 'progressive.

Richard Neer observed the following in FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio book about Bill 'Rosko' Mercer. "His music was a beautiful rainbow of influences, from Sam Cooke and early R&B to the latest fusion of jazz and rock to Eric Clapton's mournful blues.

It was totally color-blind and a little daring, but not so risky that it didn't reward those who trusted Rosko's instincts."

My own personal favorite Rosko memory was listening to him one evening when he aired "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mic Elf Agin)" by Sly & The Family Stone for the first time over and over and over and over again back-to-back. I guess he liked it!

Listen to Rosko's "She (Power To Be)."

Joey Reynolds

Joey Reynolds is a guy who is not afraid to break the rules. On his website, he documents his radio career in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and beyond. Will he ever stop working?

You can see what he calls his expansive "Stationography" at thejoeyreynolds.com. His first radio job? Buffalo, New York (1956 - 1958)!

I can't repeat some of the dicey stories I've heard about Joey.

Here's a track that is a great comedic production. You'll glean a part of his segment in the song "Ma Bell You Got Me By The Calls/Memphis."

Enjoy Joey Reynolds & The Phonees. 

Bob Lewis

Mr. Bob Lewis was another New York City radio fixture at WABC, then at WNEW-FM. Richard Neer, a WNEW-FM colleague of Lewis says "Bobaloo" was a big bear of a man. He had a perfect radio voice, silky smooth, deep, and mellow, which resulted in a burgeoning voice-over career."

I remember as a young boy singing along with the "Bobaloo" Lewis WABC jingle. Very cool. 

These next two songs reflect DJ social activism, a pursuit that probably will never fade away as long as people have a conscience.

Bob Lewis puts his serious spin on "Johnny Comes Marching Home." 

 

Al Grannum

Al is on the left. The others I'll leave unidentified, as I can't confirm without a doubt who they are.

I was luck enough to work with Al 'Granulated' Grannum at both WLIB in New York City, and again at WUSS in Atlantic City, NJ.

Al turned me on to the Doo Wop musical genre. This is a Black style of singing, popular before my time, that features intricate vocal harmonies. Grannum educated me about this music.

He wrote the liner notes for a Sonny Til & the Orioles RCA album. Al was a knowledgeable expert in harmony laced R&B vocal music.

Grannum passed away on January 4, 2013 at the age of 72. Similar to Bob Lewis' offering, here is Al Grannum and His Granulated Souls questioning "Why Is It?" 

Gary Byrd

Gary Byrd has one thing in common with Joey Reynolds. In different decades, they both started their radio careers in Buffalo, New York.

My very first interview, as a student, was with Byrd, on the Queens, New York City enclosed front porch of the detached WWRL AM building. I lugged a huge reel-to-reel tape recorder there to capture our one hour conversation about radio, music, city life and culture.

Here's 5 minutes of my Gary Byrd interview, located at the bottom of the page that you'll land on.

The station was in the flight path of LaGuardia Airport. You can hear the overhead jets periodically in the background during the hour-long audio interview.

Gary released several singles on the Real Thing label, including a two-sided editorial gem "Every Brother Ain't a Brother / Are You Really Ready For Black Power."

"Soul Travelin' Pt.1 and Pt. 2" is an excellent Byrd collaboration with The Jimmy Castor Bunch. Listen to my interview with Jimmy Castor and group musical director Gerry Thomas on YouTube.

On the extremely creative "Soul Travelin'" track, Gary Byrd takes us on a six minute musical tour, showcasing a who's who of multiple R&B hit makers. This is wonderful storytelling. The Pt.1 label is shown. Listen, and enjoy the short sample I chose from the B side, Pt. 2. 

E. Rodney Jones

E. Rodney Jones from Texarkana, Arkansas, born Earl Rodney Jones (1927 - 2004), began his radio career in Kansas City. Next, St. Louis came calling.

After the 'Gateway to the West City,' Jones navigated a career loop opportunity into the Windy City of Chicago.

He was very successful. E. Rodney would become president of one of the first Black radio unions.

His time at Chicago's WVON, ("Voice of the Negro"), helped the station become a nationwide powerhouse influence on rhythm and blues radio airplay.

Rodney's story is fascinating. Leonard Chess was an early friend from Kansas City. Chess and brother Phil started Chess Records in Chicago, a huge label specializing in blues and R&B.

Jones was in the Windy City at another station first, (WYNR), before WVON. Imagine this problem. Even after hiring him, the WYNR owner thought E. Rodney's voice was too Black.

Jones was about to leave WYNR, but was rescued by Leonard Chess, who bought WVON and hired E. Rodney as the program director.

There's a ton of more info about him, but I'll stop here.

On Sly & The Family Stone's Stand album, you'll discover a fourteen minute marathon instrumental, "Sex Machine."

E. Rodney Jones & Larry & The Hippies Band do "Right On - Right On (Sex Machine)" with mixed results. There may be too much Don Cornelius (Soul Train) onboard the musical vibe as a passenger. You be the judge. 

Les Crane 

According to IMDB, Les Crane was born on December 3, 1933 in New York City, New York. However, his claim to fame was representing the West Coast Hollywood style through media arts.

He was a San Francisco TV talk-show host, an actor and a producer, best known for Love Serenade (1996), Burke's Law (1963) and I Love a Mystery (1973).

Crane died on July 13, 2008 in Greenbrae, California.

"Desiderata" is our only song that won a Grammy Award. It was a bona fide #8 hit in December of 1971, with Crane's spoken-word recording of Max Ehrmann's classic poem, "Desiderata."

These are the song's statistics:

• Twelve weeks on the Billboard Hot 100
• Ten weeks in the top 40
• Three weeks in the top 10

Les Crane won the Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Recording" of 1971.

Don Imus

 

John Donald Imus, Jr. (1940 - 2019), hailed from Riverside, California. Both the academic database ebsco.com, and Britannica.com offer great biographies of the I-man.

Imus was raised near Kingman, Arizona on his family's cattle ranch.

The teenage Imus was arrested in high school for fighting, was impeached as class president, and then joined the Marines at seventeen on the advice of his mother.

Imus's first radio gig was as a morning disc jockey for a small station in Palmdale, California. His fame grew in the 1970s and 1980s while he performed as a "shock jock."

Mr. Imus's influence began to tank in 2007, when he made racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. As a result, he was fired from CBS Radio and MSNBC television.

I'm not sure which is the 'A' side of his selected RCA single. You normally can tell from the numbering / lettering system on the disc.

The flip side of this single, "Son of Checkers (The Watergate Case)," is a classic example of a Flying Saucer gimmick record. You won't hear this one.

Flying Saucer recordings are song clips introduced by a newscaster or announcer for comedic effect, using a sample of an original hit song (not a cover) to answer the statement of the questioner.

The other side of "Son of Checkers..." is "Oh Billy Sol Please Heal Us All." Preacher Billy Sol is a nice Imus parody of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and other evangelical holy men who once reined supreme, only to fall from grace.

"Oh Billy Sol Please Heal Us All" is a better example of Don Imus doing what he does.

 

Frankie Crocker

 

I somewhat like the headline from The New York Times Obituary, October 24, 2000. Frankie Crocker, a Champion of Black-Format Radio, Dies. Yes he was a champion of Black Radio, but what he programmed wasn't stereotypically Black.

You can learn much by observing and talking. I learned a lot just by interacting with Frankie while I engineered his 4pm - 8pm WBLS FM program for about one year, sitting on the other side of the glass.

"The glass" is a large window that divides a studio in two. One side is for the technician, at this station, that was me. The other side is for the talent / performer.

Crocker, another Buffalo, NY export is credited for coining the phrase, "urban contemporary" in the 1970s. Yes, his mix was an eclectic one that changed over time.

While writing 10 Radio DJs Who Dropped Hot Wax Like Rock Stars, I looked over some of my WBLS 'inside the station only' playlists that I retained after leaving "Stereo In Black" during their early days.

An hour music clock format was broken down (from the top of the hour) this way in order of directed play:

1. Album Cut by an established artist
2. Jazz Cut
3. R&B Top 10

I won't expose all of the numerical elements or the artists, but slots are assigned for Latin, Blues, R&B Single and other categories with explicit instructions not to drop certain segments within the hour.

Yes, this was very eclectic for Black radio at the time (early 1970s).

As mentioned, Frankie started in his home town of Buffalo, NY at WUFO playing R&B and Jazz. Other stints in Pittsburgh, PA and Los Angeles, CA prepared him for the limelight in the Big Apple, New York City.

WWRL AM, WMCA AM, and WLIB FM which would eventually change call letters to WBLS FM are other NYC stops for the self proclaimed "Chief Rocker."

Frankie Crocker, (1937 - 2000), is credited as the artist on many singles and albums that he recorded. I chose "Confession of Love" for this '10 guys behind the mic' profile.

"Confessions..." personifies what got Frankie over big time with radio listeners, and that is his suave, cool, sophisticated 'love man' personality.

I have a ton of personal Frankie stories. He once bet me during his show that I could not tightly air a double play of the same song by separating it with only a 5 second jingle.

The challenge was to start the jingle over the song end fade, then cue the song up again so the song would start immediately after the jingle ended. No dead air (silence) in the bet was allowed.

We played records from turntables in the early 1970s. I was always extremely fast in mixing multiple control board elements, (songs, jingles, ads), and I won the bet.

Explanation. Mr. Crocker could have just gotten a second copy of the record from the music library, so I could use a second turntable in the studio!

By the way, the single was "Get on the Good Foot - Part 1" by James Brown.

Here is "Confession of Love." I can't confirm, but I believe the group The Moments are singing the background vocals, as this song is on an early Sylvia Robinson (Sugarhill fame) label out of Englewood, NJ.

The Moments are Harry Ray, Al Goodman, and Billy Brown, who eventually recorded and performed as Ray, Goodman and Brown.

They also recorded for Sylvia before moving on to Polydor Records.

 

If you enjoyed what you've read and heard, if you like my style of writing, and if you share my love of authentic history, you'll absolutely want to read or listen to my audiobook (that I read) Powerhouse Radio: Rough Roads, Radiance, and Rebirth; My True AM - FM - Satellite and Audio Streaming Survival Story. It's a highly rated, award winning memoir. Paperback, eBook, or audiobook.

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